T.J. Smull College of Engineering
Biggs Engineering Building
525 South Main St.
Ada, OH 45810
Phone: 419-772-2371
Email: engineering@onu.edu
Concrete Canoe
The use of concrete to build floating vessels is not new. In fact, this highly versatile construction material was used in 1848 when Joseph Louis Lambot built concrete boats for use on his estate in France. Some American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapters date their intramural concrete canoe races back to the 1960's. The University of Illinois - Urbana and the University of California - Berkeley both claim they held the first ASCE regional competitions in the early 1970's. In the more than 35 years since concrete canoe racing began, the efforts of students combining engineering excellence and hydrodynamic design to construct water-worthy canoes has culminated into an advanced form of concrete construction.
ASCE expanded its race endeavor to a national level in 1988 when concrete construction industry leader Master Builders, Inc. (MB) offered to become the sole corporate partner of the collegiate event. In its first year, 18 teams of enthusiastic civil engineering students from the nation's premier academic programs gathered at Lake Lansing, in East Lansing, Michigan, to test the waters of this innovative and educational sporting event. Increasingly confident in their concrete entries, the regional winners have continued to carry their canoes across the United States every year in their quest to become National Concrete Canoe champions.
Check out the current ONU ASCE concrete canoe information by going to this link: ONU ASCE
ONU is featured on "ConcreteCanoe.org" - the world's largest and most comprehensive data base on concrete canoeing! Check it out at concretecanoe.org.
