Powering a wooden raft?

Are those duckworks boats winners of an ugly box competition. By god they are horrible.

 

I agree with rw about the pontoons. I looked into this myself and by the time i bought all the materials to fasten the barrels etc : i figured it would be better to spend the money on some good formply and knock up a pair of 1 piece pontoons.

 

Give the poor guy a clue there WP

http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=HB16&cat=16#.UOlx3azjP68

Nice boat, but it may be a lot more complex and expensive ( the kit is about $US5000) to build for a beginner, and the plans are around $100.

 

The site states that if you can build a book shelf you can build it. It is flat bottom. The bom shows 29 sheets of ply.how can a 16 ft boat use that many?.

 

The advantage with the Bateau Barge is that it will be lightweight, properly engineered and its 16 x 8 dimensions are logical with 4x8 ply panels

 

yeah - look who is telling you that ! We are talking very low tech OP here who just wants a barge.

yeah - look who is telling you that - they would know dont you think ?


I notice you dont mention the price problem !

 

What Bateau barge ? I dont see any plans for a barge.

The duck flat plans are also lightweight and properly engineered

 

Oh,,....house boat

 

He means the hb16. I have no doubt the duck flat boats are properly designed, they just don't look good.

 

Not all boats are pretty, agreed. I bet the OP was not so concerned with appearance. Don't waste your money with barrels, build a simple boat.

Don't know where the op intends to use this vessel, but you can't just throw a motor on something that floats. Some water patrol type will nail you, if you have any motor on a craft that size there are registration requirements. You'll need to register your raft as a boat, building one means having it inspected and I doubt any inspector will approve plywood bolted to barrels, I might be wrong, you might tell them it's a swim platform and the motor just gets it back to shore......but that seems to be a water hazzard.

They guys above know what they are talking about, you can build a pretty simple boat.

Another solution is an inner-tube boat, ply deck that uses pipe stubs below that hold tractor inner tubes in place forming them as pontoons, lashed on and then the bottom is covered in canvas with edges lashed over the deck, it's a cheap inflatable and it can pass an inspection if you do a nice job of it. A seat, oars, batter box and fuel tank holder with a motor mount for a small outboard. Had one as a kid and worked well, but mine was 4X8, staying with the width being half the lendgth it could be made bigger, like 8X16.

Depends on where you will use it. A better suggestion though is the flat bottom boats shown above, better to put money and some time in those.

 

I have found some plans from the 60's and 70's. Here are some of the links, I like the first one the best.
http://www.svensons.com/boats/?p=HouseBoats/Partio
http://www.svensons.com/boats/?p=PaddleBoats/Showboat
http://www.svensons.com/boats/?p=HouseBoats/PlatformBoat

 

Now you are getting the idea.

The only thing you will have to decide is how much you can afford to spend. The barrel idea sounded like you want to be 'economical', so best to price all those options as a first priority

Second, I have no idea how 'handy' you are with wood and building,

Third, if you can locate more modern plans, generally they will be easier to build and lighter.

You have lots of decisions - as Par said, you are starting the design circle where you go around and around until you find something that will inspire you to get underway.

 

After adding it all up and seeing it will be $500, you'll probably just buy a used boat and get on the water.....

 

Ya I am not an expert of woodworking and building things, but I am right in the middle with my knowledge and have built things before. As for the $500, I would probably pay close to that before buying a used boat, becaus I would enjoy building one myself.

 

There is a lot to be said about building your personal skills, and I am sure you would find plenty of advice in these forums to help you along.

In any event, its going to be much easier and cheaper going for a predesigned plan, and you will have something insurable and of value at the end of it.

If you think some of those boats are ugly, think what your barrel idea would have looked like !