Hi Terry,

I'm in Moncton. Thanks for info, but I'm loooking more for aluminum or
plastic then foam.

mrcomp_ca wrote:
Hi Terry,

I'm in Moncton. Thanks for info, but I'm loooking more for aluminum or
plastic then foam.


Kent home hardware has a new-to-them line of docking stuff,
including a "dock in a box" kit using plastic floats. Haven't
checked for price, but be prepared. I think I will try to go with
10" foam slabs directly under a 5' x 5' decks of 1" cedar planks,
'cause I got the cedar cheap from a bankrupt mill, and can get
castoff used rope from another mill. I may use erect pressurised
pepsi bottles, tethered with string winnowed from the rope, saran
wrap and clear packing tape. I will use doubled planks as skids and
cages for the floats, and eye bolts (the only costly items) at
corners to squeeze the deckboards between top and bottom flat
stringers, and for cleats and couplings. I want a moored dock with a
cable ferry to the shore, powered by handing the clothesline or an
oar in the current, just for fun. The ferry name may be a problem,
possibly "Wotfwat Ferry." for "Water or tug free we add tires" in
memory of "Worn out through fair wear and tear" an old air force
materiel condemnation code. (Tires are pulls in mangled french.)
Suits me, if not yet the mate.

I was also thinking of jamming pop bottles in old tires for floats,
ugly but free, tough, maintainable and manageable.

I want the component parts to be easily carried by matey and me, as
they will come out before freeze up, so small sections, ultralight,
are in order. If used rope is easy enough to get I needn't even use
proper untieable knots, just cut and replace.

Is your pontoon desire for dock floats or a deck boat? I thought 45
gal drums might make pontoons for a swath type boat, "streamlined"
with a flooded plasic skin, tyvec or shrink, soft like a dolphin's
hide. I would like to devise a method for joining them at the ends
without welding (plastic barrels?) Perhaps planks and banding or
rope and spanish windlass, or even plastic culverts. You could fill
them with pop bottles for floatation should leaks occur. Flats on
the bottom might enable planing, or foils, flight.

Friendly recyclers may allow you to pay a deposit and "borrow" as
many bottles as you want. For a small consideration, they will even
leave the caps on if you want a lot of them. They are a funny bunch.
They might even pay you to leave caps on and invite you to the tips
party, too. 50 bucks a giant bag, sorted by colour, 8' diameter, 4'
high, keep the bag, I was quoted, but I smiled a lot, and Her Royal
Bossiness was in a good mood, didn't have a lot to do, as her crew
of community service 5 dollar an hour parolled convicts were in a
calm mood. She enjoyed our discussion of reduce, recyle, re-use, and
what heroic service and folly she and her crew performed. How to
squeeze that bag into my van is the only problem. I could use the
boat trailer, I guess. I wonder how many bags I could lash onto it?

The bottles will float better if pressurisd. Vinegar and baking
soda will do that, but filling the bottles with cold air, maybe in
the winter, possibly even a drop of liquid nitrogen or a chip of dry
ice will do as well. Undamaged caps will hold pressure indefinitely,
and fail to a leak down in pressure. Ah, modern technology.

The art of the engineer is to do what must be done as cheaply as
possible.

Ain't summer fun?

Terry K