Student designs proved seaworthy during a recent engineering class activity held in the Sachem High School North swimming pool – a project that examined key properties of a successful sea craft. 

As part of the classroom lesson, students in Robert Wentzel’s engineering class explored buoyancy, stability and drag before they worked diligently to design cardboard boats that could successfully hold a student sailor. After constructing a prototype, students converted their calculations to build a full-scale version utilizing one 4-by-8-foot sheet of cardboard.

For the culminating event, each student group brought its boat to the pool for a friendly competition. If the boat floated, the students were given credit for buoyancy; if the boat did not flip, they were given a credit for stability; and, based on their placement in an elimination race, students earned points for drag. 

The winning entry in the race was the “SS Declan,” captained by Chris Sexton, Logan Theodorou and Matt Ingraphia.