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building a boat from cardboard
I got myself singed up for a cardboard boat race this saturday. We
are given two sheets of 5x8 card board, duct tape and plastic sheeting. I was thinking of building a canoe style, but was worried about the boat folding in half. I know plywood has alot more stability than card board, and was wondering if anyone has had expirence in this area, or could point me to a web site that might offer help. I don't know how big the plastic sheeting is, which is a problem. I don't know how long the boat could be. I was thinking along the lines of a D4, or a 12' canoe, but made a bit wider for stability. Playing around in the hulls program (great program!) shows me that for one person, displacement isn't as much of a concern. My main concern is of the plywood folding around me when I sit in it. Any hints? The race is Saturday. email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well! |
"Dave Allyn" wrote in message ... I got myself singed up for a cardboard boat race this saturday. We The race is Saturday The cardboard boats I have seen were usually covered in layer after layer of spray paint, are you allowed to use any ? |
On Fri, 2 Sep 2005 06:43:07 -0500, "Phil" wrote:
"Dave Allyn" wrote in message .. . I got myself singed up for a cardboard boat race this saturday. We The race is Saturday The cardboard boats I have seen were usually covered in layer after layer of spray paint, are you allowed to use any ? No. They have to be built on site, and the only things you can bring is stuff to decorate your boat, but no spray paint. email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well! |
Think triangles. Strips of cardboard folded into three sided tubes are
quite strong. Use for chine logs, sheer clamps, and thwarts. Get one of the gadgets that put the rubber retaining strips back into a screen door. You can crease and fold across the corrugations where needed without cutting the paper. Duct tape! Bathing suit. Roger http://home.earthlink.net/~derbyrm "Dave Allyn" wrote in message ... I got myself singed up for a cardboard boat race this saturday. We are given two sheets of 5x8 card board, duct tape and plastic sheeting. I was thinking of building a canoe style, but was worried about the boat folding in half. I know plywood has alot more stability than card board, and was wondering if anyone has had expirence in this area, or could point me to a web site that might offer help. I don't know how big the plastic sheeting is, which is a problem. I don't know how long the boat could be. I was thinking along the lines of a D4, or a 12' canoe, but made a bit wider for stability. Playing around in the hulls program (great program!) shows me that for one person, displacement isn't as much of a concern. My main concern is of the plywood folding around me when I sit in it. Any hints? The race is Saturday. email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well! |
Yes, yes. Can support with stringers running the lenth of the boat, either triangular cross section as suggested, or at right angles like an I-beam. Also frames accross boat to retain shape. But remember, the fewer pieces there are, the faster and easier it will be to build. For example, if bottom is V-shaped or W-shaped instead of flat you get quick and easy support from folds without cutting. Long and narrow is faster than short and fat. Minimize two kinds of drag: a) amount of surface friction with water, b) amount of waves made (that's where long and narrow comes in). Turn boat over, tape plastic to outside to waterproof. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
William R. Watt ) writes: Yes, yes. Can support with stringers running the lenth of the boat, either triangular cross section as suggested, or at right angles like an I-beam. I forgot about gunwales and side decks. Fold over along top of side. The triangle idea sounds good here. Be sure to let us know if we win. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
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On Fri, 02 Sep 2005 12:58:13 GMT, "Roger Derby"
wrote: Think triangles. Strips of cardboard folded into three sided tubes are quite strong. Use for chine logs, sheer clamps, and thwarts. I figured a triangle along each of the sides (top and bottom if I have enough) as well as three horizontal stabilizers should help considerablly with the over all stability of the boat. See my other post as well. I ranted there about canoe vs single sheet etc.... Get one of the gadgets that put the rubber retaining strips back into a screen door. You can crease and fold across the corrugations where needed without cutting the paper. Great Idea. Thanks. I'll stop on the way there and get one! Duct tape! Provided, and can be the only type of adhisive etc... Bathing suit. :) but if I build it correctly, I shouldn't get