Architectural Lessons From a Cardboard Boat

Architectural Lessons from a Cardboard Boat

THE BOAT

Team Project, Spring 2017 - 2019

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My father, the best teammate I have ever had, is probably the main reason that I felt I could successfully pursue Architecture. He is a mechanical engineer and designer extraordinaire. I have always relished any opportunity to work on a project with him, whether it is a small repair in the house, or taking on the daunting task of building a boat entirely out of cardboard. Sometimes he takes a little convincing though, he is busy like any other human. However, the Spring of 2017 I was bored and I wanted to take on a project with my dad. But, we ran into a problem, he wasn’t entirely convinced that he wanted to build a cardboard boat for the upcoming fundraiser. After all, the first one he built had won the Titanic Award for best sinking. . . . But dad had in his mind that he could make a boat entirely out of cardboard (no glue, no tape, no paint, no caulk) even though other materials were allowed. I on the other hand wanted to make a ship resembling the one from “How to Train Your Dragon 2” with the elegant sails and brightly painted decals. We were at an impasse, and it seemed as though dad was content to just not build a boat at all. So, what did I do? I told dad that I wanted to build his boat idea, and almost immediately got to work studying paper folding techniques and researching where we could find the biggest cardboard boxes.

Now before we get any farther into the story I should clarify, the boat design and planning were my fathers, I pitched ideas and gave creative input, but it was him who came up with the study models on how we would even accomplish such a feat. So why include this in my portfolio? Well, I consider this project a hands-on research assignment that taught me skills in model making, diagramming, and material analysis. It was a class in the art of cardboard and I got to study under the best teacher. So here are the lessons I learned from building a cardboard boat.

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The Build

Lesson 01: Never underestimate materials When most people think of the combination of water and cardboard, they think of a soggy mess. Cardboard boxes are notorious for getting wet and then when someone tries to pick them up, the whole bottom just falls out. A typical race across the lake that we would be competing on takes less than three minutes. This meant that we needed our boat to stay water resistant at least for five minutes.

To test the resistance of the cardboard, we filled a basic cardboard box with water, and

started the timer. Five minutes into the test and our box was showing no signs of deterioration.

At around twelve minutes we knew that the cardboard would definitely be able to cross the lake sans sealant; so we began to start adding stress to the box by shaking and pulling at it, but still it held strong. With our test in mind we built a three-layered hull. This was to add structural redundancy and prevent leaks.

(Water Resistance Test)

Chinese Takeout Box Assembly

Lesson 02: Joinery

(Triple Hull Design to Increase Water Resistance)

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How does one even assemble a boat entirely out of cardboard? At the scale we were building at, just using creases and folds would not be enough to keep the boat from falling apart.

There was also the concern that any puncture in the boat immediately became a week point and an area that could not be re-sealed. This meant that none of the points of joinery could be exposed to water. Our main assembly technique was inspired by Chinese takeout boxes which consist of one piece of cardboard

that is folded and pinned in two locations.

Making and using cardboard pins to keep a structure as large as ours together would have been difficult, so we opted to stitch the components of the boat together. Most of the stitching on the boat is a simple running stitch, as can be seen in the image above.

Cardboard Stichting

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Racing & Building Again

The New Shell

Lesson 03: Structures class matters The photo below proves this point. Structures matters.

Loading matters. While the original boat raced successfully for 2 years without needing any repairs, we wanted to do something new in 2019. Queue building the X-wing. For the X-wing to look proportionally correct the boat would need to be ran backwards, so we turned the boat around, built a new bow and added wings and cannons to the back. I built the R2D2 droid (pictured on the first page) out of an old grill. With the new Star Wars themed shell, we were no longer able to load the boat the way it was designed. Instead, dad and I would have to sit side by side in the middle of the boat, forming a concentrated load at one of the most important structural braces in the boat. As you can see from the photo below, the improper loading led to the boat bending at the center and ultimately failing in tension. While we were able to complete the race, the structure of the boat was compromised, and we had to recycle it.

The original design had the boat loaded with two people sitting one behind the other, effectively distributing the weight along the boat.

for Central and Northeast Missouri

RACE

YEAR

OCCUPANTS

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2017

3

2

2018

2

3

2019

2

4

2019

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The original boat.

The shell for the boat used the same joinery methods as the rest of the boat. No tape or glue, just stitching.

It was purely for decorational purpose and added nothing to the structure of the boat.

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The new design loaded the boat with both people sitting side by side on top of the largest brace that helped hold the boat together. This formed a concentrated load that exceeded the capacity of that brace

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