"Florida Institute of Technology"
(13th place overall; 13th in paper; 18th in presentation; 12th in product)

Presentation:

Florida Tech represented the Southeast and made their sixth national appearance.

Florida Tech relied on 3 people to make their presentation; 2 men and 1 woman.  The presenters were dressed in business casual and the presentation was business oriented.  The team used 1 screen and did not include any videos.

After a brief introduction, the team outlined their goals.  They began by describing their hull design and elaborated on the attributes of the design including the use of foot braces and their effect on performance.  

Then it was on to mix design.  The team elaborated on their constituents and explained why fly ash is important to the design to increase air content and reduce weight.  

The team elaborated on their reinforcement scheme and outlined their solution to meet the service loads.  They explained how they improved on the structural performance and elaborated on the innovations made.

After giving details on the construction techniques, the team brought their presentation to conclusion.

 Questions and Comments:  

• How did you control your cooling cycle to avoid cracking?
• Did you do a structural analysis to assess the affect of incorporating foot braces?
• Why was your factor of safety so high in your structural analysis?
• What was the role of your subcontractor in fabricating your mold?
• Why were there no activities listed in the schedule for the month of December?
• Do your knee braces create any problems and how did you modify your design to avoid them?
• Why did you incorporate such a large rocker into your boat?
• How did you arrive at the figure of ¾” for increasing the freeboard?
• Explain the liquid fiber used in the mix.   

Product:

   Florida Tech fielded "Double Take."
Length: 19.42'
Weight: unknown
Color: blue, white and red

Tech’s hull was reinforced using 2 layers of carbon fiber mesh and strengthened with pre-stressed steel cables.  Matrix materials included Siscor spheres and glass bubbles.

The team focused on hydrodynamic design and structural analysis and baked their hull in order to decrease weight.

Vital Statistics