Racing Toward Victory: How LSLT Floated to 2nd Place
- Frank Deuter
- Jul 15
- 2 min read
In June, the town of Snow Hill held their second annual river raft race at Sturgis Park. As with last year, LSLT entered a raft to compete with a higher ambition to win this year.
Last year we came in 4th place, with a behemoth made of large, wood pallets and barrels. The design didn't have any hydrodynamics built in along with being well over 100 pounds! When wet after the competition, four of us could barely get the raft out of the river. Except for the barrels and the design concept, the raft was scrapped.
This year, we had two main goals: get the weight down and make it more hydrodynamic. We made a pair of cones out of one 2 of the barrels that we found leaking from last year along with getting the number of pallets from 6 to 4. We also added an open spot on the rear of the raft for future endeavors. Another major improvement was the use of foamboard instead of plywood to sit on. Not only was this easier to paddle on but half the weight. These design changes made it a bit faster in the water along with being able for 2 people to pick it up dry. Assembled in a week with a few months of mental design plans, the raft was ready for the races.
At the day of the event, we were in the first heat of regular completion, with a raft with a bike drive and our nemesis from last year the giant flamingo from Tides and Vine to note. We came in first during the first heat, however noticed that one of the barrels was taking on water, but not much we could do about it at that point. During the final round, we were against some steep competition, especially against a 3D printed raft from Tides and Vines that took over 600 printing hours to make! With the barrel taking on water and a far superior 3D printed raft, we came in second place. Though very excited about the 2nd place paddle, we already have ideas of how to design a better raft for next year and hopefully be on top of the podium!
