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

Andrew Butchart says:

snip classy barge idea

That sounds supsiciously like the idea I had for a Party Barge (tm) for Newport
harbour. Build a largish barge, say 30' by 60', with a platform at one end for
the band and/or bar, and a low house at the other to get enough headroom for
the heads. In the middle have a large dancefloor or seaqting area (depending
on formality required).
The thing could be rented out to those living on boats in the harbour - just
tie it up alongside, fire up the genset for the band, and party the night away
with as many folksa as the voasties will allow on it. No need to trash your
boat or limit the guests to 6. ;-)
Plus, it could have a tent added for inclemenet weather or to negate the
seagull problem.
Anyone who actually starts to use this idea owes me a free rental a year plus
2% of the profits.

Steve "I knew I should have stuck to computer engineering..."

This idea has potential and Newport is just the place for it! Marblehead, too!

What kind of operator's licences would be needed?

Heads or Comfort Castles(tm)? Keep the costs down.

A swim (re-entry) ladder would be a good idea for some parties.

More ideas?


Stephen Baker wrote:

Andrew Butchart says:

snip classy barge idea

That sounds supsiciously like the idea I had for a Party Barge (tm) for Newport
harbour. Build a largish barge, say 30' by 60', with a platform at one end for
the band and/or bar, and a low house at the other to get enough headroom for
the heads. In the middle have a large dancefloor or seaqting area (depending
on formality required).
The thing could be rented out to those living on boats in the harbour - just
tie it up alongside, fire up the genset for the band, and party the night away
with as many folksa as the voasties will allow on it. No need to trash your
boat or limit the guests to 6. ;-)
Plus, it could have a tent added for inclemenet weather or to negate the
seagull problem.
Anyone who actually starts to use this idea owes me a free rental a year plus
2% of the profits.

Steve "I knew I should have stuck to computer engineering..."

an abandoned barge was used like that on a lake near here for several
years - music, food, the works. they used to tie motor boats to it for
propulsion. one time a summer storm came up and all the boats but one cast
off and ran for cover leaving a bunch of people on the old barge exposed
to the wind and rain. it was all the remaining power boat could do to keep
the barge pointed into the weather.

you could make a barge or raft type vessel out of plywood. many identical
"boxes" bolted together so they could be unbolted and individually put in
the back of the pickup trucks you mentioned. someone did something similar
at the Kingston (Ont) messabout this fall. a design for the box was
published on a website. people made the boxes at home and brought them to
the messabout. the organizer made a bow and a stern box. they were all
bolted together end-to-end at the messabout. the idea was to see how long
a hull they could make this way. if you subscribe to Duckworks you can see
it there. I don't know where the organizer's webpage is.

you'd get the most floor space and stability with flat bottom boxes.
you don't need the total of the boxes to be the size of the barge/raft as
plywood could be used to span spaces between boxes. you'd have to watch
the bouyancy and draft calculations. (so many people per box of raft as
the raft size would probably vary depending on how many people show up for
an outing)


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William R. Watt ) writes:
.. you'd have to watch
the bouyancy and draft calculations. (so many people per box of raft as
the raft size would probably vary depending on how many people show up for
an outing)

um, also the larger the barge/raft the heavier the scantlings you need to
keep it rigid. put another way, the size of the scantlings limits the
number of boxes you could bolt together into a raft. don't forget those
sudden summer storms. SW Ontario seems to get more than its share.


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Jim Conlin asks (amongst other things):

What kind of operator's licences would be needed?

The really big question is "What kind of insurance would you have to carry, and
at what cost?" ;-))

Other practical considerations include:
a) Would the harbour master approve?
b) Would folks on nearby moorings sink it before 10pm?
c) Would you need a liquour licence from the town, the State, or the feds?
d) Would it need 6' high lifelines to stop (discourage?) drunken people from
leaping over the side furthest from he swim platform?
e) Well, I 'm sure there are more, but they haven't popped into my head yet.

Steve

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.

--
Regards

Brian

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 ;-)

Having a bad Christmas Brian? Or you just off the meds again?

"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.

--
Regards

Brian

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.


Yeah, drunken parties on the water should be reserved for those who
can afford "proper" yachts, and private docks to tie them to!
Scotty, my raft would have some rules, like NO BOAT SHOES ALLOWED!