Building a small work barge with plywood

Need to build new barge. old wood one destroyed in storm. Looking at wood and steel. Possibilities for wood are a honeycomb or egg crate construction plywood deck barge 12 X 24. Other wood ideas were a steel/wood frame and plywood sheathing. Obviously this needs to be a low cost operation. We only had about $1000 in the original one. Looking for ideas. Thanks in advance

 

I found this but it sounds expensive to do honeycomb. Are the dimensions in feet or meters? Be more specific, please. Welcome to the forum.

http://seasteading.org/interact/forums/engineering/structure-designs/honeycomb-construction

 

Dimensions are feet

 

My employee is a designer by hobby. He had come up with a egg crate design using 3/4" plywood throughout the entire project. We had originally used an idea of a main frame work or beams and maybe some steel. Basically the unit will be used to set amd move anchors weighing up to 4000 pounds. We currently are using a 8' X 20' wooden dock section modified with a center opening and an A frame gantry for lifting and added a lot of floatation. Need more floatation and a litle more deck space so thats why the 12 X 24. Alao looked at going up to 30 feet in length but probably not necessary.

 

Thanks hoyt. I saw that site also. I really should not have used the term honeycomb but rateher the egg crate. I still feel that i would like some sort of substantial frame under the skin but maybe the egg crage will work and we will just coonstruct a frame work on the deck to support whatever lifting system we decide to go with.

 

Thanks, Joe. Now, hopefully, someone who has built on that scale will have some good data to share with you.

 

Forgot to mention the height. Probably 3 or 4 feet

 

Gee...big marine engineering project going on it the harbour at the moment. More than a dozen small barges in action. Everyone of them is built of steel. If your doing real work, it would be hard to beat the ruggedness, simplicity and ease of construction of a steel barge . 1000 dolars wont go far if you expect to built something 12 x 24 worthwhile.

 

We had come up with a projected cost using the wood method at around $3000. If i could find a steel one for that price i'd be interested. I know it sounds like were being cheap but its a necessity. Our entire marina took a big hit in the storm and insurance will probably cover only a small portion of the damage.

 

Check the " ship and barge brokers ". They might have somthing for sale now that fits the bill.

 

yea we have been. Best we found so far was 14 x 24 for $25,000. always looking

 

There is nothing wrong with a wood barge for the type work you're talking about. If the "honeycomb" or "eggcrate" is slotted and interlocking plywood used as support between the deck and the bottom, I think thats an outstanding idea.

I the olden days when waterbeds were a big deal that how the frames supported the weight of the water mattress, very strong in compression.

Galvanized fasteners, exterior wood glue, 2" x 2" lumber, 3/4" plywood, I would cover the plywood with lumber around the places the anchors were going to be dragged around and of course re inforce the deck where the gantry is going to be mounted. You could just give a coat of epoxy resin below the waterline if you wanted, would make it last a little longer.

You are on the right track, I have seen barges like what you describe used for storing lobster traps and moving them about @ 80lb each x 100, pushed by an outboard powered skiff.

Steve

 

Nothing wrong with a plywood barge. Easy and cheap to build. They just lack impact resistance and ruggedness. If you only need a barge for lightweight duty, plywood is the way to go. I seem to remember Woodenboat magazine doing a spread a few years ago on a really nice "yacht club " type motorized barge. It was a "push me, pull me "type with 2 small outboard motors stuck thru the deck..one aft for forward propulsion the other for reverse...push me pull me.
Perhaps google Woodenboat..barge . It was a really elegant , simple, stitch and tape, Biax cloth set in epoxy sheathed, plywood barge. It might have even been a Phil Bolger design

 

we did intend to fiberglass over the outside and also tab and glass all the joints. The egg crate design also would allow for many compartments for individual floatation in case a leak occurs in a selction. My only worry,maybe unsubstantiated, is if there is enough longitudinal and lateral strength from end to end. The lifting rig, whatever design we end up with will use the barge for some support but will mainly just be sitting on top of the deck on its own frame with some sort of hold down devices. We might have a well in the center of the barge for uniform lifting. Our current barge is set up that way. We've got an outboard on the one now but usually use our 22 workboat to move it around.

 

This might give you some ideas...

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-building/22-plywood-landing-craft-35507.html

And then this might help...( go to 'miscellaneous designs' and then to 'Giant- 30' Derrick Barge')

http://www.atkinboatplans.com/