Building a raft

[alopia]

Hello!

I am looking for assistance in designing a ... raft. I intend to use this raft to sail from Black Sea to Mediterranean Sea and even father to Atlantic ocean if possible.

I hope i will discover interesting information about raft designs, materials used in rafts, sails used for rafts and other useful info...

Is anybody here to help me with raft designs (even ancient ones) or raft related links?

I am thinking about 2 different ways to follow for my raft:
- first way is to build an "ecological" raft from any kind of waste i can find suited to this project
- second way to copy an ancient raft design

So if it happens for you to know more about rafts I hope you will be kind to share with me any information or link you have on this subject.

And now some raft characteristics:
Crew: at least 2 crew
Dimensions: 16 meters x 8 metters
Mast: 12 metters
Sails: around 90 sq m
Raft launching point: Romania, Constanta
Final destination: The Strait of Gibraltar
Days at sea: at least 3 months.

Thank you for listening to me.

[TeddyDiver]

Well thats about 2000 nm so with a raft maybe 2knots avarage makes 2000h/24h/day you might be about right in your estimate.. except without a tug you never get the Gibraltar.. not sure about Bosborous and how's the currents there..

4Kn, but only for 18miles, so, that does not add too much to the average speed.

[alopia]

Black Sea and Bosphorus currents are pretty suited to this goal. Here there is a map with main Black Sea currents.



Mediterranean currents and winds ... well i agree it's impossible to reach this goal. I spend a lot of time studing Mediteranean winds and i couldn't figure out a way of escaping Italy. It's possible to reach Creta island on a raft, but here you will face the first insane passage for a raft. It is still possible to escape Creta and go north to Italy I think. Let's say with the proper combination of currents and Bora and Sirocco winds i can reach Messina and go north to Livorno. From Livorno it is possible to catch a wind to Spain... until I reach Mistral wich will probably drop any raft on corsica Island.

However this is far enogh for any insane mind to dream of.

Talking about raft expeditions on Black Sea and Mediteranea. We all know this is not pacific and it's probably the worst seea you can chose for a raft expedition. This is why there where little attempts for such a expedition. But at least it will be interesting for historians to see if you can go on a primitive raft from Pontux Euxinus to Mediterranean Sea... There are a lot of theories and questions about the history of greece, Creta and a raft trip could add a piece of the puzzle. Discovering where your raft trip will end may help historians to determine people movement in ancient times...

Here there is: a simplified scheme of mediterranean winds and currents. I know the reality with this sea is far worst from those schematic maps.






And here there is the "impossible" path i was talking about.



Talking about the time needed, this is not important. I expect such a travel to last as more as the crew is able to go on. The goal is not just to reach a point but rather to see how father you can go on a raft in those seas. As i said before this may provide valuable information to historians studing ancient cultures in this area.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by alopia

The goal is not just to reach a point but rather to see how father you can go on a raft in those seas.

Thats the spirit!

[TeddyDiver]

Some african "adventurers" have done similar experiments

[rwatson]

You should look up the rafts built to travel the paciific - Kon Tiki and a lot of others. They could be 'steered' using 'daggerboards' inserted in gaps between the planks.

A junk raft - does that include old plastic drums? That might work

[alopia]

Yes rwatson Thor Heyerdahl is the king of raft expeditions.

I also have a lot of informations about other pacific expeditions. The problem is this area is way different than black/mediterranean seas and european cultures. For example I don't want to use materials like bamboo specific to other areas.

If i chose the old way i must use wood and materials from european mountains...

I am also thinking on old plastic drums. For the junk raft i will probably have to use a lot of metal to keep things together and thinking about this I tend to like more the ideea of a wooden raft than the appereance of a junk raft.

Talking about other European expeditions in black sea there was an raft expedition from Romania in 1978. It was named DACIA 2050 and those guys manage to advance 485 nm on black sea without any modern navigation tool on a wooden raft. Unfortunately they started the expedition late and they have to face autumn on black sea with very hard winds and winter coming closer so they doesn't reach their final goal: Istanbul city.

Today i've made a decision. It will be a raft made entirely by wood, with no metal pieces used in construction except from bronze. I will chose materials availlable to bronze age and european civilisations like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenae from 3000-600 BC

and here there is Kon Tiki raft model (beautiful raft isn't it? More beauty in this ... than in modern yahts... ):

[TeddyDiver]

Pilothouse is defineatly the way to go cruising

[teorokov]

Hello. I'm an archaeologist at the Varna Museum of History (Bulgaria), a specialist in underwater archeology and maritime history. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that someone else is willing to make such a voyage. For a long time, I also want to organize a raft floating on the Black Sea. I have some ideas of ancient patterns of raft used in the Mediterranean. Last year I participated in international expedition with dugout boat (monoxylon). Route of the voyage went from Belgrade on the Danube through the channel Chernavoda-Constanta then we went into the Black Sea coast and came to Varna. Romanian media reported in detail this expedition last summer. We will be happy to discuss our common ideas