Duck Pond Redneckery

[Duck]

With the truck engine off, I connected it to Blueford's battery and started up the generator engine.

When I turned on the headlights I could hear a tiny little change in the pitch of the engine. Same thing when I put the heater fan on high.

Volts were showing 14.09 with the lights and heater fan on.

That's the only way I can think of to load test it. I'm guessing the fan plus headlights was only 20-30 amps though.



The black thing on the red wire is just part of an old tractor inner tube I put around it where I connected the ring terminals together with a bolt. Couldn't let it ground on the grille.

 

[Duck]

Three rafts, 24 feet. Barely fits in here without moving the workbench.

 

[ironpony]

I'm guessing the fan plus headlights was only 20-30 amps though.

Ever hear of an ammeter?

 

[Rigjockey]

Ever hear of an ammeter?

Of course!
You spelt it wrong.
Those are new people or those that don't know what they are doing.
-amateur

 

[Duck]

Ever hear of an ammeter?

Yep. I have two I could use but they only read up to 30 amps.

 

[Hammer166]

Yep. I have two I could use but they only read up to 30 amps.

So put them in parallel! Or wrap some wire around a rod, use a piece of hanging metal as your pointer. You could calibrate that with the 30 amp!

 

[ironpony]

Get a sense resistor...

0.01 ohms, 25W in series with the alternator output would work up to 50A.

Measure the voltage across it, and divide by 0.01 - that's your current.

 

[Duck]

Or I could just drink beer.

Just connected them together with 16 foot 2x6's.



I was able to lift one end up to about chest height. I could put it up on saw horses if u really really wanted to.

Tomorrow I'm gonna take the 2x6's off and polyurethane them so they don't weigh 100 lbs when we take them off Sunday.

 

[Keendriver]

Anybody else think this thing looks awfully prone to tipping over?


Or is it just me?


Prolly just me......

 

[Hammer166]

Anybody else think this thing looks awfully prone to tipping over?


Or is it just me?


Prolly just me......

I was thinking it would be a lot more usable space if there were two side by side with the other across the back of both. 8 x 12 is way more appealing than 4 x 24.

Unless you have an itch to be a barge captain!

 

[Duck]

You guys are making me go in the house to fire up my desktop.

But that's OK cuz I ain got nothing else to do until this polyurethane dries and I can flip these 2x6's to get the little spots where they're touching the rafts.

 

[Keendriver]

 

[ironpony]

Anybody else think this thing looks awfully prone to tipping over?


Or is it just me?


Prolly just me......

Unless you have an itch to be a barge captain!

SS Titanic

 

[Duck]

Anybody else think this thing looks awfully prone to tipping over?


Or is it just me?


Prolly just me......

I had to get these pics off an external hard drive. And dump all the other pics off my phone cuz it was getting slow.

Anyway they're surprisingly stable.

I mentioned I'd hauled motorcycles on it for getting back to the truck.

This was a Honda CL360 but later on I switched and started bringing a CB125 when I realized that I could get it into the truck by myself without needing a ramp.



My dad took this pic from the front of the raft in the Des Plaines River in Romeoville. He told me to do that to demonstrate the stability of the raft.

I was thinking it would be a lot more usable space if there were two side by side with the other across the back of both. 8 x 12 is way more appealing than 4 x 24.

Unless you have an itch to be a barge captain!

You mean like this?



Been there, done that.

But it's slow as hell. My trolling motor will kill two batteries in a 4 mile stretch in midsummer when the river is slow.

It's also a pain in the ass to steer. It has no keel effect whatsoever, so to make a 45 degree turn, I have to turn it 90 degrees and use propulsion to change course.

 

[gearjammer]

I had to get these pics off an external hard drive. And dump all the other pics off my phone cuz it was getting slow.

Anyway they're surprisingly stable.

I mentioned I'd hauled motorcycles on it for getting back to the truck.

This was a Honda CL360 but later on I switched and started bringing a CB125 when I realized that I could get it into the truck by myself without needing a ramp.

View attachment 41163

My dad took this pic from the front of the raft in the Des Plaines River in Romeoville. He told me to do that to demonstrate the stability of the raft.

View attachment 41164

put a couple skegs on the back and it would turn a lot better

You mean like this?

View attachment 41165

Been there, done that.

But it's slow as hell. My trolling motor will kill two batteries in a 4 mile stretch in midsummer when the river is slow.

It's also a pain in the ass to steer. It has no keel effect whatsoever, so to make a 45 degree turn, I have to turn it 90 degrees and use propulsion to change course.

 

[Duck]

put a couple skegs on the back and it would turn a lot better

No it wouldn't.

Simple leverage.

Same effect as trying to lift a 16 foot long 2x6 by one end. It's difficult and hard on my flabby abdominal muscles but if I pick it up in the center I can do one armed reps with it all day long.

That, and there's no rounded chine.

The bottom edge of the sides is called a chine. It would turn easily if they were rounded.

And they will be if I ever fiberglass them.

I need a better bow design too. It's just a rounded curve like 1/4 of a ten inch pipe. It's better than being totally squared off like the stern but it still makes a lot of drag.

I got my tandem raft going really fast once using two 40# thrust trolling motors, and being on it by myself without any junk, and keeping my weight off the stern by sitting as far forward as I could and still reach the tillers, to reduce the draft.

Probably 10 mph because the front of the raft was skimming on the surface. Faster than I can get a single raft going.

But when I tried to turn it I almost fell off because I was expecting it to lean slightly into the turn like a boat. No, it does the opposite like a car, because the chines aren't rounded.

So there's no point in ever putting a gas engine on it. Not even a little 5 hp. These things cannot handle speed.

But I do want to streamline the front better, simply to require less power and negate the need for the generator.

Loaded up like the Beverly Hillbillies, flat out on speed 5 with my 40# minn kota, it'll do about 4 mph according to the speedometer app on my phone. It said 5 mph, then I went to the national hydrological army corps of engineers somethingorother website that said the sensors in Momence were reporting 1 mph current.

That's all the speed I need but I'd like to be able to do it without drawing 42 amps of power.

 

[Duck]

SS Titanic

Unlike the Titanic, these really are unsinkable.

Unless you load more than 1000 lbs per raft on it, but it'll sink at the launch point, not en route.

Under acceptable loading, although you can fall off or it can be destroyed in an accident with a speed boat or something, the only way to actually sink it is to burn or dissolve the styrofoam.... Which is why if the generator runs out of gas en route, I'll be stopping on a sand bar to refuel it. Ain't taking any chances of getting gasoline on the styrofoam because it'll eat it up fast.

Take a little piece of a polystyrene drink cup and dip it in a little cup of gasoline.

Keep adding styrofoam and you'll get a thick substance like molasses. You've just made napalm.

I don't want to float down the river on a pile of napalm.

 

[Keendriver]

Dude.....what happened to your face?

 

[Hammer166]

At 13V, that's only about 3/4 hp.

 

[Duck]

Dude.....what happened to your face?

My parents are from Kentucky.