Science and Submarines

 The Philadelphia Science Festival, which began last weekend with a fair on the parkway, continues through this upcoming weekend and has brought with it many exciting activities to our museum. Down at our docks we have the AJ MeerWald of the Bayshore Discovery Project taking students out for educational sailing trips, and to accompany them we have guests from the Rozalia Project giving hands on lessons in environmental science.
Today, while our students from Urban Promise were here at the shop, they were able to go on our dock on the Delaware river and learn about the hazards of waterborn litter and the efforts that the Rozalia Project and others are doing to remediate them. Rozalia's remotely operated submarine is a great introduction for any student to marine technologies and environmental remediation. This certainly is a lesson they will not soon forget.

Rudders, steam, and milling wood! -Urban Promise

Today we learned about steambending. We also learned about the rudder of a boat and how it helps steer. We put wood through the planer to make it smooth and then drew on the pattern for the rudder.
-Danielle

Trebuchet you say! -CHAD

Today, we learned how to build a mini version of a trebuchet. We used cut blocks of wood, a ruler, screws, and a drill to help put it all together. Along the way we made numerous mistakes, but the question is will the mistakes effect the ability of the catapult? If you perfect a smaller model you can perfect a bigger version.

-Alexis DiBella

Solving Problems -CHAD

Marking the waterline with the help of a laser level.

Today, we we put a level waterline on a curved surface. We used a level, tape measures, pencils, batons, and a laser. It was awesome! We learned that in life you come across problems that you must solve.
-Jasmine Parker

Filling in the voids. -Urban Promise

This week we used putty to fill in the seams of the boat. We also used a mix of beeswax and rosin powder to fill in all the screw holes. We accomplished a lot by our strong effort of teamwork. I had a blast! :)
-Tiana

The whole team working together to fill the screw holes and seams.

Late Winter Row! -CHAD

The CHAD seniors joined us yesterday to take advatage our unseasonably warm Monday afternoon for a late winter row. Getting out in the fresh air did everyone a world of good and made for a nice introduction to the world of rowing.

 The day also marked the unofficial launch of our new dory which was powered by oars made by Wooden Boat Factory Students.




New Cheasepeake Light Craft Team Dory on its first voyage!

Caulking the seams. -Urban Promise

Brandon caulking a seam.

We learned about caulking the seams of boats with cotton and how to tie a bowline knot to help tie down boats or to tie a rescue knot.
                                                            -Brandon Benitez