Drexel Concrete Canoe

MOLD CONSTRUCTION!!!!!!!!!!! MWAHHHAHHAA!

2010-01-24T18:12:00.004-05:00

All,

Today, our molds began to rise from a pile of plywood and dimensional lumber. For those that have been unsure of our molding system, or still are unsure, the keep posted to here, and COEM TO THE LAB!!!!

Our ribs/framing consists of 1/2'' Plywood cut by our local Woodshop, and aligned on a center keel and braced into place. This will be followed by our new fiberglass planking material, and several layers of chopped strand fiberglass.

These are only the beginnings, but we've only got 2 weeks to get 'er done, so come on down and jump right in! You could end up using a air-powered staple gun!

A Preview Of Things To Come

2010-01-19T14:39:00.004-05:00

A Late Conclusion and Farewell

2009-09-09T09:37:00.008-04:00

Sorry for the extraordinary delay, I had not wanted to come to terms with the obvious. Not necessarily the fact that we lost at Regionals in a catastrophe so large it proves the existence of a higher power, but that my time with canoe was over.

2009 Drexel University Concrete Canoe's Phanatic failed at Regionals in punching shear. The Phanatic was in beautiful form through Saturday's display, only lightly smelling of sealant in true Drexel fashion. Sunday morning seemed to be going according to plan with a successful swamp test, but loading our first and lightest racers for the Female endurance race, a knee found a weak spot in the hull and we lost about a 4" diameter hole. A thin spot in the hull, surrounded by a thick spot, and without primary reinforcement could not hold up to the stresses of racing. We had toyed around with the difficulty of putting reinforcement in the hull, knowing full well it had it's advantages, we could not feasibly do it with our dual mold design.

In good spirit, we all got the boat out of the water and duct taped it until she was seaworthy again. Then we went and did quite well in the races, knowing that our competition was coming to an end. By the end or races, it was quite apparent that we may even take first place with the deduction for using duct tape, seeing that we won most of the races and having assumed we took best report and presentation. However the judges decided to disqualify us from Final Product seeing that we did not finish the final race due to the boat taking on some water. The judges took a very literal definition of the rule, and The University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown pressured the judges into the DQ. We had intended on passing the Nationals invitation to the runner up team, but that does not mean we were not the best boat and team at the competition. UPJ directly involved themselves with the judges and that was wrong. Their boat had an illegal mix, and if we had chosen to go through their fine print, we could have had them DQ'd as well. As it stands, they went to the National Competition and finished in last with the other disqualified teams. While it is obvious I am bitter about UPJ's move, we were not going to Nationals with a broken boat, and having UPJ win Regionals was nearly our choice.

There's plenty of photos on facebook I hope to post once I get my home computer operational. But for the now I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone that was involved in this project, most notably my partners: Pat Perhosky, Alan Fody, my crew: Mo, Nick, Ed, Aga, Marie, Alisha, Chris, Megan, Corey, my alumni support: Dave Morgan, Kyle Rutherford, Norman Jones My advisors: The Canoe Wizard, Doc Martin, Dave Cliffel, Dr. Cheng, Dr. Hsuan, My supporters: See (rear of tshirt), Dean Guiceri for throwin a few bones, and last but not least, my girlfriend Kelly for putting up with me reeking of concrete 6 outta 7 days of the week.. I'll have to write a legitimate thank you post at another time because many of these people did such a seriously great job.

In closing, I loved this project, I loved it more than school. Which is why I'm not in grad school. I jest, I wanted to work after my bachelors and that's exactly what I'm doing. Pretty damn well too, if I may say so, thanks to the Project Management I've learned from this painful experiment. I don't take anything back, and my only regret is not finding a means of getting a sturdy reinforcement in the Hull.

As a final note, all you male engineering students who are lacking love due to the Drexel M/F ratio, the concrete canoe team does wonders...

Recruitment Video

2009-04-12T20:45:00.002-04:00

Here's a compilation of footage Norman Jones put together from last year to get the hype up for this year. It's getting rave reviews throughout the interweb.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Phanatic

2009-04-01T14:08:00.005-04:00

She's still the female mold at the moment, but she's a beautiful shade of gray.

She also double's as a bath tub, curing towards her ultimate strength.

Now that we've got a boat, we can play around with arts n crafts... Here's some dyed concrete.
I feel funny, strange even, like I'm gaining some superhuman strength...
Pat always eats anything that resembles ice cream.
Chris is Phanatic phace artist...

More to come, just wanted to let the world know that we have arrived.

Pour, Take 2.

