need some advise on my poor mans boat design

[terry.green11]

hey guys and gals im thinkin about building me a boat out of some scratch stuff i have layin around the farm and what im thinking about doing is welding some 55 gal drums together and making something just big enough for the lake to do some fishing on could anyone give me some advise on which would be better 55 gal metal drems or plastic and does anyone know if u can weld plastic drums together wih a plastic welder and it be sturdy enough for a couple of guys to sit on thanks for the advise
terry

[blackdaisies]

You can even buy those large round coolers, the circular ones, line them up, attach them to a frame, and they float. I"m sure hollow metal water proof drums lined up will make a nice catamaran or just a raft.

No expert, no experience, but have searched them on the internet too.

[lewisboats]

Quadruple rinse and then chuck some dry ice into the drums...let it displace all residual vapors and gasses inside before even attempting to weld them together. having it float is the easy part...getting it to move any great distance will be another!

[Brent Swain]

I have welded that plastic drum material together . Tricky but can be done.
Brent

[marshmat]

I don't trust those plastic welding gadgets. Too much risk of changing the microstructure of the material into something completely unsuitable for the intended load.

Please don't try to weld the steel-walled oil or chemical drums without cleaning them out, carefully, several times. We like you alive and in one piece.

If you're just planning to putter around the lake at four miles an hour, building a wooden frame and deck (floating dock style) and just strapping individual barrels to the underside would likely be easier than trying to weld them together. A couple of 2x8s or 2x10s on edge, about 18-24 inches apart, with sufficient cross-bracing, forms a nice cradle of sorts that can sit on top of a row of barrels. Two of these, with a deck in between, is the standard Ontario cottage-country floating dock. Strap the barrels in with some winch webbing, add a 5-horse outboard, and you have a great mobile fishing platform for calm water.

[terry.green11]

hey guys thanks for the advise im gunna get to work on this boat this weekend and ill let ya know and psot a pic

[lewisboats]

Perhaps we should refer to this as a raft or platform...rather than a "boat"...feathers could be ruffled without cause....

[terry.green11]

does anyone know the laws for arkansas on regesturing a lil home made raft?