Flat top barge

Darren, the worst stability problem would be across the beam since that is the narrowest dimension. You could improve ultimate stability by adding a flotation chamber along each side above the deck.

It would be better if the sides could flare out wider so as to increase the volume as a list started, but that would be dependent on going wider than your 10ft.

Something like this:


Alternately, simply building wider gives you more margin of safety. It doesnt sound like you would have to move it around much by road after you build it. Things like hydraulic jacks for the stern (built in) to hold it stable when loading can reduce the pucker factor significantly.....

 

You're wanting to be able to trailer the barge and that's a great plan, it opens up what you could do in time.

Your biggest issue is getting what you build into the water, so ramp width and roads need to be taken into account. That said i'd guess a 12 would be fine and fits standard sheets for construction (although you can get sheets in lots of sizes)
Keep in mind wastage, when choosing sheets and sizing.
Far to common that sheet stock IS NOT square, BUT you may be able to flip sheets and work it out simply.

Front rake only
3/16 at a minimum.
Hardpoints on the rake where it will hit the shore, YES it will hit the shore you want that.

24" frame spacing would be fine (perpendicular to the length)
custom spacing on the deck frame (parallel to the length) no more then 16" in unloaded areas, but closer where you will be tracking onto it.


Checker plate for the deck is a great idea DO NOT PAINT IT! Paint the rest but NOT the deck. Sanding the paint and grit crap is just a waste and asking to get hurt. Many years of experience on that.
i'd recommend 1/4 on the deck it will take abuse much better then thinner stuff.

a 12x24 would allot decent sheet cuts, and with a side lip/wall you could haul material to an island for the landscaping needs. I'd have to draw up a plan and figure the weights but i'd guess that you could get a tandems worth loaded onto it. would have to do the math though.

I do know that a 50' x 24' x 3' with 10' x 25' ramp will hold 2 fully loaded triaxle loads of sand and a mini like yours and skid to unload it with. 2' walls on 3 sides in 2' from the edge. Also both those trucks backed on and dumped although not recommended for most.

 

Im back!.. and with a barge!.. Finally got 5 guys to agree on the design/build. Thought i would share some pics from start to finish. Just a bit of follow up.. we decided to go with a metal welded frame, with a 2 " thick hemlock wood deck. Our floats are a made in Canada premade poly float. from eagal floats.. was very impressed with these. We just bolted them to the underside of the 24' x 12'6" frame.. . 6 floats each support 5100 lbs..= 30600 lbs flotation. For good measure we also incorporated 3... 20 foot long 18 inch plastic welded culverts we came across which we calculated could support approx another 6000 lbs. The final unit weighed in at 7500 lbs.. ( a bit overkill on the build but better safe than sorry )..took us 5 weeks to complete, and we should be able to haul around 14000 lbs safely.

 

more pics along the way

 

the final push. Just wanted to give a special thank you to everyone who helped with constructive comments and suggestions along the way. It certainly helped us to get motivated to get this done.

 

Many congrats Darren!
The steelwork shown looks very impressive.
And a good plan to go with the plastic floats, rather than building steel pontoons.
Probably cheaper as well (?)

In her 'lightship' condition with no cargo, as per your final photo (I am assuming that the two crew do not weigh very much), where is she floating (ie what is her draft)?
Is it about halfway up the plastic floats, or maybe a quarter?
I presume that the pipes lashed along the centre line are clear of the water when light?

 

yes... our 3 pipes are about 3 inches above the waterline when running empty. Id say we are only down about 8-10 inches running empty. I find it pushes and steers great with my pontoon boat tied tight. Hoping to get our first heavy move before freeze up this fall. Still need to devise an easy way to pull up our spuds when we start dropping them to load the big stuff, but im sure we can figure it out. :0)

 

The pile driving company that uses spuds to hold them in place when putting in dock piers use only two and use an electric winch on each of them. Mounted to the deck, the cable goes over the edge to the bottom of the spud and they power winch the spuds down and up. If you go with this set up you need to ensure that the winch is the type that uses only an inertia brake when lowering. Some of the better winch like Warn, use a one way sprag bearing to activate the brake mechanism. When under load (the weight of the spud) the bearing is activated and the winch has to power out against the brake mechanism, shortening the life. Depending on what the weight of the spud it, an inertial styled brake would work but might creep down a bit.

If you decide to go manual, you have to be careful that the handle does not get away from you, or get a mangled hand. If cost is a problem, you can find a worm drive hand winch, and that will be an auto brake up and down and you do not have to worry about a runaway winch handle. Ensure that the worm winch is rated to hold the load.
You of course have to put some type of pin through the spud though to hold it when your load moves over them, ie when unloading

 

Indeed Nicely done.

Cable to bottom of spud to pull it up works good, Hand winch would work fine to pull it up but you'll want to drop them to get a bite into bottom to hold you so you'd need to sort a way to do that.
Those spuds look to be 8-10 feet so you could just use a cable to the bottom that hooks on the top when not used and a set of cumalongs to pull them up over a pully block at the deck level. cumalong hooked to far side to get the distance needed.

Or with a mini ex, just use it to pull them up lol

Cheers

Oh, you might be able to find hand winches that have a free wheeling drum setting with brake that would work decent as well. Like these Dutton-Lainson Company https://www.dutton-lainson.com/proddetail.php?prod=14894