Question:
Building Your own pontoon boat
I am planning on building a pontoon single-person boat capable of
being disassembled and carried in the back seat and trunk of a
passenger car. The capacity needs to be 300 lbs and the deck will be
4x6 inches. FYI the unit will be powered by a low-power motor. I do
have a few questions:
1)Where can I get materials such as pipe or cylinders in plastic or
fiberglass (seeking 10-12 inch diameter)?
2) Is it necessarily unwieldy to have two pontoons on each side in
tandem? Longer than four feet may not fit my vehicle's interior.
3) Would an outrigger design be necessary to avoid toppling over of
the craft? It will be on freshwater only.
Answer:
-As long as you have you pontoons aligned, you shouldn't have any
problems. As far as material, you could go to Home Depot and look at
their PVC selection. They have some big stuff. A little heavy though.
Not sure I understand you decking. You mean 4 x 6 feet?
-If one pontoon can support your weight, and if each pontoon is under the
outer edge of the platform, it should be fine. It all depends on the
bouyancy of the pontoons. You want to be able to shift you weight enitrely
over one pontoon without having it sink very far into the water. You can
figure this out with geometry. Assume you know fresh water weighs 62.4 lb
per cu ft?
-considered styrofoam wrapped in tough plastic or tyvek for light weight
pontoons? pontoons could be glued up from rigid closed cell house
insulation and shaped to reduce water resistance. could be extra protected
by wood stringers or longitudinal plywood midsection if desired.
