MTU Concrete Canoe

Each year the MTU Concrete Canoe Team, along with 200+ other teams around the nation, design and build a concrete canoe which they take to a regional competition. We compete with teams from the lower peninsula and Ohio which means a lot of travel!

Every year we choose a theme that resonates with the attitude of the team. The boat's name, design and display as well as the presentation all tie into the theme. The team works all year and generally puts in over 3000 hours by the time competition rolls around.

Last year, we placed first at our regional competition which meant that we needed to pack everything and head to California! After many flights and our trailer driving across the country we were ready to compete with everyone. We came out with top 5 wins in each race and an overall placement of 9th out of 19 other schools from around the world. 

The competition has several categories that contribute to our final scoring rank. We write a technical report featuring all the processes utilized to create our prototype, as well as a materials notebook listing everything used in our canoe. At the competition, we give a themed sales-pitch styled presentation to the judges that highlights notable features and processes of our prototype. Our full prototype canoe is then displayed and judged resting atop custom themed stands and alongside a display that shows off more up close details of our prototype and processes, including a full-scale cross-section of our canoe. Additionally, there are 5 sets of races that showcase the boat’s performance abilities, featuring men’s and women’s sprint and slalom courses, and an extended co-ed sprint race.