Cardboat 2012

The boat was transported to the race "flat-packed" in the back of a mini.

Powered by a paddlewheel and steered by an oar, both made from cardboard.
Surprisingly successful.

In sharp contrast to the boat, there are a  lot of edges in the wheel construction exposed to the water. If they are not very carefully taped up the whole thing will become waterlogged and turn to mush in seconds.

The boat took about half an hour to tape up on-site. The wheel took about an hour to construct and tape together on site.

 It felt like there was just the right amount of resistance turning the paddle wheel and that it was really propelling the boat forward at a fair pace. The crank handle turned smoothly. No doubt it helps that the boat itself cuts through the water without too much resistance. The only improvement that might be made is some sort of construction to keep the axle level. This is tricky though because the space inside the boat under the axle is taken up by the paddle twizzler's legs. Perhaps the twizzler just needs to workout more.

On leaving the ducks (Mo and Jess) the novice wheelsman turned the wheel in the wrong direction and we went nowhere fast.

 

At this point the cardboard oar snapped leaving the oarsman with only a tube to paddle with.

 

 Luckily the oarsman had already pointed the boat in the right direction and the paddlewheel kept going at a fair speed to the finishing line.

With a little practice it might be possible to actually steer the boat with the paddlewheel. On the way out the boat veered to the left. On the way back it veered to the right. Evidently there is something either in the angle of the wheel or the tilt of the boat that controls the direction of travel

Video courtesy of Martha.