I have built a dock and a couple rafts with 55 gallon plastic drums. I learned some things, the hard way. You want to seal the drums in the middle of your temperature difference. For MN sealing the drums at 30 degrees works good. The first dock sections I sealed the drums at warmer temperatures and in the winter they caved in some, so I drilled a small hole in one cap above the waterline, but somehow they still can fill with water. So seal in cooler temps. You can't have too much floatation. My first dock / raft had drums has 12sf per barrel, my last has near solid drums at 6.55sf per barrel. There is no such thing as too many drums.
Thank you for the reply to this video. I agree, the drums must be sealed at the right temperature or else there is a possibility for them to cave in the winter.
I have built a dock and a couple rafts with 55 gallon plastic drums. I learned some things, the hard way. You want to seal the drums in the middle of your temperature difference. For MN sealing the drums at 30 degrees works good. The first dock sections I sealed the drums at warmer temperatures and in the winter they caved in some, so I drilled a small hole in one cap above the waterline, but somehow they still can fill with water. So seal in cooler temps.
You can't have too much floatation. My first dock / raft had drums has 12sf per barrel, my last has near solid drums at 6.55sf per barrel. There is no such thing as too many drums.
Thank you for the reply to this video. I agree, the drums must be sealed at the right temperature or else there is a possibility for them to cave in the winter.
What's been done with free materials is kind of amazing
Thanks!
Inspirational stuff right here! Me someday!
Thank you!
This is great, I enjoyed it
Thanks
Nice project , shout out from Phil's,..
What can a man achieve just tooling around in his garage? The sky's the limit really.
Haha that’s true!
Could these still float if incased in concrete/cement instead of wood?
It depends, I don’t think it would float too well since they can only displace 450 ibs of water
@@tom_sassen what if I also packed said concrete with lots and lots of sealed empty water bottles?
you do need this.
Haha I wish
Great job just the same.
Thanks!
@@tom_sassen You're welcome.
Just wow😮
Thank you!
build the deck then frame with metal studs
That would’ve been nice
Aww your mommy said no :(
lol