Bradley’s Concrete Canoe team is hoping to float above the competition at a concrete canoe-building contest held April 15 to 17. In the past two years, the number of Bradley participants has increased from three to 13.
The team, comprised of engineering students, competes in the Great Lakes Conference, which includes 18 schools in the Midwest. Teams that place in the top five move on to the national competition. Last year, Bradley finished 14th.
The contest is broken down into rowing, presentation, design paper and final product display.
“Last year, our concrete was very light, but it wasn’t strong enough,” project manager and junior civil engineering major Paul Henke said. “We needed to reinvent ourselves and find new materials to use. We’ve also been redesigning our concrete mix. We basically started from scratch.”
According to Henke, the team has decided on a mix and is waiting to see what strength they can get out of it. A recent test showed a strength of 1,477 pounds per square inch (PSI) compared to last year’s 150 PSI.
“Our concrete is already much stronger,” Henke said. “The rest of it comes down to improving our curing process and our staining and sealing process.”
In order to cover the cost of new materials, the team set up a GoFundMe online fundraiser. Henke said his goal is to raise $1,000, which would cover about 85 percent of the budget.
“Our American Society of Civil Engineers chapter has a bank account, so we have enough money to cover our expenses this year, but we are trying not to drain our funds every year,” Henke said. “We are trying to be more self-sustaining every year instead of relying on the fundraising we did years ago.”
In order to prepare for the April competition, the team will mix the concrete and form the canoe in early December, and the canoe will cure over winter break. After break, the members will separate the canoe from the Styrofoam, sand it, paint it and work on a display table and presentation.
“I want to have all of that done by March so we have a buffer,” Henke said. “There is still a lot to do that we can’t get started on yet, and planning is good, but it can only get you so far.”
Henke said he hopes his team will place better than last year and finish around 10th place or higher at the competition.