2009-03-21T01:45:00.011-04:00

This past Thursday we attempted our second try at pouring our concrete canoe. The first one was a fair practice run, but ended up in casting failure. When we removed the male plug from the 2 day strong concrete, we found the concrete had made it's way past the polyurethane coats. It bonded with the plaster and took up some of the fiberglass cloth that held the original balsa wood backbone of the mold together. Having planned to make more than 1 boat, we quickly made the executive decision of laying an extremely smooth membrane in the female, and wrapping the male with a lightweight plastic. The membrane had worked for teams in the past using a hand placing method, and the lightweight plastic had worked in our male mold test earlier in the year. It was no easy task laying the membrane in, we began to feel like rubber tailors. However, the possibility of an extremely smooth boat right out of the mold outweighs the risk of seems. For those who want to know more about the membrane laying process, leave a comment. I will not give away too many secrets unless I know you're playing for Drexel.

After upgrading our molds, we mixed up our proven best concrete mix and went at it again.

Here's the female mold, black with the membrane, some steel mesh (magically) suspended on the sides, plywood rib cage, and 4 alignment poles.

Here's the wrap of the male mold looking quite nice, notice the folds strictly at the end.

Here's an example of the alignment pole, the pole itself for X & Y control, the wood block there for Z control.

Here's the steel mesh we used as our primary reinforcement. Last year's epic cracking led to our creative ways of smuggling reinforcement.

Here's Mo alongside all our buckets set up for half cubic foot mixes.

The male mold eagerly waits alongside the old champs,
Pat working the drill while Chris steadies the bucket and Marie adds our cementitious material blend.

Coming along nicely.

Myself working the drill with Alisha adding silica fume, Mo handling the water, and Megan learning the way.

I used to have nice boots.

In go some fibers...

After we made enough, we poured em all in and spread it out.

In comes the male mold...
Onto the poles...

Adding the weight to the push in the male,
The steel plates are around 80lbs, the buckets 40-70lbs.

The front tip,
The back tip,
Pour complete!

We'll be taking out the male plug Saturday at Noon. It will surely be an exciting afternoon.

Greg

Week 9: Finishing Job Assignments

2009-03-02T01:58:00.001-05:00

While we didn't meet our Week 8 goal of casting, we accomplished some very necessary corrections to the casting system. Over the next couple days we'll have some quick catch up work shooting for the new goal of Tuesday Night's Pour & Pizza.

As we've approached the final stretch of construction, I've gotten a pretty good sense of whose been working with what. I'm going to assign some of you that are regulars jobs that need to be completed throughout the next month. Those of you that are not named directly on to a specific task, need to be aware of which ones will require more hands or minds to complete, ie. the mold alignment and rebar installation. I feel as though having random appearances with often little jobs leads to idle hands. This specialization will steady your hands with specific fields and train you to step up and lead it next year. Without further ado,

Mold Alignment Goal: Finished by Monday evening
Ed edwin.s.williams@gmail.com
Greg gs592@drexel.edu
Nick nicholassimmons27@gmail.com
Mo mm4522@drexel.edu
Ali M. email missing, Mo Pass word on
Chris R. dieselprep@gmail.com
Hands will be needed Monday/Tuesday

Reinforcement Installation Goal: Finished by Tuesday afternoon, Arrangement recommendations after first pour
Pat P jjp462@drexel.edu
Alan alan.c.fody@drexel.edu
Ali R. arehemtulla@gmail.com
Alisha alisha.strayer@gmail.com
Dave F. dmf482@drexel.edu
Hands will be needed Monday/Tuesday

Tshirts Goal: Ordered by Friday
Marie mbl33@drexel.edu
Pat P jjp462@drexel.edu
Any others with interest or experience, email them.

Structural Research & Concrete Testing Goal: Something report worthy by Wednesday
Mo mm4522@drexel.edu
Alan alan.c.fody@drexel.edu
Alisha alisha.strayer@gmail.com
Any others interested, email Mo/Alan

Mix Decision and Testing Goal: Best mix selection, adaptions. Material Inventory.
Pat P jjp462@drexel.edu
Alan alan.c.fody@drexel.edu
Ange amc325@drexel.edu
Another underclassmen participant recommended.

Hours & Dollars Accounting Goal: Something report worthy by Wednesday
Pat P jjp462@drexel.edu
Aga ays28@drexel.edu
Marie mbl33@drexel.edu
Ali R arehemtulla@gmail.com
Others good with quick math, join in.

