#BoatcrewBeach Driftwood Engineering Contest

Turn What The Flood Left Behind Into Something That Brings People Together

In 2025, devastating floods struck Texas, taking lives, impacting families and communities, and sending an enormous amount of driftwood and debris downstream. Much of that material eventually made its way to the Texas coast and onto our beaches.

More than a year later, our coastline is still carrying reminders of that tragedy.

During the #BoatcrewBeach Clean-Up and Concert on September 19, 2026, we want to do more than simply clean up the shoreline. We want to take some of what the 2025 floods left behind and transform it into something positive.

That is the purpose of the Driftwood Engineering Contest.

Teams will work together to use driftwood found along the beach to engineer creative, functional gathering and sitting areas. It is an opportunity to clean our coast, work together, honor the lives and communities impacted by the 2025 floods, and demonstrate how something left behind by tragedy can be transformed into something that brings people together.

Check-In Location

ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST CHECK IN AT:

Quintana Beach County Park Check-In
330 5th Street
Quintana, TX 77541

This includes Driftwood Engineering Contest participants and General Public Beach Clean-Up volunteers.

Event Schedule
8:30 AM - Driftwood Engineering Contest Check-In Opens

Engineering Contest teams may begin checking in early at 8:30 AM at:

Quintana Beach County Park Check-In
330 5th Street, Quintana, TX 77541

Teams may begin working on their builds after checking in.

The general public will help pick up any remaining trash along the beach from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM while Engineering Contest teams finish their builds.

12:00 PM - Building Ends & Judging Begins

All Driftwood Engineering Contest builds must be completed by 12:00 PM.

Teams should have their construction areas cleaned, equipment removed, and creations ready for judging.

The Challenge

Use driftwood found along the beach to engineer a functional beach gathering area or memorial art piece. Build a bench. Create seating. Build a table. Create a ground-level gathering area. Or come up with something we haven't even thought of.

Cut it. Move it. Shape it. Fit it together. Engineer it.

The challenge is figuring out how to build something useful without bringing additional building materials onto the beach.

Contest Rules
1. Use What the Beach Gives You

Your creation must be constructed from driftwood and materials found on the beach during the #BoatcrewBeach Clean-Up. Do not bring lumber, hardware, rope, cable, brackets, or other construction materials onto the beach for your build.

2. Engineer the Driftwood

• This is an engineering contest. Teams are encouraged to cut, notch, shape, interlock, stack, balance, brace, wedge, or otherwise engineer pieces of driftwood so the structure holds itself together.
• The challenge is not simply what you build. How you figure out how to build it is part of the competition.

3. Found Trash May Be Repurposed

• Articles of trash discovered on the beach during the clean-up may be creatively repurposed as part of the engineering build when they can be used safely.
• Nothing may be brought to the beach specifically to serve as building material. If your crew finds something useful while cleaning the beach and figures out a safe way to incorporate it into your design, that's part of the challenge.

4. Don't Leave New Trash Behind

• No screws, nails, bolts, brackets, rope, cable, wire, manufactured fasteners, or other construction materials may be brought onto the beach for the build.
• We are here to remove trash from the beach—not introduce materials that could eventually become more trash.
• Anything brought to the beach for operating equipment, transporting materials, or completing the build must leave with your team.

5. Build Something Functional — But Keep It Grounded

• Teams are challenged to create something people can actually use and enjoy.
• Examples include seating, benches, tables, ground-level gathering areas, and other creative functional designs.
• No roofs, shade structures, elevated platforms, towers, arches, suspended objects, or overhead structures are permitted.
• We don't want anything remaining on the beach that could later collapse or fall on someone.

6. Tools, Chainsaws & 4x4 Vehicles Are Allowed

• Teams may use hand tools, power tools, chainsaws, 4x4 vehicles, trailers, winches, tow straps, and other appropriate equipment to cut, move, shape, and position driftwood.
• Larger pieces of driftwood may be moved into position using 4x4 vehicles.
• Tools and equipment are there to help you engineer the materials already on the beach. Tools, straps, chains, cables, and other equipment used during construction cannot become permanent parts of the finished build and must leave the beach with you.
• Teams are responsible for providing and safely operating their own tools, vehicles, and equipment.

7. Protect the Beach

• Do not disturb dunes, vegetation, wildlife, fencing, signs, or protected areas.
• Driftwood should only be collected from appropriate areas of the beach. Vehicles and equipment must remain in areas where they are permitted.

8. Safety Around Equipment

• Chainsaws, 4x4 vehicles, power tools, winches, and other potentially hazardous equipment should only be operated by individuals capable of safely using that equipment.
• Spectators and children should remain clear while equipment is operating or while large pieces of driftwood are being transported, pulled, lifted, cut, or positioned.

9. Build It Safe

• Safety is part of the engineering challenge.
• Finished creations should be stable, ground-level, and designed with the understanding that members of the public may encounter them after the #BoatcrewBeach Clean-Up is over.
• Do not create obvious collapse, falling, climbing, entrapment, sharp-edge, pinch-point, or other hazards.
• Any trash incorporated into a build must be safe for its intended use and cannot have exposed sharp edges, broken glass, protruding metal, or other obvious hazards.
• Think like an engineer: Don't just ask whether it works while you're standing there. Ask whether it will still be safe after you walk away.

10. Work as a Crew

• Creativity, ingenuity, problem-solving, engineering, and teamwork are all part of the competition.
• Get your family involved. Get your friends involved. Get your crew together.
• See what you can engineer with what the beach gives you.

11. Clean Your Construction Area

• When your build is complete, all tools, equipment, fuel containers, tow straps, chains, unused materials, cutoffs, packaging, and anything else your team brought onto the beach must leave with you.
• Any trash collected during the clean-up that is not safely incorporated into the finished creation should be properly disposed of.
• We are here to leave the beach better than we found it.

12. Remember Why We're Doing This

• The driftwood along our coast serves as a reminder of the devastating Texas floods of 2025, which took lives and impacted families and communities across our state.
• Please approach the project with respect for the people and communities affected by that tragedy.
• The purpose of this contest is to take something left behind by tragedy and use service, teamwork, creativity, and ingenuity to transform it into something positive - a place where people can sit, gather, and enjoy the Texas coast together.

Judging

Judging begins at 12:00 PM.

Each team's creation will be judged on:

• Engineering & Ingenuity
• Functionality
• Creativity & Originality
• Ability to Make the Driftwood Support Itself
• Creative Repurposing of Materials Found During the Clean-Up
• Safety & Stability
• Teamwork
• Overall Design

Special consideration will be given to teams that solve difficult engineering problems using only what they found on the beach.

Prizes

Trophies will be awarded to the Top Three Driftwood Engineering Teams.

🥇 1st Place
🥈 2nd Place
🥉 3rd Place

Clean It Up. Engineer Something Amazing. Party With A Purpose.

Concert & Celebration at Sharkies Surfside: 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM

BoatcrewBeach.com

#BoatcrewBeach | #BoatcrewFamily

Faith • Family • Freedom • Fun

Captain Matt and The Boatcrew - A Band That Parties With A Purpose