Making boats

[arctic hobo]

I was looking at mini inflatable boats the other day, with regard to pack size and weight, when I suddenly thought "Call yourself a bushcrafter? You should be making it on site!". I'd remembered one of recent Ray Mears programmes when he made a coracle with young branches and a large hide.
What I'm interested in is methods like that. That is, ways to make simple boats that don't have to last long nor be of very high quality, but can easily be made with quite readily available materials. If anyone's any designs they'd like to share I'd love to see some

 

[Abbe Osram]

Hi mate,
Many years ago I saw a german Survivalist building a coracle the same way Ray build his but instead of using a hide he was using his tarp. The inside of the coracle he filled with a lot of leaves and small branches. I wanted to try it myself but never did maybe next summer I will manage it.

cheers
Abbe

 

[Tony]

Me, my mate and a load of youth once built a boat out of a huge tarp and lots of foliage, saplings etc. It was 10 feet long and 6 wide, it weighed a ton but it floated like a dream, a huge success. They’re great fun to make and not hard, make sure that’s it’s a lot smaller than ours though! One thing to remember is to make sure that everything that’s against the tarp is soft or smooth, it’s easy to put holes in them.

Go on, make yourself one

 

[Graham_S]

personally i only travel on boats with at least 3 funnels and 2 casinos

 

[Bob]

RM demo'ed a hazel and tarp boat on one of the 'Tracks' programmes back in the '90s.

It's been a while but I think the steps were -

1. Mark out an oval in soft ground - size it to the tarp you are to use as the base of your boat ensuring you leave a margin of 1' all round on the tarp to make the sides of the boat.
2. Cut a load of hazel into 2' lengths of wand approx. 1" diameter, long lengths of thinner wands and also keep all the brash (leaves and twigs).
3. Push the 2' hazel lengths into the ground to half their length (1') all around the perimeter of the oval. I don't remember the spacing but would imagine 9" - 1' would be about right.
4. Wind the thinner wands alternately between these uprights to make a short 'wattle hurdle' around the whole oval with a finished height of 12" - i.e. to the top of the uprights. RM then bound it together using cordage to make an oval 'doughnut' shape.
5. Make a lattice floor of wands by inserting them in criss-cross fashion in opposite sides (both) of the oval - do this near the top so than when the woven oval is turned over the floor is at the bottom!
6. Spread the tarp out flat and place all the brash on it to act as cushioning for the sides and floor of the woven oval 'body' of the boat.
7. Pull the oval body of the boat carefully out of the ground and turn it over. Cut off the surplus 1' lengths of upright and check carefully and remedy any pointed sticks or anything that could puncture the tarp.
8. Place the oval body on the brash on the tarp (with the floor at the bottom!) and pull up the tarp all round to form the sides of the boat. Secure by tying the tarp off at intervals to the uprights or lattice to create a waterproof skin around the base and sides of the boat.
9. The boat was paddled in the manner of a coracle - one paddle used in a figure-of-eight pattern to 'pull' the boat along.

RM demo'ed this boat with one tarp but I do remember him saying two tarps would make a better boat - one placed over the other (2 layers).

That's all I can remember. I hasten to add that I've never done it myself so I can't vouch personally for its' seaworthiness so if you do make one then it might be wise to try it first on shallow flat water with all the usual precautions.

Hope that's useful

Bob

 

[pumbaa]

I have built quite a few "floatable's" when i was a scout .
One of the best memories is of the trawler race they have every year in Weymouth . As part of the festivitys they have a raft race up the harbour . From memory you have to build your raft on the side of the harbour and paddle it up to the bridge . Might be worth putting a Bushcraftuk team together for next years !!
There are more pubs per square mile in weymouth than any where else in the country so a good day is generally had by all . Anyone fancy it ?
Although barrels and the like are used , we could easily keep it bushcraft and still have a better designed raft .
Pumbaa

 

[arctic hobo]

Thank you all for the info
pumbaa I'm up for that - sounds a right larf

 

[pumbaa]

Its certainly that , i remember watching a load of bikers panicing cos their barrel of cider sunk ! I was only 13 , but found it funny even then .
So does this mean we are putting a raft team together then ? Before you say yes , think about all the time in the pub needed to design a raft !!!
Pumbaa

 

[Motorbike Man]

Its certainly that , i remember watching a load of bikers panicing cos their barrel of cider sunk ! I was only 13 , but found it funny even then .
So does this mean we are putting a raft team together then ? Before you say yes , think about all the time in the pub needed to design a raft !!!
Pumbaa

if I can get my current transport problems sorted out, I'd be up for it Mind you, I did get disqualified from the last college raft race I was in many years ago for sinking other rafts

 

[SteveUK]

I did my Journyman course at Woodlore with Ray and Juha last year, We built a raft using the "Circle of sticks wrapped in a tarp" method, it was very heavy but once on the water it was very stable and two people at a time used it for fishing and crossing the loch. The raft relay race was a hoot.

Stephen.

 

[JimH]

A quick Google uncovers:

Tino Rawnsley, Rawnsley Woodland Products, Waverley, Burlawn, Wadebridge, Cornwall PZ27 7LD
Tel&Fax 01208 813490 Email info@cornishwoodland.co.ukWebsite www.cornishwoodland.co.uk
currently offers courses in chair making, coracles, longbow making, and basic and more advanced Greenwood working

And:

Rebecca Oaks, 93, Silverdale Road, Yealand Redmayne, Carnforth, Lancs LA5 9TD Tel 01524 781375
Range of courses and demonstrations, especially coracle making



HTH,

Jim.

 

[happy camper]

hello,
just found this and thought it was an interesting take on the tarp coracle...

http://www.shelter-systems.com/kayak.html

Dont think you could get much kit in it for a river crossing but looks like alot of fun!
Also, there is a long history of building boats from reeds, from simple rafts right through to large, sea worthy boats capable of carrying huge loads.Probably need quite a few reeds to make it work though, so making one would probably have a high impact on local habitat.

 

[running bare]

im sure there would be no shortage of members willing to make a barrel raft.....especially if they had to empty the barrels first(beer)!!!!

tom

 

[Dennis Mapletoft]

Do as Ray did and make a circle of brush, but instead of skins use your poncho, but bring the hood up into the centre of the *boat* and tie it to a stick, this form the DOHNUT i love watching the kids play with this one....... Den