Steve,

I'm kinda with Brian on this. It's a little hard to detect irony nowadays.
My suggestion is to launch about 6 beers above Niagra falls...

Have a friend with a cottage on a quiet bay that had to put up with a
semi-commercial party barge one summer. Not to be snotty, large schools of
yachters can be particularly lacking in joy too. Something about boorishness
increasing with the square of the number in the group.

surfnturf

"Stephen Baker" wrote in message
...
Brian Nystrom ranted:

Yeah, that's just what we need, more drunken idiots out motoring around
on the water. That's really brilliant. Do us all a favor and post your
party plans here, so we can tell the authorities where to bust your
sorry asses.

First of all, Brian, you missed the whole point. The barge would be tied
to a
moored boat.
Second, the fact that none of us were taking it at all seriously obviously
went
waaaayyyyy over your head.
DUCK!

Steve ;-)

Scotty says:

my raft would have some rules, like NO BOAT SHOES ALLOWED!

They build shoes shaped like boats?!?

Go figure..... ;-)

surfnturf says:

I'm kinda with Brian on this. It's a little hard to detect irony nowadays.

True, too true. I just felt that maybe Brian could have started by asking "Are
you idiots really SERIOUS?" before launching his first barrage.
Honestly, the thought of having a party-barge-for-hire in any harbour doesn't
do wonders for the imagination, but Newport is just the kind of place that
might allow such a beast.
At least no-one has actually built one here yet. And I don't live in Newport
;-))
Steve

"Andrew Butchart" wrote in message ...
Concept proposed over beer with one of my brothers.

A "party barge" for a one-way trip down the river with roughly 12 people and
assorted frosty beverages. Power to be provided by a combination of
scantily clad slave girls (not bloody likely according to my wife who
refuses to be scantily clad) or an old outboard that someone thinks they may
have in their shed. This is intended to be a more "classy" trip than the
current method of multiple canoes lashed together around an old skiff.

Design considerations:
- it needs to be able to be taken down to the river and returned in the
backs of several pick-ups, or on a special purpose - not road-worthy trailer
/ hay wagon.
- it needs to be able to handle various shallow sections of the river
without falling apart, possibly requiring people to jump off and drag it
across (10" draft?).
- the vessel needs to be stable enough to handle people walking around on
it.

What quickly came to mind was to have each couple assemble a small,
extremely cheap boat that "could" be used independently if the barge
survives. Individual boats would be shaped rather like Phil Bolger's
"Brick" and have the ability to be attached together. The over-all vessel
would then be decked with 1/2" plywood leaving the center open for "frosty
beverage" storage, or having this task performed by half-barrels lashed to
the sides.

Ideas?

A little ot but here in CT we have a great raft race every year from
Hartford. One year there were a bunch of guys on this old raft with
oars, a couple of chairs, mugs, and a couple of kegs of beer. The race
started and they were making pretty good way for a bunch of drunks
until they stopped and started moving up stream! Nobody rowing, no
sail, just against the current. Of course we all soon realized they
had a small outboard hidden under the keg right in the middle of the
raft, steered by turning the keg. That was many years ago when
"responsible" drinkers were left alone on the river, ah for the good
ole' days.
Scotty

"Backyard Renegade" wrote in message
om.
A little ot but here in CT we have a great raft race every year from
Hartford. One year there were a bunch of guys on this old raft with
oars, a couple of chairs, mugs, and a couple of kegs of beer. The race
started and they were making pretty good way for a bunch of drunks
until they stopped and started moving up stream! Nobody rowing, no
sail, just against the current. Of course we all soon realized they
had a small outboard hidden under the keg right in the middle of the
raft, steered by turning the keg. That was many years ago when
"responsible" drinkers were left alone on the river, ah for the good
ole' days.
Scotty

In the 70s we used to have river "races" where the most important thing was
making sure that you had your beer caches close enough together. I still
remember one group having their case of beer dropped 20 feet from the bridge
above to them. Fortunately it missed their canoe. It's amazing that to the
best of my knowledge that no one drowned. I used to make good money
checking the camp sites on the river bank through the summer for empties
though. Even now, "frosty beverages" are the choices for many people on the
river. For me it's water and a camera although my brother and his friends
are all at least 15 years younger than me and still invincible I suppose.

