ENGR101

Assignment 4 Cover Sheet

Individual Design & Build: The Aluminium Foil Boat

Name:

ID Number:
Username:
Design Studio (Workshop) number:
Due Date and Time: Tuesday 6 May 2014, 5 pm

I confirm that the submission attached to this cover sheet is entirely my own work (apart from
general verbal discussion with other students).

Signed: _____________________________

Date and Time Received

(College Use Only)

Individual Design
and Build:
Aluminum Boat

ENGR101
Assignment 4
Jacob Darby
University of Canterbury
May 1st 2014

Summary
Boats are manufactured and sold all around the world thus their individual
construction is essential. Dependent on the purpose of the boat its shape
may be altered whether its used to carry a large weight or is built for speed
the manufacturing of the boat is essential. The problem is to design and
build a boat using only aluminum foil that can hold coins that worth ten New
Zealand dollars for one minute. Three different boat designs where sketched
and built using the same net area of aluminum foil for fair testing to be in
place. For the first test using a net area of 100cm2 all three designs failed,
however in increasing the net area to 200cm2 and ensuring the way in which
the coins were stacked was consistent it was the flat hull design which
could withhold the most weight.

Problem Statement
In full the problem states that individually you must design, build and
successfully test a boat solely made of the minimum amount of aluminum
foil possible to hold ten New Zealand dollars worth of coins for at least sixty
seconds. The solution will highlight which shape of boat can withhold the
most mass due to only its unique design as the amount of aluminum foil is
constant between various boat shapes. In terms of the specifications of the
experiment we must ensure all boat shapes are being tested in a fair fashion,
thus the coins must all be stacked the same on the boat for example you
cannot stack all coins one on top of the other for one boat and then put them
in 4 different stacks for the another boat shape. To continue the way in which
the coins and the boat are placed in the water must be the same throughout
the experiment, decide whether you place the boat in first then the coins in
the boat or put both the boat and the coins in as one and this must be the
same throughout. Following this are the limitations of the test would be
involving possible leaks and punctures in the boat considering aluminum foil
is easily ripped. To continue the complexity of certain designs would limit
what can be built using aluminum foil the more complex ones being mere
impossible to make using the materials restricted to. Finally creating boats
that are exactly the same to how they were designed, even in the case of

simple structured boats achieving perfect symmetry, lengths and thus

stability will be a difficulty.

Research and Investigations

First the lightest combination of coins to give a value of ten dollars must be
established.(1)
Coin type (New
Zealand)

Diameter (mm)

Mass(g)

Ten cents
Twenty cents
Fifty cents
One dollar
Two dollars

20.50
21.75
24.75
23.00
26.50

3.30
4.00
5.00
8.00
10.0

Figure 1 : New Zealand coin individual diameters and masses

Calculations of the construction of 10 dollars:

1. As hundred ten cent coins is ten dollars - (100) (3.30) = 330grams
2. As fifty twenty cent coins is ten dollars - (50) (4.00) = 200grams
3. As twenty fifty cent coins is ten dollars (20) (5.00) = 100grams
4. As ten one dollar coins is ten dollars (10) (8.00) = 80 grams
5. As five two dollar coins is ten dollars (5) (10.0) = 50grams
Thus in conclusion the lightest combination of coins to give a value of ten
dollars is five lots of two dollar coins, therefore the boat must hold 50grams
for sixty seconds.

Buoyancy force is a key factor in determining the type of boat shape which
will withhold a large weight. Taking the forces acting upon a real ship we can
assume these same forces are present in the aluminum foal boats being
tested just very minimal in comparison. For a ship to stay afloat the
buoyancy force acting on the ship must be greater than the weight force
acting down.
Buoyancy Force

As seen in Figure 2 the buoyancy force is

weight thus allowing the object to float, if

Weight Force

greater than the

the weight
succeeds the
Figure 2: Relationship between Buoyancy force and
buoyancy force
Weight in a floating object.
the object will sink (2). According
Archimedes
principle the buoyancy force is equal to
the weight of the
water displaced by the object (3). Thus it
is predicted that
the boat shape which has the capacity to displace the most water will hold
the most weight. Therefore out of the three boat shapes chosen the long
wide hull construction of the flat hull design will consequently have the
greatest maximum buoyancy force allowing the boat to carry the most
weight.