wet right? :) Roger http://home.earthlink.net/~derbyrm "Dave Allyn" wrote in message .. . I got myself singed up for a cardboard boat race this saturday. We are given two sheets of 5x8 card board, duct tape and plastic sheeting. I was thinking of building a canoe style, but was worried about the boat folding in half. I know plywood has alot more stability than card board, and was wondering if anyone has had expirence in this area, or could point me to a web site that might offer help. I don't know how big the plastic sheeting is, which is a problem. I don't know how long the boat could be. I was thinking along the lines of a D4, or a 12' canoe, but made a bit wider for stability. Playing around in the hulls program (great program!) shows me that for one person, displacement isn't as much of a concern. My main concern is of the plywood folding around me when I sit in it. Any hints? The race is Saturday. email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well! email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well! |
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Ah.. the plot thickens. I asked the lady in charge how long the
plastic is. She then asked me why? how big of a boat are you biulding? I said "Probably 12-14 feet long" She smirked. "You know the cardboard is only 8 feet long, right?" "Sure. Thats bigger than plywood, but I know people that have built 30' boats with 8 foot sheets of plywood. There is even a guy who made a 19' canoe from only one 4x8 sheet! "huh. well, you are going to want to triple the cardboard up anyway to hold your wieght. "I'm sorry, but the displacement is what will hold up my weight. I just need to engineer the boat not to colapse. that's why I need to know how big the plastic is. "I don't know. I havn't cut it yet. Probably about 10 feet long." There goes my 14' canoe!!!! back to the drawing board. I chopped the back 4 feet off the canoe, made it into a "V-hull" and widened it out a bit. Hulls gives me a water depth of 5.6" and a swamp depth of 11.2" that gives me a freeboard of 5.6", and that should be enough. Cardboard can be doubled up on the floor, and set at an angle against the V-Hull for added strength. Thinking this out again now, 10' of plastic won't be able to come up the sides very well on the ends. let me do some more thinking. thanks dave email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well! |
a punt or a pirogue would be quick and easy. I've built small boats out of 4' wide plywood by making the bottom 2' wide and the two sides 1' high. take a look at the 11x2x1 Jock River punt on my website below. click on "Boats" -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
Dave Allyn ) writes: Ah.. the plot thickens. I asked the lady in charge how long the plastic is. She then asked me why? how big of a boat are you biulding? I said "Probably 12-14 feet long" She smirked. "You know the cardboard is only 8 feet long, right?" plastic can be taped too, not just cardboard. what's really important is how much duct tape you get. with enough duct tape you can cover the whole boat and forget about the plastic. they should give you a complete list of material in the contest rules. if you have to double up on the cardboard there is a one sheet boat on my website with a 7.75 ft waterline called the Loonie. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
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With a pointy ended hull, you'll have triangles of plastic left over that
might/could be "scarfed" to the body to accommodate a longer LOA. Roger http://home.earthlink.net/~derbyrm "Dave Allyn" wrote in message ... Ah.. the plot thickens. I asked the lady in charge how long the plastic is. She then asked me why? how big of a boat are you biulding? I said "Probably 12-14 feet long" She smirked. "You know the cardboard is only 8 feet long, right?" "Sure. Thats bigger than plywood, but I know people that have built 30' boats with 8 foot sheets of plywood. There is even a guy who made a 19' canoe from only one 4x8 sheet! "huh. well, you are going to want to triple the cardboard up anyway to hold your wieght. "I'm sorry, but the displacement is what will hold up my weight. I just need to engineer the boat not to colapse. that's why I need to know how big the plastic is. "I don't know. I havn't cut it yet. Probably about 10 feet long." There goes my 14' canoe!!!! back to the drawing board. I chopped the back 4 feet off the canoe, made it into a "V-hull" and widened it out a bit. Hulls gives me a water depth of 5.6" and a swamp depth of 11.2" that gives me a freeboard of 5.6", and that should be enough. Cardboard can be doubled up on the floor, and set at an angle against the V-Hull for added strength. Thinking this out again now, 10' of plastic won't be able to come up the sides very well on the ends. let me do some more thinking. thanks dave email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com please respond in this NG so others can share your wisdom as well! |