A couple of years ago I tried to get some interest in a river "fun race"
going again but got scared off by insurance issues.

--
Andrew Butchart

http://www.floatingbear.ca

Brian Nystrom wrote in message ...
Yeah, that's just what we need, more drunken idiots out motoring around
on the water. That's really brilliant. Do us all a favor and post your
party plans here, so we can tell the authorities where to bust your
sorry asses.


Hey Brian, you failed to get up Darlene or Trish's ass once again? Oh
well, there's always 2005...

Just use the large cheap plastic pvc pipes lashed together with rope for
floatation

"Andrew Butchart" wrote in message
...
Concept proposed over beer with one of my brothers.

A "party barge" for a one-way trip down the river with roughly 12 people
and
assorted frosty beverages. Power to be provided by a combination of
scantily clad slave girls (not bloody likely according to my wife who
refuses to be scantily clad) or an old outboard that someone thinks they
may
have in their shed. This is intended to be a more "classy" trip than the
current method of multiple canoes lashed together around an old skiff.

Design considerations:
- it needs to be able to be taken down to the river and returned in the
backs of several pick-ups, or on a special purpose - not road-worthy
trailer
/ hay wagon.
- it needs to be able to handle various shallow sections of the river
without falling apart, possibly requiring people to jump off and drag it
across (10" draft?).
- the vessel needs to be stable enough to handle people walking around on
it.

What quickly came to mind was to have each couple assemble a small,
extremely cheap boat that "could" be used independently if the barge
survives. Individual boats would be shaped rather like Phil Bolger's
"Brick" and have the ability to be attached together. The over-all vessel
would then be decked with 1/2" plywood leaving the center open for "frosty
beverage" storage, or having this task performed by half-barrels lashed to
the sides.

Ideas?

--
Andrew Butchart

http://www.floatingbear.ca

This shuld be interesting to you

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/r/p...e2/update2.htm


On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:26:01 -0500, "Scott Downey"
wrote:

Just use the large cheap plastic pvc pipes lashed together with rope for
floatation

"Andrew Butchart" wrote in message
...
Concept proposed over beer with one of my brothers.

A "party barge" for a one-way trip down the river with roughly 12 people
and
assorted frosty beverages. Power to be provided by a combination of
scantily clad slave girls (not bloody likely according to my wife who
refuses to be scantily clad) or an old outboard that someone thinks they
may
have in their shed. This is intended to be a more "classy" trip than the
current method of multiple canoes lashed together around an old skiff.

Design considerations:
- it needs to be able to be taken down to the river and returned in the
backs of several pick-ups, or on a special purpose - not road-worthy
trailer
/ hay wagon.
- it needs to be able to handle various shallow sections of the river
without falling apart, possibly requiring people to jump off and drag it
across (10" draft?).
- the vessel needs to be stable enough to handle people walking around on
it.

What quickly came to mind was to have each couple assemble a small,
extremely cheap boat that "could" be used independently if the barge
survives. Individual boats would be shaped rather like Phil Bolger's
"Brick" and have the ability to be attached together. The over-all vessel
would then be decked with 1/2" plywood leaving the center open for "frosty
beverage" storage, or having this task performed by half-barrels lashed to
the sides.

Ideas?

--
Andrew Butchart

http://www.floatingbear.ca

That was my original inspiration.

--
Andrew Butchart

http://www.floatingbear.ca



"gk" wrote in message
...


This shuld be interesting to you

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/r/p...e2/update2.htm


On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 14:26:01 -0500, "Scott Downey"
wrote: