Stand up paddle analogue out of pipes

for a skin on frame SUP, I would use wood stringers and wood frames, the wicker top side is an interesting idea, I like it. It would be light and give a nice texture under your feet. Moisture does seep in eventually so you would want the wicker or what ever you use to be moisture resistant.

It would not take long to make, if I had all the materials I could make it in a day. with wood it would be very light and inexpensive. It could be made with a full length "truss" down the middle, or two parallel truses to save even more weight. The stringers could be lighter with the trusses, but there is a durability issues, and that would be much more work to build some trusses about 4" deep. I do not think I would use plastic pipe for the stringers, they would cost much more and be heavier than wood stringers you rip yourself from a fairly clear plank from the lumber yard. You can buy all of the wood you need for about $15, if you have a table saw to rip your own stringers. the most expensive part would be the skin, if you have a good source of surplus aircraft polyester or raw (unprocessed) nylon that is cheap, you could save even more. I find remnants or fabric with cosmetic blems and get it for about 3 or 4 dollars a yard, so the fabric would only set you back about $12-15. You would never build one that cheap from PVC pipe.

I have seen people build SUP boards out of foam and fiberglass and using strip built and fiberglass, like a canoe or kayak construction. they spend some $500 in materials and up to 100 hours to build. Why do that when you can build a skin on frame for about $50 in one day?

 

Pipes are pipes are pipes. Are you thinking one big pipe you heat and mash to some kind of shape, one layer of medium sized pipes like a log raft or a mass of small pipes tied together like a reed boat?

At the Lowes and Home Depot lumber yards here they have 4" (10.16 cm.) and 5" (12.7 cm.) sewer drain pipes that are a lot thinner and a lot cheaper than regular schedule 40 pipe. They are not built for hundreds of pounds of internal pressure as is schedule 40, but just for sewer and storm drain water not under pressure.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_24140-1814-...pe&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=drain+pipe&facetInfo=

They come in 10' (3.048 mt.) lengths and a 4" would support about 50 lbs (22.68 kilo.) , a 5" about 80 lbs (36.29 kilo.). That is fully submerged.

There are smaller water supply pipes that are thinner, lighter and cheaper than schedule 40 that are only for cold water and 100-150 psi that could fill in spaces between the bigger pipes.

Using pipes will give you a lot more surface area than a flat surface and will have that much more drag. Plus it will be harder to steer.

Impressions are actually a two way street. While you might feel a smug superiority to others, I doubt they are going to feel awed and humbled.

 

No, thats not totally correct.

They will DISPLACE those number of kilos - whether they would SUPPORT those weight depends on the intervening structure to whatever loads are put on it.

Try standing on one of those pipes and jumping up and down a few times. Try doing it after its been exposed to the usual bangs and knocks that accompany a boat hull when used.
Try it with two people on a platform attached with say three circular fastenings.


Why mess around with inferior materials and amateur designs.
None of those pipes have any inner fibrous re-inforcing, and are quite brittle.

imagine this in a busy shipping channel,

 

The problem is they lack the smugability factor.

 

Confucius he say : http://www.moonrakers.com/subclub/RAFTS/raft.html