On Sat, 03 Sep 2005 00:44:08 GMT, Dave Allyn
wrote: Checked out both boats. Thanks for the pointers. The boat I ended up using is going to be about 8' long, Max Beam is about 32" It looks like the front half of a canoe, but with a v-hull. The floor will be doubled, and will be flat, to assist in the stability. I will be useing the 2' triangles on bothe sides for stability, and will create a kind of corregation between the layers of the floor for even more support, especially where I will be kneeling. The Transom will be doubled, with a 1 inch spacer in the middle to make it bow out a bit. this should make it more stable as well. I'll make some fillet type structures out of the left over card board for where the sides meet the bottom. With the dimentiones I am putting into this boat, I should have almost a complete sheet left over to make the stabalizer parts (triangles, second floor, etc...) I'll run some tests here ina bit to see how water proof Duct tape is. It doesn't have to last long, but I don't want to not finnish either! :) Thanks again! dave I sure hope we get some pictures of this this so we can all see how well you did...:o) . Hand someone a camera before you set sail..... M Russon |
Dave Allyn ) writes: Checked out both boats. Thanks for the pointers. The boat I ended up using is going to be about 8' long, Max Beam is about 32" It looks like the front half of a canoe, but with a v-hull. The floor will be doubled, and will be flat, to assist in the stability. I will be useing the 2' triangles on bothe sides for stability, and will create a kind of corregation between the layers of the floor for even more support, especially where I will be kneeling. The Transom will be doubled, with a 1 inch spacer in the middle to make it bow out a bit. this should make it more stable as well. I'll make some fillet type structures out of the left over card board for where the sides meet the bottom. Try to avoid drag at the transom. It can really slow a boat down. The water should flow smoothly off the back of the boat, not create turbulance. Two things to do are a) keep the transom narrow and b) make the bottom of the transom above the surface of the water. You can do "b" by cutting some off the bottom of the sides at the back. If folding the sides up out of one sheet, then a "V" (dart) can be cut out along the fold at the back. It's more important on low powered boats - paddles, oars, and sails. A flat bottom boat with a transom doesn't paddle very well. It won't go straight. You can add a skeg to the bottom at the back but then paddling on one side isn't very good. You really need oars on a skiff. However if you turn the skiff around and paddle it backwards the pointy end is like the tail on a kite, it keeps it going straight. That's how I paddle my 11 ft Dogskiff. A flat bottom canoe (pirogue) or punt shape paddles better. You can sit to one side submerging one bottom edge (chine) which then helps keep the boat going straight. An 8 ft long boat will not keep going straight if you lift the paddle out of the water. If you're not an experienced paddler you can practice the J-stroke in your living rom to get used to it. I hope you won't be using a carboard paddle. :) I'll run some tests here ina bit to see how water proof Duct tape is. Will be fine. It's used to make temporary patches in boats. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
I just read MRusson's brief instruction and feel I can add a comment. I
agree completely with the "Hand someone a camera" part, but I think the "before" should have been emphasized .... ie "Hand someone a camera BEFORE you set sail ..." (sure sounds like fun - and you darn well better post some fotos - including a shot or two of the "construction" phase ...) chip in central florida "MRusson" wrote in message ... On Sat, 03 Sep 2005 00:44:08 GMT, Dave Allyn wrote: I sure hope we get some pictures of this this so we can all see how well you did...:o) . Hand someone a camera before you set sail..... M Russon |
been thinking about this while cleaning fruit to make preserves, a good boring opportunity to think. If water gets into a carboard boat it's mush. I'd tape the plastic right over the top to keep out spray. Probably should be supported by some "deck beam" framing which would also act as thwarts holding sides apart. If there were time it would be interesting to design a carboard surfboard with a small cockpit (like a board sailer) to kneel and paddle in. Open top. Interior cross framing like PC's honeycomb framing. Entire structure, including interior of cockpit, wrapped in plastic to keep it dry. Maybe the race organizer will post photos on a website showing all boats. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
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