The Great CHS Canoe Race! (In Progress)

Achievements Earned: Eight (This page is still under construction, more achievements will be later listed, when there is more time present to do so).

People in our Group:

Daniel
Ezequiel
Jessie
Michela
Hanna

Boat Information:

• Name: "The Big Bannana"
• Type of Boat: "Venitian Gondola, with Outriggers"
• "Duct-Tape Skeleton: " Frame on the Inside
• Type of Keel: "V-Shaped Bottom", with Stiff Cardboard supporting the Keel
• Rower(s): Jessie(Main Rower [Didn't Row]) and Daniel (Alternate)
• People the boat can hold: 1 (Two could be plausible)
• Strengths: Built for speed, aerodynamic.
• Weaknesses: Absolutely no Stability, flimsy walls.

Achievements Earned:

• Criteria and Constraints
• Build it!
• V-Shaped  Bottom
• Videographer
• Feedback
• "How Low can you Go?"
• Create-an-Achievement

In Depth Information of Achievements below:

Achievements Earned!:

Achievement: Videographer (Getting a Video of the Canoe in Action)
Achievement: Build it! (Making the Canoe)
Achievement: V-Shaped Bottom (Having a  V-Shaped Canoe)

• There are no visual pictures of our canoe, but there is a video.  When I am at home, I'll upload the video, or atleast part of it, and it should meet the criteria of all three Achievements.

Achievement: Criteria and Constraints

• Criteria:
• You must build a boat, that can traverse the CHS Swimming Pool.
• Your boat must float atleast one person throughout the competition.
• Protect your Workplace from dammage!
• Don't cut on the tables, the box cutter will cut through the table.
• Don't cut dirrectly on the floor, as the box cutter will cut throught the cardboard, and scratch the Linolium.
• If you do decide to cut on the floor, you must place cardboard underneath of it.  That way, the floor won't be scratched.
• Constraints:
• You may use only cardboard and duct tape for your boat.
• All materials for the project must be cardboard or duct tape.No foreign materials, if present in the boxes, can be used for the boat.
• Staples, tape, and other materials must be removed from the cardboard boxes, in order to prevent ruining the pool.
• All of the tape and staples left on our cardboard was removed, before we began construction.
• Cardboard must meet the standards set by the teacher.
• Each boat must have AT LEAST a 3" flat wall on the sides.
• No "Surfboards" or sitting on cardboard. Our team had a gondala shape, and our walls were origionally about 3-5", and they were later doubled.
• All exposed cardboard must be covered with duct tape.
• This is to prevent the deterioration of the cardboard.  Unfortunantely, we ran out of duct tape, and we were unable to cover most of the inside.  We did our best to recover the cardboard that fell off of the boat.
• Each team will use One Vera-Table cardboard, and will be given two rolls of 60 yard duct-tape.  Any supplimentary materials must be brought in by the students.
• Our team didn't use our versa-table, and we brought in all of our cardboard, and we also brought in two rolls of duct tape.

Achievement: Physical Prototypes (Building 3 Prototype Canoes)

*Note: Instead of using note cards, we put notes on this blog post*

This was our origional protoype, which bears similar resemblence to a Venitian Gondala.  These gondalas, although they lack balence, they are aerodynamic, and can hold many people.  After some discussions, we decided that this boat was too rickety, and we decided to create a broader protype.

This was our second, and our best protype.  This is a modified version of the gondala, and although it is still under construction, will likely be used for the pool.  It has a deck on the interior, allowing water to flow underneath of it, which allows for more time on the water, before the gondala sinks.  We are also (going) to add two outriggers to the sides, so there will  be balenced support, and act as a "tripod" for balence.

This Dinghey was a small prototype, and resembles a skiff, a flat bottomed boat.  Although it has balence, it lacks high walls, and speed.  It has the best balence, resting on a plane on the water.

Achievement: Feedback

Positive:

• Design: Skeleton-like frame, [Was] supposed to evenly distribute the pressure.
• Shape: The Gondala-shape was a good choice, and allowed for good speed.
• Keel: We had two Triangular cardboard pieces on the keel, which helped keep the pressure on the keel.  Also, they could slide around on the inside.
• Cardboard: We used a special cardboard, that is different from the other group's cardboard.  We had a thicker cardboard, that was originally used for holding dishes, which are VERY Fragile.  Because of this, our boat was supposed to be more durable, but it still succumbed to the water.

Negative:

• Balence: That was our main problem.  We tried to fix it, by attatching two triangular outriggers, with air in them.  Unfortunantely, they filled with water, and acted as a weight on the boat, causing it to sink.
• Paddle: Our paddle, a few days before the race, was lost.  We had to make a new paddle, which was MUCH weaker than the original one.
• Resources: We needed to duct-tape the interior, before we assembled the boat.  That way, after the capsize, we could've continued.

Question Mark:

• We should have thought out the process of the actual race.  We didn't know who would go in the canoe, and we didn't know who would push the canoe.  In the end, that is what caused our demise.

Exclimation Point:

• Our chasis was built for speed, not balence.  IF the outriggers functioned properly, they would've acted as balence, instead of pushing us down.
• We were determined, to finish the canoe.  Each day (or many days), I worked on my team during lunch, and my team contributed alot for the canoe during class.

Achievement: How Low can you Go?

Our canoe, while it lasted, it didn't float that well in the water.  When we sat in it, the stern collapsed, and water flowed in.  The bow was in the air.  For about five-ten seconds, our canoe was bobbing in the water, and then it fell. One thing that we could have done, to make it float better, was to support the stern, with spare cardboard pieces on the inside.  That way, sitting in the back won't cause the canoe stern to collapse on itself.

The Boat was about 5 feet (48") by 6 inches (6") by 1 foot (12"), which is about two and a half cubic feet.

The Pilot (Daniel) Weights about 110 pounds.

One Cubic Foot of water weighs about 63 pounds.

The Pilot (Daniel) Displaced about 1.7 Cubic Feet of Water

There was about .8 Cubic Feet (1/3rd of the boat) floating above the water.

Thus... the boat was resting roughly two inches above the water, which was enough to create poor balence, which caused the  boat to fall.

Achievement: Create your own Achievement: (Determiniation)

Our boat didn't quite make it to far out... However, we decided that we should ATLEAST get it accross the pool, or else all of our hard work will be in vain.  We were able to do one lap throughout the pool, and after that, the boat began to deteriorate.  In the end, we were able to complete our oddysey, at the cost of our boat.