Somebody was talking pontoon foamies

[Bogo]

I'll just leave this here as a idea.

I do think it needs a solar panel canopy. That way it can motor around all day.

[jss06]

They should have used an aluminum table instead of wood. That would have =given them more free weight for extra beer.

[GPW]

Or just use the table ...

[Wobbly Wheels]

Hehe...yeah, I've got the foam and the outboard so what's a redneck to do ?
16' long, 6'X12' deck, 1800 lbs displ, 100% reserve buoyancy.

Been looking around the web for what works and what doesn't and I've found a lot of both.
Here are two that I've bookmarked

I would name this one the Bo Jangles, or maybe Bodger's Folly...


In this case, a coat of red paint is all that stands between redneck and kinda cool. Those look like drop tanks...

[GPW]

Ya’ gotta’ admit , it is pretty Cool ...

[wagondude]

That second one looks like it could be related (distantly) to "Miss Piggy". Just a little more quality body work needed to make it right.

[Wobbly Wheels]

That second one looks like it could be related (distantly) to "Miss Piggy". Just a little more quality body work needed to make it right.

Phew, good thing Vedette's on the road right now !!

[GPW]

This is still my KISS Favorite ...

[Wobbly Wheels]

Too funny: I can picture Jethro going over backwards when the broom handle chair support lets go. I also like all the ones where the trailer sits up off the deck to create a living space underneath. The initial stability might feel ok, but a decent wake or getting broadside to a wind will make you wish the deck had a much bigger footprint than the trailer.
There are some interesting ones out there that's for sure...
I'm not sure how you'd build this as anything but a foamie:

From this page. There's some interesting stuff but you have to match the captions to the pics yourself.

What I'm looking at doing (at least initially) is more like this - the pontoon boat will be a transport platform for camping gear, fishing gear, and a few crab & prawn traps. There simply aren't too many options for having a clear work deck and accommodations.


Mine will be bigger and have more reserve buoyancy though('unsinkable'). That way I can leave the boat and hike inland or camp on the beach during a storm instead of being tied to the boat for accommodations. A pontoon boat is NOT the place to wait out a storm !
It looks like he's used PVC post caps (used on the tops of pilings to keep water from pooling) on the pontoons rather than flat pipe caps : clever.

[Bogo]

I'm not sure how you'd build this as anything but a foamie:

Cement!

Don't laugh! Look up cement boat construction. The original thrifty of the high seas.

[KCStudly]

Concrete boats are a serious consideration.

Believe it or not when I was in the Seawolf program office there was a brief discussion about making USN submarines out of cement. (Nobody told me that it was classified so I don't have to kill you.)

But then there was also the crazy call from some whack job television producer that thought that they could raise an old WWII Russian sub by diving down, pumping her dry, doing a little restoration, and driving her back to the surface. Um, when submarines "sink" and don't come back up it does not end well. DOH. My boss at the time just laughed out loud and we all had a good chuckle.

[Wobbly Wheels]

Ferrocement was a boat building fad that came and (thankfully) went. The idea that you could build a boat out of chicken wire and spray it with cement was just too appealing to too many people who had no business building boats. If you can still find one, they can be acquired dirt cheap for the hardware and rig but a lot of landfills won't take the hull material because of the asbestos on the mix.

There were a few reputable builders trying to deliver a decent product with the stuff, but all the hacks ruined ferrocement's credibility as a marine building material.

[GPW]

OK, cement’s out ... how about two liter bottles ... That’s been done huh ?

[angib]

Believe it or not when I was in the Seawolf program office there was a brief discussion about making USN submarines out of cement. (Nobody told me that it was classified so I don't have to kill you.)

I worked on sea-bed structures for deep water and the most attractive construction was a steel-concrete-steel sandwich. Believe it or not, the idea was that guys would live in the vessels, bigger than nukes, with the steel in the plastic region, well beyond yield stress. Gulp. The concrete then had sufficient strength left to hold the whole structure stable.

Me, I would've wanted a free supply of adult nappies/diapers to work there - because every time I thought what was protecting me from the water pressure outside, I would use the nappy/diaper......

And there's nothing wrong with ferro-cement in the right application. There are barges used to create the Mulberry harbours for the D-Day landings that are still in use today, such as this houseboat:

[Bogo]

Ask the Romans how they made their cement, and it will be around thousands of years from now. Maybe not so good of an idea.

Actually they did figure out how the Romans mas cement that lasts so long. They had specific volcanic ashes that they used. It produced a cement that had high alumina content. No only was much less lime needed, but the resulting cement is much more durable.