Cardboard Challenge

Hello everybody,

We've had just had an amazing time with the cardboard racing in the 2nd Annual Cardboard Canoe Challenge at Coronado High School. Our team "Los Zapatos" created a cardboard boat, "the bedboat, as I call it," and we were able to complete the race with second place becuase our speed was pretty good but not great. However it was enough to pull us through as the boat that went the 2nd fastest and the 2nd longest distance covered, and we were able to stay afloat for a long period of time.

In this challenge I earned a total of 13 achievements from completing the challenge.

Define the Problem and Brainstorm Solutions Achievement:

The problem we had to solve was that we had to make a boat out of cardboard that will be able to carry at least one CHS student across the water in the pool without sinking.

20 ideas that I have had regarding my solution were:

1. create a raft

2. a canoe

3. an ideal-shaped boat

4. use oars with boat

5. use rope to pull boat across water

6. swimmer pulls boat across the water

7. bake the boat flat for effective stability

8. use high walls to prevent incoming water

9. use duct tape to cover holes in cardboard

10. have the boat have be equal in surface area and volume

11. use lots of cardboard for the base to prevent internal colapse in water

12. make a submarine boat

13. make a head of a fictional creature on the boat like the Vikings

14. Have a flag on the boat

15. The boat must carry the lightest weighed person for a less chance of sinking

16. The boat needs to be fast yet stable on water

17. The boat must be able to stay afloat for a long period of time

18. The boat needs to be build evenly to prevent capsizing

19. Must be able to use boat more than once on the water

20.Boat needs to be strong enough to carry one person

Criteria and Constraints Achievement:

Criteria and constraints are both used to regulate the rules and restrictions of regular competition.
One criteria is that the boat needs to carry at least one person throughout the competition.
Three constraints are:
You can only use duct tape and cardbaord for the event
All exposed cardboard must be covered by duct tape
The instructor must approve the type of cardboard before it is used for the boat

Sketch Ideas Achievement:

These 3 pictures are our brainstorms on how we should build the cardboard boat.

1st sketch:

This boat has the shape of a canoe, and this shape will provide great speed

The oars on the side are going to be used to power the canoe across the water

The long shape of the canoe will allow the boat to go at a great distance and speed, but takes away a little stability

2nd sketch:

This boat will be in a box shape to ensure stability from all sides of the boat

The sides of the boat will be tall enough to prevent incoming water from getting into the boat

The box-like boat will provide great stability, floatability, and average speed for getting across the pool

3rd sketch:

This boat will resemble a viking boat with a good height of cardboard wall to prevent incoming water

The front of the boat will have a mermaid or dragon head for decoration and frontal stability

The wings of this boat will prevent the boat from capsizing because they provide extra stability on the water

Prototype Ideas Achievement:

Here are our prototypes of each of our sketches that I posted up above.

Each will go in order of the sketches above.

1st prototype:

This canoe-like prototype has the advantage of the skiffs for extra stability and also contains oars for speed.

 2nd prototype:

The box shape of this prototype will allow average speed, but has a good surface area to achieve maximum floatability.

3rd prototype:

This boat-like prototype will allow a good amount of speed with the long length and long bow (front), while achieving a good amount of floatability with an average amount of surface area.

Select an Approach Achievement:

I have gained feedback from each of the three designs that I posted above.

Note: each feedback will go in order from top to bottom prototypes that are posted above.

1st prototype feedback:

Positive: The use of the side skiffs will help in stability and the use of oars will benefit the boat in speed.

Change: The walls of the boat are a little small and water can easily get in, and the inclusion of the side skiffs can lead to a risk in balance if not built proportionately.

Questions: How can we make it so that the walls can be built higher, yet be able to build and attach the side skiffs effectively?

Ideas: We can solve the problem by attaching two support beams per side skiff on the upper and lower parts of the higher wall, and this will allow good balance while preventing water from coming in.

2nd prototype feedback:

Positive: The box-like prototype will allow for excellent stability and durability because of the high walls.

Change: The prototype is only able to go at an average speed because of the large amount of surface area and volume contributed to the boat.

Questions: How can we make the prototype go faster on water in the race without changing the height of the walls?

Ideas: For the race we will have someone pull the boat across the water with a rope like substance, and this will help gain the speed the boat needs without changing the structure a lot.

3rd prototype feedback:

Positive: The shape of the boat will offer a good amount of speed, stability, and durability for the race that will take place because of a protruding front.

Change: The boat could be a little off balance because of the protruding front, and could potentially capsize the boat.

Questions: How can we fix the boat so that we can evenly balance it with the protruding front.

