Category Archives: Concrete Canoe

Concrete Canoe, Environmental, Misc. PSWC Events, PSWC, Steel Bridge

Final PSWC 2014 Preparations

Gallery

All of our design teams are busy with last-minute preparations for PSWC 2014. We’re off to San Diego tonight, excited to compete!

  • Ben grinds down a piece of the steel bridge.
  • Ben grinds down a piece of the bridge.
  • The Steel Bridge team prepares to practice assembling their bridge.
  • The Steel Bridge team practices assembling their bridge.
  • Kelly holds the results of a failed concrete bowling ball test.
  • The Concrete Bowling Ball awaits its paint job.
  • The Environmental team’s system goes through a test run.
  • Cleaning the basement canoe area.
  • The space shuttle cut-away section, complete with cardinal red steel stands made from last year’s steel bridge.
  • Kelly and Lucy assemble the final product display table.
  • Admiring the completed canoe-staining.
  • DiSCovery II awaits its lettering.
  • Lucy applies a second coat of paint to the canoe letters.
  • Jake paints canoe letters.
  • Erin paints “Southern” onto the canoe.
  • Carefully painting lettering onto DiSCovery II.
  • Painting on the canoe & university name.
  • Erin paints lettering onto the canoe.
  • Touching up the canoe lettering.
  • Erin and Jessica discuss the status of the canoe finishing.
  • Jessica and Erin paint “DiSCovery II” onto the canoe.
  • Jessica carefully touches up the canoe lettering.
  • Painting lettering onto the canoe.
  • Removing a lettering stencil from the canoe.
  • Watching paint dry.
  • Touching up the canoe lettering.
  • Erin cuts out labels for the concrete aggregate samples for the display table.
  • Jessica goes into full-on artist mode while staining the canoe.
  • All of USC ASCE’s equipment and creations are safely packed into the U–Haul to head to San Diego.
  • WALL-E Looks over DiSCovery II and the rest of our gear in the U-Haul.
Concrete Canoe

Concrete Canoe Update

We’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on our concrete canoe and its auxiliary components over the past few weeks. Our cut-away section is a seven-foot-long space shuttle, complete with red steel stands (not pictured):

space-shuttle-section

Our two stands include a massive asteroid (made out of concrete, of course), and a special robotic guest:

asteroid-stand

We’re building some other cool stuff, including a canoe, of course, but you’ll have to wait until PSWC to see everything else. For now check out the construction pics:

  • Lucy and Kelly carve an asteroid out of Styrofoam.
  • Placing a concrete shell on the asteroid canoe stand.
  • Preparing to paint the asteroid canoe stand.
  • Team members admire the (shiny) DiSCovery I Practice Canoe as they remove it from the mold.
  • Re-lining the canoe with contact paper for the DiSCovery II pour.
  • Placing concrete.
  • A carefully orchestrated operation of mixing and placing concrete.
  • Mixing concrete for DiSCovery II.
  • Placing concrete in DiSCovery II.
  • Adding another layer of reinforcement (this time fiberglass).
  • Preparing to build a curing tent for DiSCovery II.
  • Assembling PVC pipes for the DiSCovery II curing tent.
  • Post pour-day-II celebratory team dinner!
  • Erin and Jessica assemble Styrofoam blocks to be cut into a space shuttle.
  • We just sanded a big block of foam into the shape of a space shuttle…
  • SC Traveler was finally removed from behind our building, to make room for DiSCovery I and DiSCovery II after PSWC 2014.
  • While SC Traveler was a great improvement for our 2013 canoe team, we’re hoping to reach new levels of success with DiSCovery II.
  • Preparing to place concrete in our space shuttle cut-away section.
  • Jessica sands sheets of Styrofoam into wings.
  • Freshly painted space rocks to accompany our asteroid stand.
  • Preparing to remove DiSCovery II from its mold.
  • Removing DiSCovery II from its mold.
  • Admiring our shiny new canoe.
  • DiSCovery II awaits sanding and staining.
  • Sanding the exterior of the canoe.
  • Canoe captain Jake sands the canoe, unafraid of the plentiful concrete dust.
  • Erin sands the canoe.
  • Tyler delicately brushes excess concrete dust off of the canoe.
  • Jessica meticulously sands the canoe.
  • Sanding the exterior of the canoe.
  • Erin (supposed to be working on the display board) says hi!
  • The first layer of staining is completed.
Concrete Canoe

Pour Day 2014

Gallery

Our 2014 Pour Day for Concrete Canoe went well, with three layers of concrete and two layers of carbon fiber grid reinforcement going into our homemade mold in about ten hours of work. Roughly fifteen members helped out including a few dedicated non-canoe-team helpers. We finished off the bulkheads, so the only remaining concrete placement will be for the edges and any patches.

