Ketch-up

 

ASCE

CONCRETE CANOE

 

In 1848, Joseph Louis Lambot built concrete boats for his estate in France. ASCE Student chapters began competing in the concrete canoe in the 1960’s and it has been a national competition since 1988.  This project requires students to design, build and race the canoe each year regionally and then nationally according to rules and regulations set forth by the ASCE National Concrete Canoe Committee.  This competition promotes teamwork, communication, leadership, scheduling, accounting and problem solving that can be implemented in the workforce.

        To build the canoe, students must design an ideal concrete and reinforcement composite section and an ideal hull. For the concrete design, we researched different cementitious materials, aggregates, admixtures, and reinforcements. After testing several different combinations of these materials, we selected a concrete that was lightweight and strong. The hull was designed using yacht design software. This data was then imported into a finite element analysis program to determine areas of highest stress.

        With our design selected, we set out to build the canoe. First, we constructed the strongback which holds our mold. The mold was constructed out of Styrofoam and covered in shrink wrap. Our reinforcement was placed top of the mold and held in place by dobies and the inlays. Two layers of concrete were cast on the mold to give us our canoe. After the canoe had cured, it was sanded and sealed to give us our finished product.