Design Report
Pat P. jjp462@drexel.edu
Greg gs592@drexel.edu
Alan alan.c.fody@drexel.edu
Ali R. arehemtulla@gmail.com
Nick (HISTORIAN!!!1!eleven!!) nicholassimmons27@gmail.com
Alisha alisha.strayer@gmail.com
Marie mbl33@drexel.edu
Anyone good with words/creativity jump in asap.

There are many names on the email list, that are not found on this list. You are all welcome to join in on a task, ask those involved.

Everyone on the list is encouraged to work out times with each other to meet deadlines. The construction jobs atop the list are obviously a must over the next 2 days. I will be in the lab for nearly all the next 48 hours.

This is a living system, if you're schedule doesn't line up, ask someone to switch jobs with you. However, underclassmen can only switch with underclassmen and seniors can only switch with seniors. Knowledge must be passed on. If you need advice on a task, ask anyone involved and if you're in something deep, ask a professor or alumni.

Update Through Week 8 in Picture Form

2009-03-02T01:36:00.014-05:00

Here's a pile of photos from having the lab camera cleared out. The dates are still about a month behind, not from on however, thanks Nick.

Here's a few from the smale scale pour we did on the 8' section we built a while pack with an old foam female.
Cutting the reinforcement,
Pressing the male into the female,
160lbs of calm compression,
Nearly a finished system,

Here's our recent most glorious spread test,
34" of consistent self consolidating concrete baby.
Stronggggg light cylinders,
Power tools and pool noodles,
The Mars Volta stopped by the lab to help out with the ends of the mold,

Do this for 4 hours and you realize you better get a sweet boat out of it.
Good crowd Saturday,

Thats all for now, more to come as we go.
Greg

Male Mold Update!

2009-02-08T04:12:00.012-05:00

How fitting that after a few weeks without updates, I post one in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning. That is whats left of my spare time.

Those that have taken part the past couple weeks can tell you of the intense work going on down in the labs.

It sure as hell feels good to drive a nail again. - Ali Majd

He about perfectly summed up how I feel about the last few weeks of hands-on mold casting. However my hesitance to update some specifics of it comes in with the fact that we have a secret weapon. I will not reveal it's identity online, but a trip to the lab could lead to me bragging about it.

Here's Pat and Corey cutting up some chopped fiberglass to use in the mold.

We laid down sheets of it within our secret mold material and then paper-mache style glued on the fiberglass sheets. We take fume safety seriously.

Here's Pat and I mixing up some resin. Pat has become the master chef of laminating resin cooking.
This is our male mold all glass in and with some temporary cross bracing so it dried in the perfect shape of the female foam mold. Seeing as how the foam mold cost thousands, we hope to keep it in perfect shape for future canoe molds. Not to say our cast fiberglass molds won't stand the test of time.

Here I am readying the drill for some quick diaphragm installation prior to glassing them over.
Here's the test fit, got some warped beams in there but that's half the battle with using excess wood from years past.

Aga glassing the ribs over with our woven fiberglass. I think he won MVP that night for most fiberglass strips laid in an hour.
Here's Ed, our carpentry mastermind laying down some good tack for the structural beams to stick in for the while.

Here's the Monday night group wrapping up a few good hours work.

If you're wondering as to the date on the photos, it's wrong. Most of these are from the past 2 weeks, I haven't rigged up Nick's old camera correctly yet.

Next post, I'll have the link up for our recruitment video. It may not actually recruit anyone, but at least its awesome and hilarious. I'd like to thank Marie for taking so many of these pictures, and Nick for donating a camera.

Greg

Week 4: A Call To Arms

2009-01-25T16:25:00.002-05:00

Forget ducks, forget bucks, this is full blown Concrete Canoe season. We've got a very intense build on our hands with our new and improved molds and we need all hands on deck these coming weeks to get em done and start cooking up canoes. This will require a lot of initial manhours to complete the molds and casting set up, but if it is down within schedule (2 weeks), we can make a canoe once a week until we create the one worthy of being a National Champion.

So if you consider yourself a member of the Concrete Canoe team, or if you've been thinking you need something better to do with your time than liberal electives, get down to the Woodring Lab. We don't expect you to spend 20, 15, or even 10 hours a week, but if you can spare 5 hours a week over the next couple months to help get through the construction phases you are welcome as a member of this team.

Week 4 Schedule
Monday: 1p-8p
Tuesday: 3p-8p
Wednesday: 12p-4p
Thurs: Off
Friday: 1p-5p
Saturday: 11a-4p
Sunday: As needed.

