7P6 Boats

First I made a boat out of tinfoil. It held 248 pennies. Then, I made a boat in Tinkercad to be 3D printed. I tried to make it look like a flat-bottom boat because when I was researching boats for this project, I read that this shape was stable an good for holding weight. My 3D boat held 124 pennies.

I learned about boats during this project. I learned about different hull shapes and the benefits of each. I learned that a boat floats until it's weight is more than the weight of the water it displaces. I also learned how to use Tinkercad to create more complex shapes out of basic shapes.

This project is tied to a few of the MITECS standards. One of these standards is Empowered Learner. During this project I had to decide what type of boat I wanted to build, and then figure out how to do that. This project is also tied to Knowledge Constructor. On the MICTECS website under Knowledge Constructor, it says that students "Plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual and creative pursuits." Before beginning to build the design for my boat. I researched boats. I found out what makes a boat float, and researched different types of boats to decide what design would be best for my purposes. A third standard this project ties to is Innovative Designer. On the MITECS website, under Innovative Designer, is says that students "Select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks. I used Tinkercad to create my boat. I had to consider the size restrictions.

There were no shapes in Tinkercad that were even close to what I was going for. This was a bit of a challenge for me. When I first began, I found that I had forgotten how to group shapes together. I found instructions on Tinkercad that helped me to figure this out. Throughout the process of building my design, I had to figure out how to create the shape. I figured out how to change a shape by using another shape as a hole to cut off part of hat shape. I figured out how to use the shapes I had already created to create a sort of template for other shapes I needed to add. Through a bit of trial and error and some problem solving, I was able to overcome the challenge of creating the shape that I wanted.

Our boat seemed quite heavy. If I could do something differently, I would want to try to make the fill a little lighter. That way the boat would have more air trapped inside of it. This would make the boat less dense, therefore making it float better and hold more weight.

During this project I learned about boats and building things. This might help if I wanted to design boats as part of my future job. I learned about what makes boats float and the benefits of different shapes. This would be useful because I need to know that if I'm going to build boats.