[Paddlewise] Barrel Canoe

The message quoted below was pulled off rec.boats.building  --  not sure what
the design considerations were for the ends. <g>
-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
--
William R. Watt wrote in message <7nsv19$gcj_at_freenet-news.carleton.ca>...
>
>
>
>Last winter I was wondering if I could make a canoe out of empty
>plastic barrels. After calculating the volume of a 3x2 foot barrel,
>the weight of water it would displace, and thus its bouyancy (550
>lb per barrel), I went ahead. It worked quite well.
>
>The barrels cost $20 each (all prices in Canadian dollars). There
>is a seam going all around which makes them easy to cut in half
>lengthwise with a circular saw along the seam. I bolted three
>barrel halves end-to-end with rubber washers in between to prevent
>leaks. The ends have not been cut out so the canoe has 2 interior
>partitions. I've been out in it a few times and find the best
>arrangement is to put the dog in the stern, me in the middle, and
>our lunch in the bow. I kept it to 3 sections (9 feet) because my
>car is small and I wanted to carry the canoe on the roof. Also
>because I wanted to keep the weight down so I could carry the
>canoe.
>
>Of course barrels have a lot of latteral instability, they tend to
>want to roll. I had screwed a couple of 10 inch boards to the
>sides for stiffening and they provided some righting moment on the
>early version. A 2x8 sheet of 1.5 inch styrofoam insulation was
>cut into 6" strips, glued together, and bolted to the side boards.
>The styrofoam has good compression strength but breaks easily. To
>protect the edges from chipping off I covered the edges in duct
>tape. This has worked well. This side floation (I called them
>"inriggers") puts a limit on the amount the vessel will roll. As
>soon as the foam flotation hits the water rolling stops. The
>sytrofoam provides 60 lbs of bouyancy on each side. The dog sits
>up on the side behind me and I don't even notice it. The dog
>weighs 55 lb. He stands with his front paws on the side and I
>don't notice it. However he has tried walking on the side to get
>past me to the bow where the lunch is and has fallen in. He has
>got back in the canoe and fallen out again while shaking the water
>off. The barrels are blue so I bought blue styrofoam. It also
>comes in pink and if you want to make one of these (the barrels
>also come in white) and put pink styrofoam on that's up to you.
>
>Floatation was needed in the ends if I wanted to sit in an end
>section so I built in small decks where the boards stick out and
>put about 30 lbs of styrofoam under the decks. I can sit right at
>the back to paddle now. It doesn't paddle as well as a real canoe
>but it's okay for the flat water fishing and exploring I want to
>do. (While exploring a small river near hear a week ago a fawn
>came down for a drink.) I made a pair of oars and oarlocks. I also
>want to make the kayak sail in Thomas Firth Jones' "Boats to Go".
>
>The canoe weighs just under 70 pounds. I carry it inverted on my
>head padded with a life jacket. I can do this "no hands" like an
>African native carrying his laundry to the river on his head.
>
>Next step is to dismantle the whole thing, glue the sections
>together, cut out the partitions, replace the heavy side boards
>with something lighter, change the shape of the decks to make a
>better bow, and who knows what else, maybe glass over the
>sytrofoam on the sides.
>
>"What happened to the fourth half barrel that was left over", you
>ask? I've bolted a couple bicycle wheels to the sides and am
>putting a PCV pipe handle on it to use as a garden cart and
>bicycle trailer. That is working out very well too.
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