The students designed and built their float
using LEGO Motorized Simple Machines. The float features a pawl and
racket on the winch to the anchor and a steering column in the front.
There is also room for hauling supplies from the ship. The students
tested for seaworthiness by placing the raft in water under various conditions.
These two fifth grade students are the builders
of the raft. The raft will be displayed in our LEGO Dacta box.
Davis Creek Elementary's
Miss Adventure "Float"
Surviving the terrible storm is only the beginning
of my story. I have been stranded on what seems to be a deserted island.
Fortunately, the wreckage of The Miss Adventure is hung up on a reef.
My first challenge was getting supplies from the ship to the shore. This
is what we did...
We thought of the design and drew it on paper
and then built it. Next, we tried out the model. We placed
the model in a bucket of water to test its seaworthiness. Some of
our classmates swished the water around and it looked like a tidal wave!
It was rather scary looking. The boat has to be stable in rolling
waters to be useful in tranferring the supplies from the ship. Our
boat proved to be reliable. The boat must carry all the supplies
from the wrecked ship to the island before they were sunk forever.
You have to have patience and persistence to make LEGOCAD work properly.
Sometimes we had to build supports for the winch to work down to the level
we wanted to place it. Then we had to delete those extra pieces.
Sometimes the pieces don't go where you want them to go and sometimes you
get mad. The wheels on the bottom are to make it float.
The anchor is to make it stop in the water where you want.
We built a pawl and ratchet so the anchor does not just drop straight down.