It is a common misconception that all light objects will float on water and all
heavy objects will sink. However this is wrong it is in fact the density of the
object under examination which determines whether an object will float in
water or not. As we know density is the amount of mass per unit volume,
thus the boats density must be less dense than the density of water which is
1.00gram/cm3. This can be calculated for all boat shapes before tested in
water so with this you can predict whether the boat will float or not.

Alternative solution
First design- This initial design was a canoe shape with a rounded keel hull.
This was the first shape used due to the boats depth. This is also a very
common shape for a boat thus was a reason for its choice. The boat was
tested using 10 by 10 cm foil and failed sinking immediately when placing
coins in one by one the canoe would be unstable and sink on one side. In
doubling the aluminum foil used to 10 by 20 cm and placing the coins in the
boat first and then the boat and the coins together in the water using a
spatula place the boat in the water in the most stable way, the boat held all

5 two dollar coins for 60 seconds. Using increments of 20 cent pieces the
boats maximum weight was found to be 58grams (2 additional 20 cents
coins) before sinking. Although on paper it seemed the boat would hold more
load due to a high maximum buoyancy force as in design two the boat was
unstable and hard to design with perfect symmetry making it a less viable
choice.

d
1.18
d

As seen from a frontal view of

the canoe shaped boat its
shape is very deep a factor
thought to allow the boat to
carry a large weight before
sinking. (d= 2.65cm) which is
the diameter of a 2 dollar coin.

The net
design if the
10 by 20 cm aluminum foil. After this all sides
are folded up
and the canoe is
5d
complete.

The canoe is also very long

meaning it can hold 5 coins in
a row one end to the other.

5d
1 folds
on each
side

10c
m

20
cm
Second design- The flat hull design (5) being the most successful design in holding
the most weight has two distinctive features it is both very shallow and has a large
surface area in contact with the water meaning it is both long and wide. As with the
first design the flat hull design sunk using 10 by 10 cm net foil and individual
placing of the coins in the boat thus the same method was carried out with 10 by

20cm net foil as in the design one this is also used in design three. With this the flat
hull design managed to hold five 2 dollar coins for sixty seconds with a maximum
weight of 108.9grams before sinking. Furthermore unlike in design one the boat was
easier to create in a stable symmetrical way due to its

3d
0.95
d
3d

With a small depth of 1.175cm

(0.44d) allows the boat to
have a large base surface area
in using the same net area of
aluminum foil.

2d

2 folds
all
around

Third design- This design was chosen in attempt to merge both design one and
twos boat shapes together. It has a parallelogram structure which is equally deep
as it is wide and long. However in practice this boat structure was the weakest
lasting only 7.25 seconds carrying five two dollar coins it was an unsuccessful.
Stacked again so that all coins are touching the base of the boat thus no coins are
stacked on top of one another, stacking processes which have been deliberately
kept constant throughout the testing of all three designs for the tests to be fair.
d
3d

Evaluation Matrix
Property

Weight

Canoe

Score
Minimiz
es
Potential
for leaks
Maximu
m load
held
Stability
Support
s
required
load
(50g)
Total

Flat Hull

Weighte
d score
8

16

20

3
5

3
5

9
25

5
5

15
25

4
1

12
5

58

Score

Parallelogram

Score

Weighte
d Score
10

Weighte
d Score
4

70

25

Figure 3: Shows an evaluation matrix to aid recognizing the best suited design to answer
the given problem

(4)

