Rocket Assisted Sailboat 

Design

As freshmen, my team of 6 engineering students were assigned to design, build, and race a sailboat.   It was discovered that the rules allowed rockets, and after a discussion with the professor, we decided to develop a sailboat that could use model rocket engines.  My responsibility was to design the hull, rocket launch tubes, and mast interface.  I was also responsible for all machining operations.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing of this boat was complicated due to it's small size.   The hull was 3d printed and coated in wax to waterproof it.  Next, the steel rocket tubes were added and sealed with epoxy.  The keel was epoxied into a slot that was printed in the hull to seal it.  

Analysis 

Analysis preformed include:

1. Bouncy analysis 

2. Stability analysis

3. Structural testing 

Testing

Results

This project was a valuable lesson in time management as well as the design process.  As we were freshmen when this was completed, it taught us the deign process.  Part of this projects was a 60 page deign report including a detailed drawing package, an analysis package, and a design justification section.  The final result of the project was valuable to us as well.  We learned that even when you do all the work, sometimes you miss something.  When testing our rockets in the water, a small amount of water leaked into the steel tube and ruined the primer for the rocket motor.  In addition, it was determined that rockets were not safe to use in the race due to the proximity to people.  As our leak was discovered less than 15 minutes before the race, the Apollo sailboat completed the first leg of the race and sunk on the return leg.  The lesson we learned from this is to test early and test often.