home made pontoons

[BLC]

Has any one ever made their own pontoons. I have the chance to get (free) seven 20' lengths of 12" fiberglass pipes. I thought of possibly using them for pontoons and build a deck for a pontoon boat. would they work? I was told the they will support the same amount of weight that they will displace in weight of water, but they will be just under the water. If this is true:
the volume of each pipe is: 15.7 cu ft
times 6 pipes, three each pontoon=94.2 cu ft
times the weight of 1 cuft of water(62.5lbs)=5887.5lbs.
Is this correct?

so could a pontoon deck be built with these or would it be a waste of time.

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: home made pontoons

Assuming your calculations are correct, you'll only be able to support about a third of that weight to keep the deck at a safe distance above the water. And that is the total weight of all construction materials, motor and passengers. And you would have so much pipe in the water that the drag will be inormous.

IMHO, you would be wasting your time.

 

[5150abf]

Re: home made pontoons

I think it could be done but it won't be easy, you would need to come up with some kind of nose cone a motor pan, rails, console, figure out how to attach them to the deck, ect ect, the tubes are one of many parts you would need.

So aside from the massive technical challenges of just making the tubes you would almost need to buy an entire boat for parts.

So, ya it will work, maybe, but do you really want to get into it that far?

 

[BLC]

Re: home made pontoons

Yeah, I was kinda thinking along those same line, but I thought that I would ask and see what some of you thought. Maybe they would be better off put to use for a floating swim platform in front of my cabin.
Thanks for the replies

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: home made pontoons

swim platform is my thought. you also have to come up with a system to hold the pipe together.

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: home made pontoons

Yeah, I was kinda thinking along those same line, but I thought that I would ask and see what some of you thought. Maybe they would be better off put to use for a floating swim platform in front of my cabin.
Thanks for the replies

If they were 24", it might be worth a look, but 12" is definitely too small. Would make a great swim platform or floating dock.

 

[south texas]

Re: home made pontoons

I agree with the swim platform idea. You could make it pretty cool and wouldn't cost much. If you want a pontoon boat, you can pick up a SAFE used one for a reasonable price.

 

[flipjoe]

Re: home made pontoons

when i was younger my dad made a pontoon boat out of 55 gallon steel drums welded but to but then made a cone for the front and a platform on top on that it was about 10 drums long on each side. never had a problem with it just make sure you prime your drums real good.