Anyone built a Raft?

[Tony]

I've got a youth group in Aug that I need to build a raft with, i've got ideas and i've built a few before but I thought i'd ask in case some of you have got pics, good ideas or experience building rafts, if you have let's have a look

 

[ReamviThantos]

i have. It was built with four empty oil barrels and held together using chickwire and decked with planks. No pictures but got me and a mate from several miles up the river deveron in Scotland to a little bit further than we intended out to sea. Great fun though once we made landfall.

 

[fishfish]

repaired tractor innertubes with planks lashed to them.

 

[roger-uk]

I've got full instructions as pdf Tony - send me your email address and I'll send to you.

Its one we use at Scout water activity centre - written for the best class of idiots - Scouts

Quite easy to read an ddo

Roger

 

[Limaed]

I used to make them a lot when I was a cadet out of planks and oil drums, always good fun but inevitably somebody ended up soaked! The wining team was always the one that could tie effective knots.
Latterly I made one on the Journeyman Course which was quite pretty good, here's how we did it:

Make a donut shape out of sticks and fill with brush, bind with cord:



Lift donut onto a large plastic sheet:



Bind sheet to donut:



Carve paddle and weigh anchor!

 

[John Fenna]

I used to make them a lot when I was a cadet out of planks and oil drums, always good fun but inevitably somebody ended up soaked! The wining team was always the one that could tie effective knots.
Latterly I made one on the Journeyman Course which was quite pretty good, here's how we did it:

Make a donut shape out of sticks and fill with brush, bind with cord:

View attachment 18287

Lift donut onto a large plastic sheet:

View attachment 18288

Bind sheet to donut:

View attachment 18289

Carve paddle and weigh anchor!

View attachment 18290

I have built one like that - but on a much smaller scale using an MOD size tarp....
I have also done the 4 oil drum sort - the trick is to build them to be paddled with the rounded side of the barrels as the bow and stern!

 

[sandbender]

"...Latterly I made one on the Journeyman Course which was quite pretty good..."

Me too, also on the Journeyman, there are some pics on the Woodlore site, one of them I have just realised, has me in it.

 

[Limaed]

That's good thinking John I wouldn't carry a massive sheet but regularly carry a tarp on days out.

Sandbender did you catch any fish in that wee loch (or anything else to eat for that matter) ?

 

[greensurfingbear]

I used to make them a lot when I was a cadet out of planks and oil drums, always good fun but inevitably somebody ended up soaked! The wining team was always the one that could tie effective knots.
Latterly I made one on the Journeyman Course which was quite pretty good, here's how we did it:

Make a donut shape out of sticks and fill with brush, bind with cord:

View attachment 18287

Lift donut onto a large plastic sheet:

View attachment 18288

Bind sheet to donut:

View attachment 18289

Carve paddle and weigh anchor!

View attachment 18290

Ohhh I like that. Really fancy making a coracle at some point as well

 

[sandbender]

"...Sandbender did you catch any fish in that wee loch (or anything else to eat for that matter) ?..."

I didn't, but fish were caught by others, it was however quite pleasant to sit out there on the loch for the odd half hour.

Other foods? a ridiculous amount of wild fruit, cat tails etc. But nothing that tried to run away.

 

[Tony]

He he, i remember building a huge brush/tarp boat/raft 7 of us struggled to carry it to the water, we could walk around the edge of it and it didn't move, they're fantastic constructions, very effective.