There's plenty of opportunity for everyone to get their hands dirty, and that is what it'll take for us to win. So grow some Drexel/Philly Pride and get down there.

Winter Week 2: Goin Strong

2009-01-14T11:23:00.014-05:00

This week started off with a bang when a large pile of needed materials showed up all at once. Mixing resumed with fresh pails of admixtures, sieved aggregate, and everyone's favorite, fly ash. Fly ash is a pozzolan, which means it reacts with calcium hydroxide which is produced within cement hydration. The fun part about it is that it is so extremely small (sub 1 micron) that filter masks are required when working with it.

With the necessary materials at our disposal we started on the coffin renovation. The coffin is our transport box for the canoe, and "coffin" was an accurate title considering 2 canoes failed in it over the course of a few months. The issue is that the canoe rested on a tarp which covered packing peanuts -- hull down despite the picture -- and while everything worked at first, the foam bed settled and the boat cantilevered. Essentially the boat see-sawed on the foam and broke in tension (concrete's biggest weakness) right across the middle. Here's the old layout and half of the last boat that it laid waste to.

Our proposed solution this year was to add supportive & segregating ribs. Using cross sections from our hull design, we cut ribs to support the boat every other foot. A total of 10 ribs for a 20' boat. However, we don't want 10 pressure points (although better than 1), so foam will be loaded up to rest the boat comfortably and the foam cannot settle as the ribs will keep it within it's 2' station. Here's Aga and myself cutting the new ribs:

Here's the coffin all ribbed up, now we'll just load some foam in between and she's good to hit the road with our concrete canoe.

Tuesday spelled out more than 20 manhours from this hard crew, helping week 2 become potentially the most productive week yet.

Check back soon for pics of our mold and the lovely mess that is fiberglass work. Next official meeting, Friday at 1pm.

Winter Construction Under Way

2009-01-10T23:49:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year all,

2009 has started off with a bang here for us on the canoe team. With much of the necessary materials amassed, we're mixing, building, fixing, and breaking something nearly every day down in the labs.

For those interested in taking part of the team this year, it has just begun and now is the time to join. Monday and Tuesday evenings we get going at 530pm, Friday we get a few hours in starting at 1pm, and Saturday we start at 11am. With a work estimate just shy of 2000 total manhours, we could use the reinforcement. Currently we've got about 8 guys and girls working steadily on the team, with a few more members working their way in. We try to keep everyone on the team busy, but like many things in life you only get as much out of it as you put in and you'll need some initiative.

The hardest part of this team is the fact that it is long hours and often tough work, without an obvious academic benefit. Many schools have Concrete Canoe branched out of a class, but most school just have clubs struggling for funds and volunteers. Drexel Concrete Canoe is much more than some simple club however, we've got a long history of looking out for each other and positive faculty relations. I joined the team because I was frustrated with engineering school being little more than classrooms, books, and pencils; I wanted to get my hands dirty. 2 years and many busted knuckles later, I know more about concrete than most of my peers and I've got better grades compared to years prior. Concrete Canoe is opportunity, a chance to get more out of Drexel than a framed piece of paper that set you a $100K in debt. Power tools, advanced concrete technologies, sweat, and dirt are all just the parts that make the uphill walk home end with a cold beer. The works hard, the hours long, but I know at the end of the year, after a hundred and ten percent, I will say it was worth it, and you will too.

Here's a quick glimpse at next year's christmas card:

It looks like it's snowing in the labs, which it appears to have on numerous occasions throughout break. Our test mixes are moving along, as well as construction for the incoming mold. So we'll be down there quite often.

Next Meeting: Tuesday 530pm, Woodring Lab
Reminder: ASCE YMF Winter Social Monday, at McGillians

The Triumph of 2008

2008-12-30T01:00:00.002-05:00

It all started with a pulse prompting pour. We all had our skepticism about using a two mold method after a fruitless 2007. But the day of casting came and went nearly right to plan, the combination of our mix and dual-mold casting method worked. Not perfectly we would come to learn, but it made us a boat. A boat in 6 minutes (after concrete prep), an actual record. Here's the video we cut together to play besides our presentation in the competition.

The competition on our regional level consists schools from Pennsylvania, Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. The overall winner is determined from a combination of the races, the final product, the presentation, and the technical report. At Lafayette, in 2008, Drexel took first place in the races, technical report, presentation and product display. She was bridesmaid to the chosen prettiest boat, but our Big Bertha was all we needed. Perhaps maybe a bit of teamwork to lift her 300 lbs self.

With that work came the Overall First Place and an entrance into the National Competition of Concrete Canoe. Only one problem, our boat broke on the way home.