  • Finishing off the mold, start time: 10:30am
  • Covering the mold with contact paper
  • The rush of helpers is here
  • Smoothing all the cracks
  • Laying ropes to gauge the concrete’s thickness
  • Waiting for concrete
  • laying more ropes
  • Mixing the first batch of concrete! Start time: noon.
  • Placing the first layer, in sections
  • Kelly and Noah placing the first layer
  • Smoothing the first layer of concrete
  • Smoothing the first layer of concrete
  • Preparing dry concrete mix in the mix room
  • Placing the first layer
  • Elise and Rosa, still mixing endless buckets of concrete
  • Lucy and Erin weight concrete ingredients
  • First layer of reinforcement, second layer of concrete
  • Still mixing concrete
  • Breaking apart fibers in the mix room
  • (late) lunch break: pizza!
  • Several people spent the whole day making concrete in the mix room!
  • Weighing stuff for concrete in the mix room
  • Completed first layer, with most of the second layer
  • Second layer in progress
  • Second layer in progress
  • Finishing the first layer on the ends
  • Working on the ends
  • Lucy and Kelly placing concrete
  • Second layer of reinforcement, third (final) layer of concrete
  • Waiting for more concrete
  • Donut break
  • Placing the final layer
  • Finishing the ends
  • Finishing the end
  • Spray-foaming the bulkheads into place
  • We’re done – time to build a canoe tent
  • Assembling PVC pipes for the tent
  • Finished canoe
  • Tented canoe, time to clean up!
  • Time for a celebratory meal – end time: 8:30pm
Concrete Canoe

Concrete Canoe Showcase

The Concrete Canoe Team has just launched a new showcase website for our Concrete Canoe! The site features a concise summary of each year’s canoe going back to 2011, including key pictures, the design paper, PSWC results, and more.

Now that 2014 is almost upon us we need your help to finish designing and to build our next canoe. If you’re interested in canoe email canoe@uscasce.com for more info on how to get involved!

Concrete Canoe, Environmental, PSWC, Steel Bridge

PSWC 2013 Summary

We’ve all recovered from PSWC 2013 (the ASCE Pacific Southwest Regional Conference) and are ready for a final summary. This year we co-hosted the conference, with most of the events taking place on the USC campus. Despite the added commitments of hosting, we were competitive in many events and made several improvements over last year.

Environmental Design Team

Our big win was our environmental team’s 1st Place finish! The team worked long hours and it paid off. Multiple design iterations, a large team, and excellent leadership enabled the group’s success. Since most of the team isn’t graduating yet, including the captains, we expect a strong showing for next year as well.

Our 2013 Environmental Design Team poses with their water distribution system at the PSWC Environmental Competition at Pardee Plaza on the USC Campus.

Our Environmental Design Team poses with their water distribution system at the PSWC 2013 Environmental Competition at Pardee Plaza on the USC Campus.

Concrete Canoe Team

Our Concrete Canoe made big improvements over our last several years’. For our seniors, this was the first time our canoe survived all the way until the final, coed race, when four people must race in the canoe at once. Naturally, our primary senior leaders celebrated our success by all racing together for the first time. Our final product was extremely buoyant and only faced minimal cracking issues (except during transportation). While we may not have had the prettiest canoe, it improved significantly over last year’s in aesthetics and we expect to improve further in coming years with the help of a larger team, better year-to-year knowledge transfer, and additional funding. A total of five schools were unable to race their canoes by midway through race day this year, so our solid (if heavy) canoe represents a huge accomplishment.

The 2013 Concrete Canoe Team poses with their USC-themed canoe, SC Traveler, after successfully finishing all five races at PSWC 2013.

The Concrete Canoe Team poses with their USC-themed canoe, SC Traveler, after successfully finishing all five races at PSWC 2013.
Photo © 2013 Lance Hill

Steel Bridge Team

The Steel Bridge Team also completed a successful final product at PSWC 2013. Our bridge team is also young this year and only one team member (our head captain) is graduating, so we’re expecting better and better bridges over the next few years. We hope to grow this team larger as well, which should help ensure that we have regular strong finishes for years to come.

