Events

Concrete Canoe Club has been a CCE club for over 45 years at Oregon State University.

Every year we design a canoe out of concrete, build it, write an academic paper about it, and attend a conference in the Northwest region of similar teams from other colleges which have done the same.

The boats all must be positively buoyant which means that we cannot simply rely on the displacement of water to keep us afloat the way something like an aircraft carrier would. Our concrete contains lightweight aggregates such as expanded glass beads, and more recently, cork to help us stay on top of the water. 

At each conference we attend we deliver a presentation with our paper explaining the year's practices and how we addressed the RFP. Then, in the races section, we "swamp the boat" completely submerging it below water to prove its buoyancy. We then partake in several races, both coed and divided by sex. The boat has to maneuver a series of sprints, slaloms, and straightaways in the races.

The process is a year long effort from the entire club to make sure that our design is up to snuff, our concrete mix will withstand the loads we plan to put it under, our aesthetics team can make it look like more than a floating rock, our paddlers are ready to race the boat we create, our academics section can eloquently write about how we have put it all together, and that we uphold the reputation of the team as a whole. 

Because of the multifaceted nature of the team, our recruitment is always looking for members from a diverse background of majors, although the majority of our participants are civil engineering or civil engineering adjacent. 

We would like to thank you for stopping by our virtual corner and, as always, go beavs.