Hey /diy/!
I need some help.
A little background info first: So about a month ago I stated a project, I'm making a pontoon boat, out of lumber, OSB, and deck screws.
My goal for this is to make a dope ass fishing/swimming platform for <300.
Here is the frame for the deck(wheel barrow for size) it's 7'9" X 16'.
Here are the frames for the pontoons(that I am also fabricating).
This is where I need some advice. I plan to cover the frames with osb and fill the cracks with something like Spackle or plaster. The issue is that I need something to cover the entire bastard in(something hard, like a liquid plastic type material), so that it creates a water tight seal.
Everyone I ask for advice from say I should fiberglass it, however that defeats the purpose because it greatly exceeds my budget. I was thinking polyurethane but my father says it might not be water tight, what do you master craftsmen think?
Don't let this deter you from trying, but this shit looks jank as fuck. Your nails/screws are going to be gone in a year unless they're stainless or brass. If you're aiming for dirt-cheap ghetto chic I say look up wooden ship building techniques for getting the seal right. This is something you really should have researched before you started just tacking shit together, though.
>>1004764
Yes I know my workmanship is kinda shity but I'm really only looks to get one summer out of this though. By next winter I'll be ready to get rid of it.
its going to be a massive pain in the ass to try to build water tight pontoons from wood and some sealer (other then fiberglass). perhaps a better bang for the buck would be some large diameter pvc drainage pipes with caps sealed on the ends.
that would be water tight and probably last longer then the wood deck you will put on top.
google image search "PVC pipe pontoons" and you will get a lot of ideas...
You are going to spend $300 on 2X alone if you don't want that floor to be a trampoline. Also the moment any water hits that OSB say good bye to what is made from it.
Gel coat
>>1004753
plastic barrels and the screw down into them through the floor boards
One thing I might add is that I'm using the osb because it was 100% free from my father's worksite.
>>1004787
This was my initial plan, pick up six 55 gallon grain, fertilizer drums and use those for buoyancy.
>>1004790
>55 gallon drums for buoyancy
they build docks and swim platforms with those all the time. you know that works. if you have access to those kind of drums for cheap then that's the way to go.
2nd the opionion that OSB and water are not friends. that part won't last.
>>1004755
he's using standard screws with buttjoints for the frames, he said he's gonna build a pontoon boat this way. Oh kekles. just go to walmart and get an inflatable raft. at least you will piss less people off when it pops and you drag it to shore.
some stupid fucks around me built a floating platform like this, that sunk, they said nothing about it, and 3 boaters the next day hit their sunken trash and destroyed props. finally someone snitched on them, and the government sent them a bill for their time/effort of getting their junk out of the creek/river [large creek really] and I heard one of the boats that got rekt prop went after them for the replacement bill.
>>1004844
The lake I'm planning to take it to is >40 feet deep. How about instead of shitting all over me you could give me some advice on what I should actually use.
>>1004888
Hey, it's forty feet deep.
Perfect graveyard for my trash!
Typical 'mercan.
>>1004888
Hope you can swim.
>>1004787
This or fill in the voids with foam.
Show us your plans. You did sketch out something before you started doing all this, right?
>>1004888
Just fill the voids in your pontoon with 2-liter soda bottles filled with air.
>>1004753
OSB? Do you know what happens to that when it gets wet? The same thing that happens to plaster...
My best advice: give up now...
Use plywood for the pontoons. Osb will not work for long.
For flotation, five gallon buckets with the lids hammered down work and are cheap or free. But that 2x4 frame is janky and will most likely separate without some simpson ties and more cross bracing.