The 2013 Steel Bridge Team poses with the assembled bridge after the PSWC 2013 competition, in front of Mudd Hall at Pardee Plaza on the USC campus. <br/>Photo © 2013 Lance Hill

The Steel Bridge Team poses with the assembled bridge after the PSWC 2013 competition, in front of Mudd Hall at Pardee Plaza on the USC campus.
Photo © 2013 Lance Hill

PSWC 2013 Rankings & Thanks

Overall, our conference rank for 2013 is 12th, a one-place improvement over last year, out of 18 competing schools. Detailed final scores and rankings information can be found here. But our biggest accomplishment is successfully co-hosting the conference. PSWC 2013 ran extremely smoothly thanks to the tireless work of our E-Board and PSWC planning committee, especially our Conference Co-Chairs Oscar and Theresa. Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we put on an amazing conference, while still faring well in competition!

Concrete Canoe, Misc. PSWC Events, PSWC

PSWC 2013 Day 2: Canoe Races

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Race day was a blast! In addition to the canoe races, the volleyball tournament, impromptu, mystery event, and surveying competition were held today, all at Santa Fe Dam. And, all 1,000 conference participants were treated to Doc’s cooking for lunch.

Photos by Lance Hill and various USC ASCE members (sorry, too many to credit individually).

  • Once again, we greeted KAP at 5am. Fortunately, we had already packed everything for race day.
  • Once we got to Santa Fe Dam, the canoe went straight into the water. It floats!
  • Swamp test: completely submerge the canoe to prove it can resurface. Our canoe floats too well to swamp…
  • Bailing the water from the canoe after the swamp test.
  • Canoe on the water
  • Getting ready for races.
  • First team goes out.
  • Can you find our canoe? (The yellow boat is the lifeboat, not the canoe)
  • One race down, four to go.
  • The canoe’s holding up remarkably well.
  • We discovered a fairly large crack that formed in transit. But it hadn’t propagated after the first race.
  • Heading out for the men’s slalom/endurance race.
  • Canoe still looks great.
  • Women’s sprints.
  • We were up against Cal Poly SLO in all of our heats…
  • Our canoe weighed in around 400 pounds, making straight steering nearly impossible.
  • SLO’s canoe was about 50 pounds.
  • Meanwhile, the volleyball tournament was happening, along with other events.
  • Oscar serves the ball.
  • We were somewhat competitive in the volleyball tournament but ended up losing our first match.
  • The lunch team prepares.
  • Doc (lesser known as Professor Wong) was recruited to cook for everyone.
  • Doc butchers slab after slab of meat and chicken.
  • 1,000 hungry engineers await Doc’s cooking.
  • Doc’s excellent lunch was a highlight of race day.
  • Afterword, Doc was unable to type our class notes for days because his hands were sore from butchering hundreds of pounds of frozen meat.
  • The canoe’s still solid.
  • The coed team heads out for our last race of the day.
  • This is the first time in several years that our canoe has made it all the way to the last, coed race.
  • Our senior leaders raced together for the first time.
  • Lining up at the starting line.
  • The coed race.
  • Coming in from the coed race, canoe still intact.
  • Three other schools dropped out throughout the day due to broken canoes, including one that split completely in half mid-race.
  • Our canoe made it all the way!
  • Our coed race team prepared to disembark.
  • Some water filled into the canoe during the races, but not much.
  • Thomas prepares to throw heasitant canoe captain Erin into the water after the last race.
  • Erin: “no! no! no! no! no!”
  • Everyone’s thrilled with our canoe’s success.
  • We brought the canoe out of the water to prepare to load up.
  • It takes the entire team to move the canoe, seeing as it’s around 400 pounds.
  • The canoe all ready to head back to USC.
  • But, upon arrival, we discovered that the ride home caused severe dual cracks.
  • The canoe cradle bent severely under the weight of the canoe, and didn’t properly secure it.
  • A closer look at one side’s crack. The damage ocurred right in the middle of the canoe.
  • Since it’s so hard to move the canoe back to the basement, we unloaded to the pavement.
  • The canoe’s final resting place.
Concrete Canoe, Events, Misc. PSWC Events, PSWC, Steel Bridge

PSWC 2013 Day 1: Canoe & Bridge Aesthetics

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The highlight of PSWC day 1 is the concrete canoe and steel bridge aesthetics competition. Since we’re hosting PSWC this year, the event took place at the heart of the USC campus, in Alumni Park. Various other events took place today, including the Environmental Design competition.

