The Concrete Canoe Design Team races at Little Prairie Lake on Saturday April 23, 2016. Sam O’Keefe/Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology’s Concrete Canoe Design Team earned fifth place at the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2017 Mid-Continent Student Conference, which was held April 21-22 at the University of Arkansas.

For the competition, the team designed, built and then raced a “lightweight” concrete canoe that could remain buoyant when completely submerged in water, was strong enough to hold several paddlers and could easily maneuver through the water.

After passing a “swamp test,” designed to test the buoyancy of the canoe, the team then raced it in short-distance and endurance events. Each team was also judged on its engineering reports, a presentation and displays that illustrated the manufacturing process.

This year, Missouri S&T’s canoe was built using a repurposed mold from a previous year. It was approximately 18 feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 15 inches deep. The canoe was made of a mixture of Portland cement – the same material found in sidewalks – ceramic air-filled bubbles, carbon fiber and repurposed coal ash.

To learn more about the team, visit facebook.com/MissouriSTConcreteCanoe.