There's Kyle inspecting the full blown break. The transport box broke and the boat cantilevered and broke in tension. A most disappointing night's end after a successful day.

We asked the National board politely to allow us to rebuild, they nicely agreed, at 50% product point reduction, citing durability. Quite the setback heading into a competition we fought real hard to get to, but they were more or less right about the durability issue.

So we did it. We built another canoe the same way we did the first time. It is of my (Greg) personal belief that the molds were warped a bit during the first boat's curing, and that the boat's volume increased. However, it worked again. We refitted our coffin/trailer combo to be invincible and set out for Montreal. Yes, Montreal is not quite in our nation per say, but Nationals was in fact held there. Easily my favorite Canadian city, and home to the Montreal Olympic Basin which played host to our races. The basin is 2 kilometers long, and for those keeping track at home, that's about 1.2 miles long.

Nationals is an intimidating situation to be behind schedule. Having to make another boat kept us in the lab when we had planned to better our presentation. Although the pour and cast was even faster the second time, putting the team decals and sealing the boat meant unexpected time in the lab. However we got our act together, put a respectable display and presentation together and a great report. We did not hold up well with the deduction and we barely beat out the median of the pack. Which is quite respectable considering the struggle to get there. Our sundae-topping cherry was the Tony P. Chrest Award for Innovation. We're quite glad someone noticed that we've got this down to a renewable art form.

Mixing 2009's Tests!

2008-12-19T11:13:00.000-05:00

Sunday we'll be mixing our first round of test batches. I'll have to discuss with the others on how much we can share, but I will surely tell you, there will be concrete.

Did I mention how fashionable we are? Look at Pat's sweet boots/longsocks/shorts combo and my uber fashionable concrete hands.

Greg

Midcember Update

2008-12-14T21:45:00.000-05:00

Today's attendance: Ali Rehemtulla, Alan Fody, Greg Scott, Aga Sidarta, Pat Perhosky, Nicholas Simmons
Work: Aggregate Testing

This falls been full of trials and tribulations for Concrete Canoe, but things are moving along and looking well. It's been a tough transition to new project managers seeing that the Kyle Rutherford regime has come to an end. I can't say enough good things about him now that I've got a share of the lead and realize there's just far too much to do for one person, especially in senior year at Drexel University. This year Patrick Perhosky and myself, Greg Scott are partners as Project Managers.

So far this fall it's been all networking on my part, hunting down materials and designs and sponsors. Pat's been the wizard behind the curtain concocting up secret concrete mixes that will blow your mind, or at least hurt your toe if you drop a cylinder.

This year is all about being Green, with the ideal being something near LEED approval. That, of course, is competition wide. Concrete by nature is not environmentally friendly, as our advisor Dr. Martin explained in class a few weeks ago, "The art of making concrete is essentially taking cement and boiling the CO2 out and bam, a man made rock." I'm afraid I have to keep many details close to the vest in fears of our rival schools. But I will say that between bicycles and recycled concrete ingredients, we've got a good thing going on.

Greg

Recent History

2008-12-14T21:40:00.000-05:00

As per background history for this lovely team I'm afraid I can't go back very far. But I sure can tell you about the last couple years. We've been branching out into new methods of concrete casting and concrete mixing, widening our horizons and trying out crazy things. Two years ago, our methods left us with a boat so full of voids that we could not compete. Last year, our brilliant complex but yet simple method led to a victory at Regionals, and the Tony P. Chrest Innovation award at the 21st Annual ASCE National Competition of Concrete Canoe. ASCE being the American Society of Civil Engineers. "Presented in Recognition of Superior and Creative use of Technology and Materials in the Construction of a Concrete Canoe" reads the plaque. Flattering for sure, but this year we want it all. Follow along on this blog, as I attempt to explain the process of building our beautiful oxymoron.

Greg

The Birth of Canoe Blog

2008-12-14T21:37:00.001-05:00

Amidst today's aggregate testing and lab clean up, the conversation turned to dirt that can be dug on everyone through the internet. Easily half of us there have had a livejournal or xanga or some early workings of a blog in high school, and let's not talk about myspace or facebook. But a blog with an actual purpose, now that's something. Last year we tried to set up an online website/forum, but it all got left behind when the real work started in the lab. This year, I propose a blog, for everyone to read and those in charge of canoe to write.

Sponsors, faculty, students, family, friends, people that just hit "next blog" and randomly came here, and anyone I've left out, this blog is specifically about Drexel Concrete Canoe.

Greg