Cardboard Boating?

[henryBsick]

Cardboard regatta, excellent; here is what I have done in the past for a similar competition. It only allowed cardboard and tape. The tape could only extend beyond a seam 1".

My method of choice was to obtain 3 large soda-syrup boxes and tape those together for a base. These boxes are very strong as they carry very heavy bags of syrup. Traditionally they are at least two layers thick in all stress points with a heavy application of glue to hold them together. With these three boxes taped together in line, I cut cross sections of the profile I wanted to achieve and taped them all down the length of the big, three box, center structure. This effectively produced the shape of the hull. From there some crafty taping and placement of 2 outer layers of cardboard around this ribbed structure gave the craft its final shape.

PROTIP: By scoring the entire outer layer of hull, I was allowed to tape the entire surface and still abide by the rules. The boat was perfectly waterproof. HOWEVER my first year I let the cardboard hull in the water 'naked' and it did fine for the duration of its journey: approximately 1 minute.

That's it in a nutshell. Hope it helps.

[Stormnnormn]

Wow... no duct tape?
There goes plans A thru Y...

BTW, most sites I have looked at recommend a flat or really gently sloped bottom, otherwise it risks getting tipped over.

Are there any tapes you are allowed to use? Paper tape, Package tape, scotch tape, and masking tape have not been mentioned...
I like some of the other peoples idea, so look at them too. However, it looks like a few contain duck/duct tape.

Also, if you can use paint, you probably should...

(Sorry about the segmented post, I did not want to post more than once)

[Bruceb]

One word EPOXY I suppose you could call that 2 words since it is a 2 part adhesive. Look to some of the boatbuilding plan sites for ideas. Cardboard is not thatmuch different than the plywood that most wooden boats are buldt from. search on "clarkcraft" or "Glen-L" and just "boat plans".
Bruce

[Daniel_LaFleur]

I'm pretty sure Chop Shop (team 166) has a cardboard regatta every year. You may want to talk to them.

[Mentor007]

You may want to research the Waters & Sons Paper Boat Company in Troy NY. They manufactured boats made entirely of paper. The key trick was to use a single sheet of paper for the outer hull skin so that no seams existed. I believe they used varnish for waterproofing. Also the paper was molded to allow for a keel rib and gunwale ribs.

Waters came up with the concept in 1867. In 1874 on of his canoes made the trip from Troy, NY down the Eastern coast to Florida.

Interestingly, he also used to technique to build domes for observatories. RPI, West Point, Beloit, Columbia, and Brooklyn Polytechnic all had such domes. Syracuse University was about to get one when Waters accidently set fire to it while working with a torch, burning down his factory and ending his paper boat building business.

[Josh Fox]

Team RUSH is holding our second annual cardboard boat regatta this year, and it's actually one of our team's largest fundraisers. If you're interested in details about anything feel free to pm me or just ask in this thread and I'll respond when i can.

[Robert Cawthon]

I have never built a boat out of cardboard, but I would make the following recommendations:
1. Use several layers of cardboard glued together with a waterproof glue to make stiff pieces of "wood". If you need curved pieces of "wood", you can make a jig and glue the pieces together in the jig so that when the glue dries, the "wood" will have the proper shape.
2. After the boat is built and glued together, paint the inside and outside with a thin layer of the glue. This should waterproof the cardboard. Paint the boat afterward to further protect the glue and waterproofing.

Good luck. Sounds like fun. And don't forget to be safe!