Hey, those cardboard boats actually worked

By Jon Bodell - Jun 28, 2016 | 0 comments

Claire Lund, mother of Zach and an engineer who helped throughout the whole process, pushes Zach out into Little Squam Lake. At this point, it was official: the boats are in fact seaworthy (or at least lakeworthy). (JON BODELL / Insider staff)

Here are the two finished products. The cardboard was painted with a waterproof paint, which is where the white color comes from. (JON BODELL / Insider staff)

Preparing the maiden voyage. (JON BODELL / Insider staff)

Zach Lund and Jack Brown enjoy the fruits of their labor with a little bumper boat action. Neither craft sustained any real damage despite the rough play. Nice work, kids!

A few weeks ago, we checked in with third- and fifth-grade students at Christa McAuliffe School who were building some life-sized boats out of cardboard.

That was fun and all, but we know you really wanted to see the end result. That’s why we trekked up to Ashland (don’t tell our bosses we snuck out!) recently to see how they would fare in the water.

Both boats passed the test with flying colors, floating with ease while supporting a third-grader. Students Jack Brown and Zach Lund took the maiden voyages, each lasting about 20 minutes.

Bonnie Larochelle, a third-grade teacher at Christa McAuliffe, led the trip to her lake house where the whole third grade partied the day away.

All of the kids – and adults, for that matter – were really impressed with how well the boats worked.

Goes to show you can do anything if you set your mind to it, kids.