Recommended solution
The focus of the solution was towards finding which shape boat has the
highest ability to hold a largest maximum load with a constant net area of
foil. With focusing on the maximum load instead of varying the net area of
aluminum foil to the minimum area to have only the capability to hold five
two dollar coins the net area of each boat was kept at a constant 200cm2,
thus the boat shape which held the most load would be concluded to be the
best and most effective solution in solving the problem. Therefore it was
determined that the second design (flat hull design) due to its high
maximum buoyancy force both in calculation and in practice. As earlier
discussed the buoyancy force counteracts the weight of the boat and thus
the greater it is the more weight a boat can hold. Using Archimedes principle
the buoyancy force of the boat was calculated as shown:

Total Volume of Flat Hull Design: V= 2d 3d 0.95d (where d=2.65cm)

V= 106.074cm3
Where 1cm3=1gram
Therefore the maximum amount of water the boat can displace is
106.074cm3 thus the maximum mass displaced by the boat is
106.074grams. This confirms the maximum load calculated in testing the
boat of 108.9grams.
From this value we can calculate the buoyancy force, Archimedes principle
states that the buoyancy force is equal to the weight displaced by the boat.
Thus the maximum weight displaced is:
W= mg= (0.106074)
(9.81) = 1.041N is the
boats maximum
buoyancy force (6).

Construction,
Analysis and
Testing
The boat was
constructed using
20cm by 10cm of
aluminum foil which was folded down to give the dimensions of 2.52cm by
7.95cm by 5.30cm. Each side was folded to increase the stability of the boat,
furthermore each corner was folded inwards in the shape of a triangle to
reinforce the corners and prevent any leaking of water which would tamper
the results. Alterations were made in placing the boat in the water to ensure
it was placed stably. The boat being placed in the water with a spatula
carefully instead of by hand where it would fold and break apart. Furthermore
the water was fresh not sea water or other denser liquids which would allow
the boat to float more readily. The boat was tested three times with the 50

grams of coins and it maximum load to ensure the test results were
accurate, the boat was left to dry between tests to confirm no water was
stuck to the boat that could weigh it down. Also noted that the test failed
with a 10 by 10 cm foil as the coins were forced to be stacked on top of one
another and the weight was concentrated in a single area making it unstable
and easily sunk. The results showed a large load capacity in comparison with
the other boats which was to be expected due to its large volume and stable
symmetrical shape.

Final Evaluation
In summary the design did solve
the problem within the
specifications and limitations. In
finding the best suitable boat
shape to hold a maximum load
the flat hull design did just that
holding up to 108grams worth of
coins without leaking or tipping to one side due to instability. Although
perhaps the shape of the boat would not work in real world designs for the
constraints of the experiment it was a success in its design for holding
weight. In repeating the problem researching more into a boat shape that
has a concave bottom rather than a flat to displace even more water and
allow the boat to carry more weight, further research could have also been
done in maximizing the volume of the boat to its full potential in order to
increase its overall maximum buoyancy force.

Personally the design process overall was helpful individual to me due to the
fact it helped my skills in carrying out a test in an in-depth manner, viewing
each aspect of the test from various angles to discover a reliable solution
within the specifications and limitations of the test. In terms of the tests
actual goal and indeed identifying what the true problem made it hard to
detect what way to steer the report was a difficulty. Furthermore the actual
building and testing of the boat posed accessional problems because of the
delicacy of the material in use. However inclusive the test and report
established good basic understanding in the field of individual build and
design.

References
(1)- Weights and diameters of NZ coins
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/notes_and_coins/coins/0101459.html

(2) Discussion of buoyancy force and its role in designing boats

http://ediacademy.com/di/201404/a_How_to_calculate_Buoyancy_force_.aspx

(3)- Archimedes principle and its application

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/archimedes-principle.html

(4)- Evaluation matrices by the Ucalgalary

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~design/engg251/First%20Year%20Files/eval_matrices.pdf

(5)- Designs for the hulls of boats

http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/keep-the-boat-afloat/

(6)- Buoyancy and gravitational forces on a boat and there calculations

http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?
url=collection/duk_/lessons/duk_float_mary_less/duk_float_mary_less.xml