Ideas: The problem can be fixed by either shortening the length of the front, or by making the back equally extended out like the front to ensure balance that way.

Decision Matrix:

Each prototype will be graded on account of floatability, stability, and durability (floatability = how well the boat floats, stability = how stable and secure is the boat, and durability = how strong is the boat).

Each grade will be from 1-10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest), and each prototype is identified with the order of the photos above from top to bottom (the top photo = prototype 1, middle photo = prototype 2, and bottom photo = prototype 3) Each of the three scores will be added in the end for a total score for the prototype (ranges from 3 to 30)

Prototype 1:

Floatability = 6

Stability = 9

Durability = 5

Total = 20

Prototype 2:

Floatability = 9

Stability = 9

Durability = 10

Total = 28

Prototype 3:

Floatability = 8

Stability = 9

Durability = 8

Total = 25

My group went along with Prototype No. 2 because it is the highest total score of the three prototypes, and that it has the highest chance of success out of the other two prototypes for being effective in the water race in the pool.

Build It! Achievement:

We built the canoe, and we did enter the race with it; unfortunately we were unable to get a picture of it when it was fully complete and ready for action. Our boat generally looked like the prototype #2's picture above, but the wall in the front was lowered and the back was raised slightly; giving the boat a sort of bed-like image.

The Longest Achievement:

Our group came in second for both the race and distance challenges, however we were able to stay afloat during the challenges and for a while longer. It only completely sank in the end when four people jumped into the boat.

Feedback Achievement:

We finished the boat race in the pool, and our boat did alright in the water challenges. Here is some feedback of our boat now that my team has tested it out. (Positive = +)(Change = ∆)(Questions = ?)(Ideas = !)

1. The boat was well built in balance and stability (+)

2. The swimmer was crucial in giving the boat the necessary speed it needed (!)

3. The boat was covered well with duct tape, with only one or so leaks (+)

4. The boat was able to carry myself in the water when I rode it (+)

5. The boat sagged a little when someone a little bigger than myself rode it (∆)

6. There was no other way to actually move the boat efficiently without the swimmer (?)

7. The swimmer was able to get the boat from one side of the pool to another (!)

8. The boat was durable against any kind of collision with another object or thing (+)

9. The boat was slowly falling apart after a while due to a few leaks after using the boat (∆)

10. The boat was able to still stay afloat even with the leak due to putting a large amount of cardboard down as the base of the boat (+)

How Low Did You Go Achievement:

Our team's boat sat roughly about 5 inches into the water during the race and other water challenges. I was surprised that the boat only went down a little bit after getting inside it, but I was pleased because this meant that the boat was well constructed against water going into the boat. The unit weight of water is 8.3454 pounds per gallon. The pilot (myself) weighed about 158 pounds. Our boat weighed about 8 pounds, and that weight added to my approximate weight equals about 166 pounds that entered the water. Since water is about 8 pounds per gallon, 166 divided by 8 equals about 20.75 pounds that went into the water. I would guess that from there it is about 10 or so inches that went into the water.

Redesign Achievement:

If we were to do another cardboard canoe race next semester, I would go with the exact, same design that we used for this challenge; with the addition of putting on more duct tape on the bottom. A picture of the design that we will use next year looks like this (unfortunately everything has been mirrored, so I will translate it for you.):

This picture shows the boats that were built for this canoe challenge.

The top right says that it is a raft and the length is 5 ft, the height is 1/2 ft, and the width is 3 ft.

The top left says that it is an original boat (a stereotypical boat), and the length is 7 ft, the width is 2 ft, and the height is 3 ft.

The bottom says that is is a bed-like boat, and the length and width are 5 ft, and the height are 3 ft in the front, and 4 ft in the back.

This picture shows the most competitive solution that will be the most useful in winning the next canoe race, and for height it is 3 ft in the front and 4 ft in the back, for length it is 5 ft, and for width it is 2 ft.

Maximum Capacity Achievement:

This is one of the achievements that I made up, basically it requires you to find out how many people can fit into your boat until it completely sinks. We were able to get four people into the boat before it sank completely.

Patriotic Achievement:

This is one of the achievements that I made up, basically it requires you to put something on the boat that symbolizes the nation in some way. On our boat, we put an American flag on the front of the boat, and we kept it on throughout the race and water challenges. We took the flag off in the end when the boat was "decommissioned."

Nickname Achievement:

This is one of the achievements that I made up, basically it requires you to make up a creative name that is appropriate to the boat. I nicknamed the boat, "the bed-boat" because of its bed like structure and image.