building aluminum pontoons

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does anyone have and experience building pontoons for a raft/boat? i am looking at putting together a little party barge for the small lake i live at, thinking having the tubes 8' apart and 22' long and a foot of decking 'overhang' on each side essentially making it a 10'x22' floating deck.  putting down 2" cedar for decking and framing up a small 10x10 or 10x12 shack at one end. light weight with a couple windows and a patio style sliding or a double swing door, no insulation or wiring or anything else.  either stick framing or maybe just welding the frame entirely out of 1.25 or 1.5 square stock alloyit was suggested to me to just but 4 sheets of alloy, get it folded 3 sides and weld on the top and ends and a baffle i feel this would be more of a raft then a boat... i am not planning on mounting an engine on it rather leaving it anchored and towing it with my jetboat if need be.any thoughts? a guy is selling the attached pontoon frame pictured here for 3500 it is steel, 8x22 and would fit the bill pretty darn good however i will have a few weeks time off here shortly and could maybe do better... like most projects i start i am finding very little info on the internetsthanksjeff Attached Images
Reply:seen barges/docs made out of old 55 gallon drums.you can get pontoon boats pretty cheap around here, cheaper than the cost of a good low corrosive alumn.'14 HTP invertig 221Thermal Arc 201ts'15 HTP 2400'13 Hypertherm Powermax 30Esab 875Esab 251Clark Metal Servicespecializing in stainless steel exhaust systems
Reply:My dad made one out of the top of an old bread truck. It had an aluminum top that worked perfect. Ha made the framework from treated 1x4 and filled with styrofoam. It's unsinkable.Miller trailblazer301gLincoln sa200Miller251Miller spectrum 625Victor oxy-acc2002 Chevy duramax 3500 dually 4x4
Reply:We bought a 28 ft pontoon boat less engine with side rails for $700 to put on our 12 acre lake at the farm. The boat was damaged in a storm, but the pontoons were in excellent shape.  So we got pontoons ,deck cross members and wooden floor along with aluminum side rail. You might be able to find one of these cheaper than you can fab up something
Reply:great ideas thanks guys i guess not really the best season for shopping for a boat in canada but ill keep my eyes peeled for some deals
Reply:Jeff,I'm not trying to be sarcastic or hypocritical, but why don't you just use logs?Like Sausage said, I see alot of drums used for floats too.  I've also seen foam, both pre-formed and spray, for docks.  It would be easy to make plywood pontoons, fill with foam, and wrap with fiberglass.  Not much fun, as I don't really care to work with 'glass, but probably alot less than aluminum.  Heck, if you figured out the buoyancy you needed, you could even make the wood/'glass pontoons without foam.Lincoln SA 200Esab Caddy 160Thermal Arc 201TSMiller Dialarc HFI don't like making plans for the day because then the word "premeditated" gets thrown around the courtroom....
Reply:Originally Posted by richeyWe bought a 28 ft pontoon boat less engine with side rails for $700... The boat was damaged in a storm, but the pontoons were in excellent shape...
Reply:Originally Posted by Jeffyggreat ideas thanks guys i guess not really the best season for shopping for a boat in canada but ill keep my eyes peeled for some deals
Reply:PVC corrugated culvert pipe. Yes. They make rounded caps for it.Had a buddy do one years ago.Tough as hell too. No "clank" when fishing. Da Bomb.Bubble gumTooth pixDuct tapeBlack glueGBMF hammerScrew gun --bad battery (see above)
Reply:Burp that sounds like a good idea with the plastic pipe.  There are many various diameters of the pipe available.  Might be easy to match pipe flotation /size to size of your barge.  Blow in a little foam in each end for extra flotation in case of a leak.Docwelders right if you buy a poontoon boat/frame. Now is the off season.  Prices are less in the winter
Reply:I build rental two story pontoon boats and commercial marinas.  If you are building a barge, that wont be beached on rocks, look at Merco Marine for their HDPE foam filled floats, Or any other distributor of ACE rotomold or equivelent. There is another company that makes HDPE pontoon boat tubes and ends. Boats are a different story.  Most 55 gal drums don't have enough floatation, unless you are using more than two pontoons for what you are talking about.  ADS pipe would work, but I would fill them with cheap white foam. Another boat maker I know makes plywood boxes covered with fiberglass mat, then fill it with cheap white foam blocks.  The hollows are filled with pour foam. The two story rental boats I build are 32" dia X 24' long 10 ga tubes, divided into 4 watertight sections, everything is steel.  The front has an additional 3/8" wear plate for shoring.  I still fill them with foam, and renters still are able to puncture and dent them.  If you want to do the math, find out what your structure including floats weigh.  The floats have to displace that much weight of water (62 lbs per cu ft) Everything more than that in float volume is lift above the water and reserve floatation. So a 2 cu ft block weighing 50 lbs would float 74 lbs before sinking. A 55 gallon drum will hold 215 Lbs with it halfway submerged, if it doesn't leak. In Ca they have a lot of laws regarding float materials, even paint or pressure treated lumber on docks, it varies from lake to lake.  Using Logs, as was suggested has been popular for cabins and floats that aren't really boats. They do have to be releveled from time to time as they waterlog. Leaking pontoons are a nightmare, and the always show up in the middle of a major storm. If it sinks, it will probably be your repsonsibility to salvage it which is thousands. Foam filled floats will keep it floating. Coast Guard approved Pourfoam is best, but it expands with such force it will rupture most materials if not installed slowly and professionally.     Making your own aluminum would be top quality for sure, but way more expensive. I have a video slide show of the last boat build, but I can't figure out how to load it to this site.
