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Operation Float

Museum in a Box–STEM Challenges:

The hull is the bottom of the ship.

Navy ships are made of iron metal, called steel. Hulls are regularly cleaned and coated with underwater coatings that stop things growing on the hull and help the ship move smoothly through the water.

Navy ships have V-shaped hulls which lets them cut through the water and move faster, as seen on HMNZS Te Mana’s picture above.

Hull shapes

Round bottom hull

Flat bottom hull

V-shaped hull

There are three basic shapes of hull.

Which one do you think would be the most stable and help the ship carry the greatest load?

Ship ballast

Ballast is extra weight added to the inside of a ship to increase stability. Navy ships use salt water pumped into ballast tanks at the bottom of the ship to make sure the ship doesn’t lean over to one side as they use up fuel or bring on supplies. HMNZS Te Mana has seven salt water ballast tanks in its hull.

Ship keels

A ship’s keel is the main back bone of the ship running down the middle of the hull. Extensions are added to this or to the hull to help with stability. Some are fin shaped and called stabilising fins. Stabilising fins move up and down to stop the ship rolling from side to side, like fins on a fish.

If you look really closely can you spot the stabilising fins on Te Mana from the picture above?

Operation Float: Challenge

Download PDF file

Mission:

Shape your foil rectangle into a ship that will take the most weight.
Make a foil ship that will take the most weight and can stand a large wave made by dropping a heavy object into the water next to the ship.