The main priority of the 2008 hull design team was to improve turning from last year’s canoe, Cerulean. The team also thought that the ideal canoe should not sacrifice Cerulean’s incredible acceleration and aesthetics. In addition, the team made it a goal to improve the top speed of the canoe. A few small modifications to the shape made all of this possible simultaneously, by displacing more water per unit length and depth.

Giving the canoe a wider forward half and a different rocker profile allowed it to displace the weight of the paddlers without sinking as far into the water. This improved the prismatic coefficient (and therefore top speed), lessened the wetted surface area (thus reducing drag at all speeds), and improved turning by allowing the canoe to sit higher in the water. At the same time, a redesigned bow should yield acceleration identical to Cerulean, and should significantly improve the length to beam ratio. Of course, as with all modifications, there are tradeoffs to these improvements.  But according to our analysis, the 2008 hull design should be the fastest Nevada canoe yet.  The 2008 Nevada Concrete Canoe Team proudly presents (a poorly rendered edition of) Argentum: