Chugs and other scrap built boats

Many years ago, I got to see a small collection of Cuban boats that had been built from an assortment of scrap material. Their purpose was to get migrants across the Strait of Florida, at which point they were abandoned.

Materials I saw used were sheet metal, with grout to seal the seams. Roughly cut and sawn tree limbs, bent to make frames and stringers. I was impressed at the resourcefulness and skill it took to craft functional watercraft from basically trash. Also, the courage it took to step aboard.

The fact that migrants are risking their lives to cross open water is a political topic I'm not qualified to discuss. I just want to talk about ingenious, resourceful, or outlandishly built vessels. The story of Bernard Moitessier's idea to build a boat out of newspaper comes to mind.

What scrap built craft have you encountered?
What were the materials used?
Post your favorites!

 

Every boat comes with risks. The job of a vessel designer is to reduce those risks. NOT increase the number of people exposed to risks. There are many things I have seen, and have designed, that push on the edges. Some were justified, some were not. I really don't think that this forum/s is the place to push the envelope when many who may read this cannot evaluate those risks.

 

It is important to understand context or people will perish at sea. People have perished too often taking marginal risks; let alone maximal ones.

The people sightseeing on the Duckboats never for a second considered their lives in danger on a sightseeing trip.

The divers in California never expected to be trapped in a boat bilge smothered by fire and fumes.

There is not much reason to promote ill fated ideas.

Today, a vessel designed for 100 sank when it had 300 persons onboard.

More than 100 people missing after Nigeria boat carrying 300 sinks https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/2/more-than-100-people-missing-after-nigeria-boat-carrying-300-sinks

 

A reasonable statement of opinion and also a good way to shut down a perfectly harmless discussion.

If you don't wish to promote "pushing the envelope", then don't. You are welcome to let others have a conversation about "ingenious and resourceful use of materials in boatbuilding" and feel free to step in and point out irresponsibility where you see it. I'm sure there are plenty of other threads that could use this stern attitude.

I suppose, on a philosophical level, you might argue that boats shouldn't be built unless they're made using the finest possible materials, minimizing all risk. If you're a designer or boatbuilder making craft for others, I can understand the commensurate level of responsibility that goes along with that. I understand the responsibility that goes along with bringing others out onto the water as well.

But c'mon. Are you suggesting that kids should quit building these because...they aren't seaworthy?
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-make-a-coroplast-boat/

I think you are taking this topic too seriously, or we are simply having two different conversations.

I'm not advocating for anyone to engage in foolish behavior, but if it's not acceptable to discuss boatbuilding materials in a discussion forum about boatbuilding, what are we doing here?

 

I agree, context is important. A boat built for a serious purpose should be approached with a serious mindset.

It is also possible to create art, to learn/educate, and simply to experiment for one's own pleasure. Let's not confuse them.

 

I can think of a few....
In the late 70's a very interesting craft arrived in Barbados from the Canary Islands.
It could be described as a 'steel schooner' - it was made from a long cylindrical boiler to which was added a keel, two masts for sailing, and a conning tower. I did not see it in person, but I remember seeing a write up about it in our local newspaper.
And a bit of googling found that this was the 'Seaview' - here is a write up in the UK magazine Practical Boat Owner about her, and other unorthodox craft designed and built by her owner.
Fons Oerlemans & Kee Arens: "How we sailed across the Atlantic by raft, truck and giant bottle" - Practical Boat Owner https://www.pbo.co.uk/cruising/fons-oerlemans-kee-arens-born-adventurers-80987

Another interesting vessel was a sailing Volkswagen Beetle - I only saw photos of it, taken by folk who had seen it in the Canaries, again in the late 70's. It apparently arrived in the Canaries from Europe under it's own sail. The harbour authority in the Canarian port where they were due to set sail across the Atlantic from stopped them from leaving, citing that it was 'unseaworthy'. I think it had a keel, foam buoyancy in the cabin, 4 masts (one on each corner) and a 'flying bridge' on the roof.
I tried Google, to see if they knew anything about this craft, but I could not find anything.
I did find this though -
I Finally Found The Ocean-Going VW Beetle That Inspired Me As A Child https://jalopnik.com/i-finally-found-what-the-ocean-going-vw-beetle-that-ins-1846145700

And another amphibious Beetle, this time in Blackpool.
Aquatic VW Beetle that competed in Blackpool's 'Wacky Races' https://www.lancs.live/news/local-news/nostalgia/aquatic-vw-beetle-drove-sea-23743000

In November 1986 I was crewing on a nice comfortable CSY 44 on a passage from Tenerife to Barbados, and I saw a Hobie 18 anchored in the Tenerife harbour - we were told that two young lads were planning on crossing the Atlantic with her, and we thought they were complete nutters.
But I subsequently heard that they had a successful crossing to Guadeloupe, and a bit of googling found a mention here that they had crossed in 21 days.
Cats Across the Atlantic http://www.sail.ie/misc/cats_atlantic.htm

However all of the above craft would have still required a fair amount of investment in time and money to make them 'seaworthy' (of sorts) - all still relatively expensive craft when compared to the Cuban vessels in @jmwoodring original post.

 

I think that first link check all the boxes.
Resourceful use of materials.
Creative application thereof.
Fearlessness, bordering on insanity.
And, a giant foiling bottle.

Awful taste but great execution!

 

That was not the fault of the boat, but those in command.

 

Actually, the designers failed in two of the cases. I’ll accept the third as an operator failure. But in order to escape the duck boat; they would have needed vesting and to not be trapped under the roof. The duck boat sank in a chop in inland waters.

Here is a comment from wikipedia which cited the role of the NTSB.

“The NTSB dispatched investigators to the accident site the following day.[22] In response to previous incidents involving duck boats, the NTSB had issued strong warnings about the design of the vehicles and the danger posed to passengers by their overhead canopies.”

People literally float up to the ceiling and cannot move outwards.

This forum is called boatdesign.net. These duckboats were modified for more passengers and they needed to recognize the danger. I’m not sure what efforts were made, just that they were not sufficient.

Here is a final comment from the article.

“In November 2019, a safety recommendation report was issued by the National Transportation Safety Board(NTSB), stating that the "Coast Guard has repeatedly ignored safety recommendations that could have made tourist duck boats safer and potentially prevented" the Table Rock duck boat accident.[36] "These safety issues were identified almost 20 years prior to the sinking of the Stretch Duck 7 and remain relevant to this accident," the report said.[36] The NTSB said in their report that the boats' low freeboard and open interior make duck boats "vulnerable to rapid swamping and sinking" when they are suddenly flooded.[36] The safety report also found that a fixed canopy and closed side curtain impeded passenger escape and likely caused more deaths.”

Meanwhile, we are responding to an immigrant who wants to build a vessel designed for a sea crossing from old tarps and rebar? It is unconscionable. Maybe you don’t know the backstory of him, but he presents here with various versions of ways to escape Turkiye. We have given him lots of good advice, but we have stopped short of accepting all of his plans as wise.

 

I remember, when I was a kid living in Clearwater, there was the Tampa Bay Ramblin' Raft Race.
There was even a Volkswagen Beatle or two that floated down the river. I heard they didn't make it. They slowly took on water and sank.

Then there are the boats built out of plastic bottles.


-Will

 

Turkey and Greece border each other. He can simply walk or bicycle across.

 

Man Finds Abandoned Boat and Renovates it Back to New | Start to Finish Rebuild by ‪@Nasatchannel‬
This bloke and whoever taught him and others like him deserve recognition. The elegant problem solving is remarkable.

 

I was unaware. Turkey has coasts on 3 seas, my reaction was not to immediately assume he was an asylum seeker.

 

In his original posts some years back; he claimed a desire to get to some Greek island in or across the Aegean Sea. Who knows for sure at this point his intent here. He rarely follows up, so Rumars is probably correct that he says something asinine to watch the movie after.

 

Some of these builders have been using thin plywood panels for moulds and they use some quick hardening glue to "tack" panels together edge-to-edge. Anybody here having an idea about what kind of glue?