"Louisiana State University"
(19th place overall; 17th in paper; 19th in presentation; 21st in product)

Presentation:

LSU was the first school to present and two male team members dressed in business attire gave the oral presentation.  They explained that data taken from Max Surf was input into an Excel spreadsheet to obtain critical parameters such as maximum compressive and tensile strength.  Graphics were placed on a blue background with yellow titles and white letters.

During the question and answer session, the judges pointed out that the specific gravity of sand was not specified in the design report and they asked the team how the mix proportions were computed.  Then, the team was asked how permeability was computed and how the dimensions of the boat were affected by race conditions.

The judges asked the team to comment on how their practice canoe compared to the real thing in dimensions, weight, and stiffness; and, what loading conditions were taken into account while determining critical parameters.

The team was asked what lessons they learned, what were the most successful portions of the project, and what they do differently next year.  Finally, he judges ended the session by asking the team if they had given any consideration to reducing their water to cement ratio below 0.88.

 The presentation was a little short giving the judges more time to field questions.

 Product:

Name: Tiger Torpedo
Length: 21'
Weight: 150 lb
Color: blue

Vital Stats:

Louisiana State University is located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The team has competed twice at the national level and proudly represented the Deep South Region.  LSU has one top ten finish to their credit and the Tigers highest finish to date was tenth in 1996.

Canoe/Materials/Facts:

LSU designed their canoe for better tracking, stability, and speed.  Their mix was lighter than water and they used stain to pigment their hull.