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.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Winter Week 2: Goin Strong
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.
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.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Winter Construction Under Way
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
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
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The Triumph of 2008
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.
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.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Mixing 2009's Tests!
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
Did I mention how fashionable we are? Look at Pat's sweet boots/longsocks/shorts combo and my uber fashionable concrete hands.
Greg
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Midcember Update
Today's attendance: Ali Rehemtulla, Alan Fody, Greg Scott, Aga Sidarta, Pat Perhosky, Nicholas SimmonsWork: 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
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
Greg
The Birth of Canoe Blog
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
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
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