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[ The challenge and teams | Result | Anoraks' diary | Maximus' diary | Science | Related links ]
Raising the bar
I arrived late at the hotel and had only just enough time to meet the other team, Paul, Dennis and Trickett who were team Maximus, a group of bicycle recyclers from Bath. I also met our expert, Rob Austin, an engineer from Oxford.
Rather worryingly, I found the rest of The Anoraks had been at the hotel bar all afternoon and were on good form. Unfortunately, our captain Geoff Turtell could not make it this time, so we have enlisted Andy Cross as a scavenger with Lyndon, leaving me as temporary captain.
Scull and sore bones
None of The Anoraks are made for early morning starts and this was no exception. We piled onto the bus with little enthusiasm for the day ahead. A decent breakfast went a long way toward pepping us up.
Robert and Lisa made their announcement, which, as usual, was packed full of alliteration. After a translation we discussed our challenge. We had to build an engine-powered rowing boat!
Rob Austin, our expert, had put a lot of thought into the mechanism involved in powering the oars and by doing so had eliminated most of the trial and error approach to the design.
A stroke of luck
Andy and Lyndon set off to scavenge and had soon found most of the materials we needed, including the engine, which came out of a Morris Minor. The major stumbling block was we had no hull.
Rob had thought an old oil tank would be an ideal starting point but there were none on the heap so we had to make do and mend the chassis from some sort of conveyor system. This had exactly the right dimensions but was made from 5mm steel and was more hole than hull.
With most of the parts to hand we set about welding, grinding and cutting in the uncharacteristically hot May weather.
A quick look next door showed that Maximus had found themselves a rather large boat, which put them way ahead in build time as we had to build a hull from scratch.
Rob was getting to grips with the finer points of his design as the rest of us worked on the hull. Andy was proving to be a valuable addition to the team and as the time ticked by we made surprising progress. When Robert called time we had only a couple of waterproofing jobs to do in 'tinkering time'.
We were all extremely tired and glad to retire to the hotel and get some rest before the test day.
That sinking feeling
The peace and quiet of the nature reserve was shattered by the Scrapheap teams arriving with their creations. Tinkering time started with us trying to get the boat into the lake. Then as soon as we got it in, we were trying to get it out to stop it from sinking!
The holes in the hull were welded up and a few voids filled with that wonderful expanding foam. It was very satisfying for us all to find that once watertight, it floated exactly at the calculated level … well almost.
Winning the toss, I decided to go first. Starting the engine and engaging drive was a big step and showed up a few flaws with build. But it was time to go.
Shock and oar
It worked! It was a bumpy ride with all four of us having our own jobs to do and we veered off course and had to abandon ship. In the second round, all I heard was Lyndon shouting that we had lost an oar. Then a few bangs and we lost some more. With half our vital parts on the bottom of the lake it was a dejected team that was towed back to the start.
The divers were dispatched to recover the oars and we set about beefing up our fragile rowlocks. Lots of welding later and we were ready for another go. This time it held together. It seemed to take an age to complete the course and we had to stop from time to time to give the engine chance to clear itself. Crossing the finish line with a cheer from the crew, we all were convinced that Maximus would complete the test in half the time.
We were wrong! The Anoraks return with Captain Geoff for the semi finals.
Marc Draper (Acting Team Captain)