Reply:awesome information guys and blackbart much appreciated i guess thats the thing do you want a boat or a floating dock.. i want to be able to pull it out on a 8'wide flat deck trailer and move it back to my place (only 5 minute drive from the 'good' boat launch.  i will have to do some reading here if i could find a set of pontoons i feel like that would be the best fit for my application.  i strongly believe that i can keep the weight to a real minimum for my small structure and dont want to get too carried away building something too big.
Reply:The floatation math is fairly easy as I described.  Weights of materials isn't to hard to figure out. Leaking floatation is the biggest issue. Large cheap white foam blocks are available if you can put them in whatever your'e using. You can even use them without a cover, although floating fuel and rodents can attack it.  They eventually absorb water, while the denser pour foam has a much longer life, but it is more expensive.  The ACE floats (white foam filled HDPE) are durable even on shore for a short time.  There are several companies that make the same design.  They can be used on steel, alum, or wood designs.  The Merco Marine catalog has a lot of ideas and deigns for what you are talking about.  What state are you in?
Reply:Thought about just using a few big red cedars too but that will end up pretty heavy. I am located up in northern bc not far from Alaska. I predict I will end up with something quite a bit larger than planned I found a few images I will load up when I get on my computer tomorrow don't think I can do it from my phone I am kinda liking the idea of 24" PVC culvert filled with foam... 3 of them
Reply:55 gallon barrels are cheap, weld as many as you need together end to end. I'd add a bung at the top to pump out water should one leak. In ten years weld together new barrels. Go with 2 or four, the center one will contribute to instability in the water.
Reply:24" PVC is pricey unless you have it, you would need at least 3.  Remember the math on a 55 gall drum, it will take one just to float one buddy with a beer belly. ADS pipe is probably more durable than either, but sealing the ends watertight is an issue.  Stuffing either with cheaper white foam is good insurance.
Reply:Update:  knocked a few other projects off the list and the snow that hit us is out of the way so now I have time to dedicate to this project. This morning I was offered 'as many 50gal black plastic drums as I like' all in excellent condition used to being oil to an auto service dealership. Thinking this may be the way to go.I'll have to give some thoughts to design later on today thinking 2 rows either side to side.. Whih would make way too much boyancy or end to end to fashion pontoons. I like the idea of sealed bulkheads. They should probably be cleaned out? And bungs sealed with some sort of sealant Thoughts?
Reply:Maybe a cage around each pontoon then screw them to 10' 4"x4" dimensional wood every 3' or so then deck perpendicular to the 4x4's with 2x6?
Reply:2 pontoons that are 24' (8drums each) combined would float 4000lb(going off 250lb float each) For decking 2x6x12 in dimensional would be 40@25lb each or 1000 lb. could likely save a bit by using the cedar I am planning on Cross pieces at 4x4x10 dimensional lumber would be 35lb each needing 9 total would be 300 ish. Shack weight undecided yet but thinking of just welding an alloy framed shack sides in 0.75x6 cedar maybe 7' high with a single slopes roof
Reply:something like this i just sketched up maybe overkill or underkill not sure
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Reply:Originally Posted by Jeffyg... I was offered 'as many 50gal black plastic drums as I like'...