Design for a Cardboard Boat Race

[Village_Idiot]

We recently had a cardboard boat race here - main difference was each boat needed at least two occupants. There were several hull designs represented, including canoes, surfboards and a dinghy-type rowboat. The winner of the race, by far, used a simple jon boat design, flat-bottom, flat bow and stern, 3' x 8'. It provided a stable platform for relatively inexperience paddlers to make it the 100 yds to the finish.

Keys to success appeared to be proper weight distribution and stability. The correct weight distribution can make up quite a bit for poor or weak structural design.

[g.maclaren]

"The winner of the race, by far, used a simple jon boat design, flat-bottom, flat bow and stern, 3' x 8'. It provided a stable platform for relatively inexperience paddlers to make it the 100 yds to the finish."

Sound familiar?

: -)

-=Grant=-
KISS -- and don't sink.

[Lt. Holden]

The race sponsors only say that the race will be out to, around the buoy and back, no idea what distance. They have held the race before but I have not attended in the past. I wish I would have heard about it much sooner, the limited time frame will definitely affect what I do. Much will depend on what I can find for cardboard.

[BHOFM]

How about something real simple and funny?

I ain't no Rembrandt!

[BHOFM]

Refined the design, just stack up the cutouts and
tape all the edges!

[g.maclaren]

"Cardboard boxes are industrially prefabricated boxes, which are primarily used for packaging goods and materials. "Cardboard box" is misnomer, as what most people know as cardboard boxes are actually made of corrugated fiberboard, not cardboard."

Above from Wikipedia.

Use google to search for "boxboard" and "corrugated fiberboard." As stated earlier, you are looking for a source of these materials, not "cardboard."

In the trade, "cardboard" is also know as "tag board."


The stuff you are looking for is available from many manufacturers. If you can find a plant or importer near you, you might get a donation of a few large panels. I once floated a "box," folded like the "boat" I designed for a few days without failure. But you MUST keep the water from the open edges of the corrugations.

-=Grant=-

[balsaboatmodels]

Going to station's website and looking at rules;
1. race is from a dock, to a bouy, around it and back.
2. there are prizes for appearance and for speed, so there's likely to be at least two types of contestants. Maybe three classes with rules mentioning historical designs.
3. remember - this is being put on by a radio station, is a good bet some carnival-ness is expected - makes good publicity and a spot at end of local news.

Seems a good ploy would be to hide a high-performance hull under a bit of goofy-artsy decoration.

How about those boxes refrigerators come in? Assembled bed headboards come in flat boxes -some are 4ft to 5ft square? Wardrobe boxes like moving companies use? They can be purchased several places.

Hull design like a Sharpie?

And there's some "for whatever they're worth, or not" thoughts from 1500 miles away from the contest.

[davefriant]

I want to bring your attention to my cardboard boat designs. I have designed numerous eco-friendly boats with corrugated cardboard.

All my designs use readily available tools and materials and standard size sheets of corrugated paper cardboard. I have written a book on cardboard boats that is now available on Amazon.com. Here is a little information on the boats and the book.

What is The Cardboard Boat Book?

The Cardboard Boat Book is step-by-step instruction manual that teaches you how to build a small kayak style boat with recyclable resources using readily available tools and materials and standard size sheets of corrugated paper cardboard.

What is a Cardboard Boat?

A cardboard boat is a lightweight ‘environmentally-friendly’ boat constructed with 1/4-inch thick, 275-pound test, double-wall corrugated cardboard. The boats simply fold up from cardboard obtaining their strength from the geometry of the component parts. They are 8-feet long, weigh about 25-pounds, and can accommodate a 250-pound person without risking structural damage. Each boat is constructed with 21 pieces of cardboard that are used to make 7 component parts. The 7 parts are assembled together with ‘environmentally-friendly’ contact cement and paper drywall tape. Once assembled the boats are sealed with an ‘environmentally-friendly’ water-based waterproof coating. The boats cost approximately $100 to build.

I hope you get a chance to check out my website. I look forward to discussing cardboard boats with everyone on this forum.

Regards,
Dave Friant

[philSweet]

I have a standing team that convenes each Feb for the cardboard race in Key Largo Fl. (team corru-gator). All materials are supplied and we don't know what they will be ahead of time. The normal 25 yard roll of duct tape is color coded so you can't sneek anything in (except beer, of course). We generally slit the tape and make twist-ties out of it and tie the cardboard together. Finished product usually resembles a 12 foot cardboard burrito with a gator head and tail. Our rules require 2 paddlers. The two most common design problems I've seen have been insufficient displacement (attempting to avoid an underwater seam) and torsional hull failure as the two paddlers try to paddle on opposite sides. Guard your supplies carefully. Augmenting your materials via piracy is part of the game. Plan your start carefully. We start in knee deep water holding the boat and our paddlers in the air untill the gun goes off. It's the best time you can imagine. Last year the Boy Scouts eliminated the team from NASA and us (we were defending champs) and went on to win. 30 minutes after the last race, they were still paddling around in their boat!

[PsiPhi]

Photo's! - I want photo's of that!

[philSweet]

It took a bit of finding. Here they are. Tom Barber with mike doing the presentation of the boat to the judges, followed by a group cheer and flag presentation, (yes, we had to come up with all that stuff in one hour as well).
The rest of team in background. From the 2007 Tavernier Jubilee at Harry Harris Park, Florida Keys.

Phil

[davefriant]

You guys have better weather in FLorida than we have in Seattle for cardboard boat races. Looks like you are having fun. I hope you take a moment to check out www.thecardboardboatbook.com. My boats are actually designed to last many years if taken care of. I have boats that are over 23 years old that I still use every year.