Wanganui Intermediate school had an array of student science projects on display for their science fair last week.
Twelve-year-old Taylor Watson completed a project on how boats stay afloat.
"I went on a cruise with my family last year and we went to Australia, New Caledonia and Vanuatu," he said.
"I wondered about how the ship stayed afloat and I was going to do some research, but I was too busy having a good time."
Taylor says he thought about it again when he needed to do the assignment and undertook some practical research as well as searching online.