help me with my first boat

[bballer]

i have always wanted to build a boat...

im 17 yrs old and has a good knowledge of pneumatics and electronics and computers(im kinda a geek).i graduated from highschool last year since i was homeschooled for a while.

i have designed and in the process of building a pneumatic throttle/speed controler for my homemade boat out of an air compresser, a boat engine and a few other things.(secret things)

my boat in the making is being made of up to 12 55 gal. plastic barrels and up to 19 20' long 12" in diamter or smaller pvc. from uncles shop. and 6 3ft wide x 10 ft long plywood any types..(got alot of connections).

im buying 2 generators from friend for powering laptop/gps/phone stuff. and fridge.

i plan on going on a 2 week fishing trip with 2 others in the great lakes without stepping on land.

we have the following materialsfrom donations/family)
up to 200#'s of mre's
up to 35 cases of water
a tent
basic toiletries
(the next few are mine until a double colin)
gps
weather radar
fish finder
several coolers
2 laptops(yeah im a big geek.. one for college and one for gaming)
compass
5 mile radar
::
emergency supplies

my questions are:
1.)how many pounds would the barrels support.
2.)how big of a boat motor should i have.
3.)any suggestions


thx for reading

[timgoz]

Post more constrution details & images of your plans.

People here may want to be assurred your not getting involved in a dangerous stunt. The Lakes are no place to mess with.

You mention a bunch of fancy electronics but no safety gear. No lifevests, flares, anchoring gear, VHF radio, running lights, firstaid kit, ect... This makes me concerned. Why not wet your feet on a small lake or gentle river first?

The only thing worse than being on land is being at sea wishing you were on land. Think about it.

I do applaud your interset in nautical pursuits and encourage you to develop it. Just want to put some thoughts on safety & experience in your brain.

Take care.

Tim

[bballer]

i have virtually access to anything i need for this trip.. i plan on lights and stuff but right now im more worried about seeing how much weight i can handle... i know very little about ship making.. i currently have 2 engines in the 20 hp range from my neighboor and a few props. im doing research on boat designing right now. i do have rough sea experience.. ive been fishing salmon with my uncle in the bering sea since i was 14. im working on a way to design my boat where it wont flip.. my idea is to have to barrels in the middle of my boat half way filled with water to keep it stable.

[marshmat]

Sounds like your boat would be best described as a large raft, supported by plastic drums and with a plywood deck?
A 55 american gallon drum, fully submerged, will support 208 kg minus its own dry weight. (250 kg if they're in UK gallons.) Normal loading of such drums in a raft is usually no more than 100 kg of boat and cargo weight per drum.

my idea is to have to barrels in the middle of my boat half way filled with water to keep it stable.

Any container of significant size that's only partway filled with liquid has what's known as a free surface, a mathematically nasty little bugger that tends to suddenly make things very unstable with no warning if the boat moves. Better to either fill it full or leave it empty.

Sounds like you have a bit of an adventure planned; I'm not confident that the craft you describe is Great Lakes suitable though. Photos/drawings?

[timgoz]

Fresh water ways approx. 8lbs. a gallon. (8.3 I think), you have 660gal. in your 12 barrels.

8 X 660 = 5280

You will have slighlty more than 5000lbs. of bouyancy, closer to 5500lbs.


Where you gillnetting reds in Bristol Bay?

Tim

[bballer]

im posting a pic i made on paint.. i would post pic of real thing but i dont have a digital camera yet or a scanner.




timgoz---we do gillnet reds and we also get king and silver but mostly reds..usually i get about 1500 dollars per 3 day trip working on deck for 22*(meant 22 said 12 earlier)hours strait a day .

on the pic.. i fogot to put in the middle a spot for food/and emergency sups..and i forgot to post the controll booth im making out of

[timgoz]

Twelve hour days???

"Openers" must be different up there than in Southeast Alaska where I seigned for Salmon. When we got a 36hr. opener we fished straight through with a 3 hr. "nap" in the middle. Gotta make it when you can.

Your diagram suggests you will mount the barrels vertically. Why?

What mechanical fastening method are you using to secure them?

Use all your "connections" and post some images from a digital camera.

Tim

[bballer]

im getting a digital camera in a few days after i get my check..im not the only one on the boat besides my uncle.. there are usually anywhere between 5-7 ppl at a time and my uncle owns i can't think of the name atm but its a 89foot long boat...on the diagram the barrels appear tobe verticle but they will be horizontal. i dont know for sure what to fasten the barrels to the wood is but any suggestions would help.

and are you serious about the 5000lbs? i was only expecting 2000 at the most.

i might not post any pics for a while since my cable modem isnt working and im running on aol for a week or two.

[alan white]

Those barrels--- if they are like metal drums, that is, consistent in diameter, it would be a good idea to have them tight end to end. The forwardmost barrel, being flat-ended, is going to kill your speed. It should have a more knife-like shape added to it, or be rewelded into a bow shape (I assume it's polyethelene, which can be welded). Attaching the barrels is a challenge.
Ideally, you'd want to avoid holes in them. Not only that, but whatever weight you put on them should be evenly distributed. I could see making inverted U-shaped frames, maybe going half around the barrels at the ends where they are strongest. Then maybe wrapping heavy galvinized wire around at each frame and using cheap galv. iron turnbuckles to tighten them.
If you make the thing (okay if I call it that?) around 8 ft wide, you won;t have stability problems. And while you've got that compressor (!), I'd put a shraeder valve (tire valve) on each one of those barrels, which makes a pump in case of a leak, a mwans of detrmining a leak, and also you could fill to maybe 3 lbs pressure and make the barrels more able to reclaim their shape if they hit something big.

Alan

[timgoz]

Like Marshmat said above, your actual load per barrel is considerably less than thier bouyancy. Approx. 50%.

Alan has a good point(s) about the shape of the leading barrels & a no-gap configuration.

There are several threads here dealing with raft construction. Use "search" and dig them up.

Take care.

Tim