Concrete Canoe
Designed, cast, and raced a 20-foot concrete canoe with the university ASCE chapter. Three years on the team, two as project lead.
Three years on this team taught me more about people than concrete. The technical work was the excuse; what stuck was learning how to keep twenty volunteers pointed in the same direction on a Saturday morning in the rain.
Mix design, hull geometry, formwork fabrication, paddling team coordination, and competition logistics.
Mix design lead, later project manager.
- 01Develop a workable mix under 75 pcf with adequate flexural strength.
- 02Cast a hull that actually floated four paddlers without compromise.
- 03Place top 3 at regionals.
Process & progress
- Phase 01· Sep 2022Mix iteration
11 mix trials over six weeks. Documented every batch.
Milestone — Team kickoff, mix research
- Phase 02· Jan 2023Form build
Female mold cut from foam, faired by hand, sealed in epoxy.
Milestone — Final mix selected
- Phase 03· Mar 2023Casting day
Single-day pour, four people troweling, 36 hours under wet burlap.
Milestone — Hull demolded
- Phase 04· Apr 2023Race prep
Pool tests, paddle drills, and three road trips to practice venues.
Milestone — 3rd place at regionals
Documentation
- 01Document every mix. The one you'll need to reproduce is always the one you forgot to write down.
- 02A schedule on the wall is worth ten meetings.
3rd place at regionals. Mix design carried forward and refined by the next year's team.