Duck Pond Redneckery

[Duck]

And if it's loaded with all the drunken fatazz raftabargers hootin' 'n a hollerin' on one side??

Don't fergit, all that far has a a whole way 'o keepin' in motion!

If everyone leans to the same side, it will lean until we fall off, then it'll right itself.

We've tried to flip them. They're extremely stable. In fact I've hauled motorcycles on them before.

Not a bigass Goldwing or anything but still.. No worries about it tipping over.

Put boxed brackets at the outboard corners. You can even rig up swing bolts with wing nuts so you don't have to worry about losing hardware. That will keep the load to the outer frame members and allow the butted ends to act as a crossmember.
View attachment 41091

If I hit a motorboat wake head-on or diagonally, those brackets would come right off.

The side boards are just 1x4's to keep them lightweight.

Plenty strong enough for an 8 foot single raft but when I tie two together I use 8 foot 2x4s on each side, overlapping halfway so it bears all of the vertical flexing and the attachment to the raft is spread out over 4 feet.

I'm thinking about just connecting the two rafts solid like usual and just C-clamps and ropes or something to hold the new one in the back.

 

[Hammer166]

If everyone leans to the same side, it will lean until we fall off, then it'll right itself.

We've tried to flip them. They're extremely stable. In fact I've hauled motorcycles on them before.

Not a bigass Goldwing or anything but still.. No worries about it tipping over.

If I hit a motorboat wake head-on or diagonally, those brackets would come right off.

The side boards are just 1x4's to keep them lightweight.

Plenty strong enough for an 8 foot single raft but when I tie two together I use 8 foot 2x4s on each side, overlapping halfway so it bears all of the vertical flexing and the attachment to the raft is spread out over 4 feet.

I'm thinking about just connecting the two rafts solid like usual and just C-clamps and ropes or something to hold the new one in the back.

Then put bolts with some big washers thru the sides at the corners and use some cycle bungies. Or just wrap them around those corner holes

 

[Keendriver]

View attachment 41090
So 62.42 x 16 = 998 lbs.

So that 4x8 raft has half a ton of buoyancy. Give or take... More in salt water, less in muddy water.

And its only capable of drafting 6-1/8". The foam plus the luaun on the bottom.

Connect three inline like I'm planning and I can literally carry almost 3000 lbs down a shallow river.

If it's loaded so it's evenly balanced.

What? was Geezer busy?

 

[Duck]

What? was Geezer busy?

It's third grade math. I can actually do it.




With a calculator..

 

[ironpony]

So that's a load of about two raftabargers plus beer per raftabarge... unless they go on a diet.

 

[Blood]

You should name the raft
Riff Raft.
A play on the term riff raff and descriptive of music being played on board.

What'd I win?

 

[Keendriver]

You should name the raft
Riff Raft.
A play on the term riff raff and descriptive of music being played on board.

What'd I win?

If ya gotta 'splain it....... NOTHING!

 

[Blood]

If ya gotta 'splain it....... NOTHING!

I believe you're suppose to be in the box.

 

[Keendriver]

I believe you're suppose to be in the box.

buried in my shit........

 

[Duck]

Raft trip has been postponed a week because of crappy weather forecast.

Gives me time to make the raft a hybrid.

I dug this out of the east barn.



Had to hunt for its muffler and plastic shrouds.

It has old gas in it but the shutoff valve was closed, so carb was OK. Hadta take the shutoff valve apart and clean it.

Then it started on the first pull.

 

[gearjammer]

well that's a unique raft anchor

 

[Hammer166]

I thought you had the solar panels and batteries all ready to be rigged up?

 

[ironpony]

Solar panels don't make a good boat anchor!

 

[Duck]

I thought you had the solar panels and batteries all ready to be rigged up?

I got clear flex seal for one panel but the weather forecast was for overcast, then storms, so we canceled til next week.

I put some flex seal on a piece of saran wrap as a test and it turns out it's not clear, it's translucent and blocks some light.

So I don't know how to seal them up.

I'd have to build another raft to carry them & I just ain't gonna be able to do that by next week.

But I can slap something together to hold a car alternator in front of a little engine.

 

[Blood]

I got clear flex seal for one panel but the weather forecast was for overcast, then storms, so we canceled til next week.

I put some flex seal on a piece of saran wrap as a test and it turns out it's not clear, it's translucent and blocks some light.

So I don't know how to seal them up.

I'd have to build another raft to carry them & I just ain't gonna be able to do that by next week.

But I can slap something together to hold a car alternator in front of a little engine.

Block off most of a panel with cardboard or something and do a before & after test with a multimeter.

I tried covering panels with UV blocking windows, polycarbonate panels and all sorts of things including a black screen from a trashed big-screen tv.

Nothing made much difference.

When I get time I'm going to try painting a section White with quality paint that will seal the panel just for shiggles.

 

[Duck]

Nothing made much difference.

You mean nothing made a significant reduction in open circuit voltage?

Gotta do it with a load on it.

Got one of those little 12 volt tracker fans they sell at truck stops?

 

[Blood]

You mean nothing made a significant reduction in open circuit voltage?

Gotta do it with a load on it.

Got one of those little 12 volt tracker fans they sell at truck stops?

12v bilge pump.

 

[Duck]

12v bilge pump.

I'd be happy with them just if I could get them so they're not dropping broken glass everywhere.

 

[Duck]

Got this thing working... Electrically... Engine ain't bolted down yet..







I made that eons ago. Junkyard alternator. Turns out it's 94 amps.

I had it wired wrong, and used a worn out 2.5 horse engine.

The wires on top, red wire is the field coil and the yellow senses the voltage.

I had the voltage sensor wire and the power to the switch for the field on the output post.

Both have to have their own wire direct to the battery, and the field circuit needs a resistor or a light bulb inline to cut the voltage down.

Once it starts putting out power, it self-powers it's field and quits drawing power from the supply, and the light goes out. Same as the alternator light in the dash in a car. I just used a cheap little marker light.

The light didn't turn off til I had it's RPMs up all the way but it didn't come back on when I idled it down.

Then I summoned The Geezer so he could check the battery voltage. I couldn't do it because I had to hold the engine still.

The light turned off at half throttle and the voltmeter said 14.75 running, 12.98 after I turned it off.



Gonna bolt the engine down and figure out how to load test it tomorrow.

Thinking I'll use the trolling motor in a garbage can full of water.

Or hook it up to Blueford with it's battery disconnected and turn on it's lights and heater fan. Might add up to 42 amps?

 

[Duck]

Engine bolted down. Reconfigured it to allow for belt tension adjustment. Due to the angles I can tighten it by hand just by lifting the alternator. No pry bar needed.



Fender washers, stiffened by regular washers, tightened until they dented into the wood, oughta do it.. at least for one raft trip. Eventually I'll redo the whole thing with angle-iron.



Oil changes will be messy. But as I scraped off the grease from the previous engine, I noticed that oil is a good preservative of wood.