Over three days, our boats were tested in two side by side 2.72 m rain gutters. Competitors were drawn randomly out of a container and raced. Then there was a tournament-style competition for the first two days. On the third day, re-engineered boats could be retested. When the dust settled, an Avian boat built by Amanda Knowlton and Tennile Sturk came out on top on the third day. The Avian boat, both fast and capable of extending that speed over the length of the gutter and more, won the day. Of course, for the first two days, The Lego POS, built by Andrew Beckett and Ben Dyer, was on top. It wasn't incredibly fast, but it could go the distance.
Obviously, speed is a factor in deciding which boat would win the race, but most important was toatal work exerted (force over a distance).
Overall, boats with a propellor driven engine won out over paddle-wheel designs.
After the vacation, I will try to get the results of testing and display them here.
This is Amanda and Tennille's boat. Eventually, it came out on top. Awesome boat.
The Hershey's Milk Chocolate container on Josh P's boat was a nice touch, but that was its best feature. It never left the starting line.
Here is a picture of Matt and Piper's spoon wheel boat and Glenn Davis RP's 2 Pump leaving the starting line.
Steve Olson's boat, the Aries, is shown here actually winning a race! Apparantly, the unlucky name of the boat did not affect its performance.
Here is that little scrapper, the Lego POS. In first place for two days, it was dethroned by Amanda's and Tennille's boat.
More pictures will be up soon.