  • We’re all thrilled to see KAP at 5:30am
  • KAP was bustling with activity at this early hour
  • The bridge is ready for display
  • We had to fill 100s of gallons of water for the environmental competition, since we’re hosting
  • The environmental system heads up the lift
  • Erin rides a cart past Tommy Trojan. We had to get the cart back to KAP for another load of stuff somehow…
  • Pulling water to Pardee Plaza for Environmental Competition
  • Admiring our just-re-stained, barely finished canoe cross section while waiting for the lift
  • The Steel Bridge rides up the lift
  • EVERYONE had to be at KAP at 5:30 since Canoe, Bridge, and Environmental all had events starting at 7am. Oh, and did I mention we’re hosting?
  • Moving the canoe. I’m not getting into the process of getting it up on the lift…
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Rolling the canoe from KAP to Alumni Park
  • Stopping by the environmental competition to borrow tape.
  • The team prepared extensively for the competition this year
  • We also had turn all of that water into wastewater… since we’re hosting…
  • Canoe, up on the stands, ready for aesthetics work
  • Steel Bridge team assembles the bridge in alumni park
  • Steel Bridge team assembles the bridge in alumni park
  • Setting up for aesthetics.
  • Setting up swords under the bow and stern.
  • Our stuff, with Cal Poly SLO’s in the background. Their canoe budget is about 10x ours.
  • Many teams have lots of money for aesthetics, so they can create elabotate themes and amazing stands. We did pretty good with pretty much nothing.
  • As you can see by the lack of people on Trousdale, it’s still before 8am.
  • Assembling the bridge.
  • Our bridge, in front of SLO’s setup.
  • Our canoe stand features the trojan values and images that represent USC culture.
  • Our theme, SC Traveler, is in honor of our school since we’re co-hosting PSWC this year.
  • Our display board came out pretty good this year.
  • Bridge, Canoe, ready for judging.
  • The Canoe and Display.
  • Post-judging, the display is left up for viewing all day. It’s still just 9:30am.
  • Back at the environmental competition.
  • Our team talks with the environmental judges.
  • Back to supervise the canoe in the afternoon.
  • Now that the sun’s out, our cardinal and gold bridge and canoe really shine.
  • Thomas explains USC ASCE to campus passers-by.
  • The Canoe in front of Doheny Library.
  • Erin, Concrete Canoe Co-Captain, poses with the canoe
  • Erin, Concrete Canoe Co-Captain, poses with the canoe
  • Sian Poses with the canoe
  • Our Display from another angle
  • Our Display from another angle
  • Our Display from another angle
  • Our Display from another angle
  • Our Display from afar
  • Cal Poly SLO Canoe, front/right, our canoe, back/left
  • The Steel Bridge
  • The Steel Bridge
  • The Steel Bridge
  • Our other canoe co-captain is studying abroad in South Africa this semester. But he’s with us in spirit, and is pictured in the leftmost circle on our canoe stand.
  • The Steel Bridge
  • The Concrete Canoe Cutaway Section looked better and better as the day wore on, as the hours-old concrete cured…
  • The Steel Bridge
  • Time to disassemble the aesthetics display and get everything ready for tomorrow’s races.
  • Cleaning up. The steel bridge has once again been condensed to fit onto a single cart.
  • Clean up from afar.
  • We ran over to KAP to start loading the truck with stuff for race day (to be held at Santa Fe Dam).
  • Since we’re co-hosting, and in charge of lunch, we need to load tons of drinks and stuff in addition to the canoe.
  • Stuff waiting to ride up the lift.
  • Lots of drinks, and canoe paddling materials, await moving from the lift into the truck.
  • Where’s the food?
  • We have a special lunch planned.
  • Loading stuff into the truck.
  • Loading stuff into the truck.
  • Back at the Canoe.
  • We’re the only ones left.
  • One canoe, in Alumni Park.
  • Ready to load the canoe in the truck, we realized we need to cover some exposed reinforcement.
  • So, actually we had to make another last-minute concrete patch mix.
  • THIS is the latest we’ve ever put new concrete on the canoe, but at least it’s only a little.
  • The bridge rides back downstairs, and we’re ready to collapse, then get up at 4 again tomorrow morning.
Concrete Canoe, PSWC

Last Minute PSWC Prep

Aside

Everyone’s finishing up last minute details for PSWC 2013, which starts tomorrow. Canoe team wrapped up aesthetics, our display board and engineer’s notebook. But—in a concrete canoe first—we had to make one last batch of concrete. But don’t worry, it was just to re-finish the cross section. It would never work to put new concrete on the canoe this late in the game. Steel bridge team finished up bridge painting and did their display board tonight. And the environmental team finished strategizing for their 8am Thursday competition, while other team members created the display board and other documentation. Meanwhile, our e-board finished orchestrating all of the logistics for the conference (since we’re hosting). Everything’s coming into place, and we’ll be back at it bright and early (in like 4 hours) to get everything for the first day of competition.