The ASNE competition is organized to further promote electric rather than non-renewable propulsion methods for waterborne transport. The competition itself involves the building and racing of a boat on a 5 mile course in Portsmouth, VA within a $7000 budget, including travel. The challenges associated with designing and building an electric powered boat from scratch are deciding on a power delivery system, designing a hull, and fabricating the boat itself. The first of the challenges, the power system, is arguably the most important part. The motor and battery must be powerful enough to move the boat at a sufficient speed, as well as light enough to operate efficiently. Since we chose the boat to be unmanned, a remote control system must be devised to maneuver the boat from the shore. There also needs to be a drive system that connects the motor to the propeller or jet drive with minimal mechanical loss. It is extremely important that the hull, the second challenge, protects the motor from water damage. An ideal hull is sleek, lightweight and has low drag to cut through the water fast and efficiently. Finally, the boat is made from scratch, so building and testing through trial and error are paramount for a quality finished product. All of these considerations were used to make our boat with a limited budget, so our cost effectiveness was extremely important in getting us this far. We have until June 28 to fully finish our boat and then bring it down to Virginia to race it.

Our team collaborated with Electrical and Computer Engineering 4 on this project.