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Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat


by deceiver on July 22, 2006

Table of Contents
Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Intro: Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 1: Framing it up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 2: Floatilla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 3: Finish work and the seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 4: Propulsion and electrical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 5: Figure head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 6: A few conveniences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 7: Launched and doing fine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Author:deceiver

deceiver
Retired Jr. High teacher of 30 years. Always into lots of things. Now I seem to be into them more. Love woodworking, guitar, portrait painting, building things.
Married to Joyce (totally wonderful experience) and the father of two daughters (equally wonderful experience).

Intro: Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat


FOURTH UPDATE: The Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat is gone, no more, nada. It's at the dump in pieces or recycled. Watch for a new build in the spring. Sleeker,
lighter, svelter, cooler. Drawing on what I've learned.
THIRD UPDATE: So, the boat has as of this writing been in the water for 7 years. It's never been pulled out just beached and left outside in winter. I noticed a few pieces
of plywood coming loose and the batteries are nearing end of useful life. When you deep charge/discharge marine batteries over and over they eventually lose their
ability to hold a full charge.
The third picture you see below is ugly. It's the final pictures before total and complete dismantling of the Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat. In the spring I'll start
again. this one will be different. Basically sleaker, lighter, faster. and simpler. I consider the first one a prototype. I learned a lot and I found out what works and what
doesn't. I had lots of fun and many, many pleasant hours cruising, fishing, and fielding questions from people on lake from the banking and from boats.
This is the end of the ISBPB. Tomorrow it's a date with the sledgehammer.
SECOND UPDATE: I have had problems with burning out switches with the high current. I have recently installed 4 automobile solenoids. Wired properly they act like a
DPDT switch. I have one small three position toggle switch for a control now. Forward-off-reverse. I might have to replace two of them with continuous duty solenoids
though I don't know how long the intemittent ones will hold up going long periods in forward. I'll post pictures of the set-up when I get the chance.
UPDATE PARAGRAPH: Below is the barge, as it's called now, 4 years later. The one without the canopy is the original launched picture. The canopy is a rather
expensive but impervious to weather material called 'sunbrulla'. The pipes are galvanized 1" electrical conduit. Other changes: the seats didn't weather well so they were
covered with latex sheeting. An American flag and holder, Oh, and a new pier I welded up.
I made a soda bottle raft a few years ago. It was just 940 two liter bottles enclosed on all sides with a deck. Later on I decided to make a pontoon boat. A sort of movable
raft or barge out of soda bottles and materials from Home Depot. When I'm making a boat suddenly all stores carry boat making materials. It's fun to improvise with
what's available.
The boat is basically wood pontoons with 2400 soda bottles filling them. It's electric and has become a wonderful place to spend an afternoon to glide silently on the
water or to fish. It's big, 20' by 12' and heavy, I'd estimate about a ton. but it moves nicely even in a stiff wind, rolls with waves but doesn't overly rock, and is highly
maneuverable. It just isn't very fast but here in Maine that the way we like it. A BBQ grill, a tall Moxie, a fishing pole and you've got it made on the water on the incredible
soda bottle pontoon boat (alias the Pahty bahge). You need to pronounce that with a Maine accent,no R's allowed.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Step 1: Framing it up
Materials are mostly from Home Depot. Pressure treated lumber is used for the skeleton. and yes, most of it is the non toxic kind. I don't know if it will stand up in the
water as well as the old stuff used to though.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Step 2: Floatilla
About 2400 soda bottles in two wood pontoons float this beast. I tried to do some buoyancy calculations by estimating final mass and volume. And I predicted that it
would float about 50 percent of the boat below the surface. I was right.

Step 3: Finish work and the seat


I knew I couldn't make it look like a new pontoon boat with that plastic and cushy look so I went instead for the Jules Verne look.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Step 4: Propulsion and electrical


See the picture descriptions for more information. The boat runs (slowly, about 5 mph) using Four modified trolling motors made by Minn Kota.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Step 5: Figure head


A carved dragon's head turns in the direction you're steering. It also has two LED lights for Eyes, one green and one red as required for night riding.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Step 6: A few conveniences


Joyce is my wife BTW. And a ladder is needed after a cool swim and of course an anchor so you can swim and not get stranded.

Step 7: Launched and doing fine


We launched it at night as to not draw too much attention at the boat landing. Evening rides are nice and serene. No noise besides the gentle rippling of the water that is
pushed aside by the boat as it glides along. And, it's great for fishing too.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Related Instructables

Project rRaft Building a Raft


out of Water
Bottles by
Weissensteinburg

How to build a
Boat made of
Trash &
Recyclables! by
jrobinson

Easy Raft by
elmoenemy7

Artificial Fish
Habitat by
larrynvi

Go Rafting (on
the cheap!) by
okayknockout

mini ship in a
mini bottle by
Acastus

Comments
50 comments Add Comment

Jcoglobal says:

view all 266 comments

Feb 10, 2011. 6:48 PM REPLY

How did you control the on and off of the motors?

deceiver says:

Feb 11, 2011. 2:10 AM REPLY


The current is high with marine batteries. regular switches burn out eventually. Do one of two things. Keep or modify the switches in the electric motor
handles. The other way is to use Continuous duty solenoids. You flip a switch, any kind will do and it flips the solenoid which is high current and made for
such applications. They're usually used in marine applications and automobiles. Do a search for continuous duty solenoid and you'll see some. If you get
four of them you can actually cross wire them to get the polarity reversed to make the motors go backwards. Don't forget to put a 30 amp or better
automobile fuse at the positive terminal of each battery. Nothing worse than a flaming houseboat!

Jcoglobal says:

Feb 10, 2011. 1:31 PM REPLY


Hello, I was just wondering what you used to waterproof the wood from rotting, how did you set up the motors to be controlled away from the head of the
motor, and lastly what else did you modify on the motors?
Thanks!

deceiver says:

Feb 10, 2011. 4:53 PM REPLY

Pressure treated lumber. Lasts years in water.


One of the motors was under the head, the other in the rear. connected two extensions coming out each side of the vertical motor pipe. Then I connected
the front to the back motors with stainless cable. If you cross them when you turn the rear motor to the left the front one turns to the right so each end of
the boat turns in the right direction. If that didn't make much sense, Think of the old downhill buggies we used to make with carriage wheels. we hooked
two ropes on the front to pull the wheels left or right. This is the same principle except that the rope connects the front and back motors (The other two
motors are stationary)
Modifications of motors? I cut the shaft off and hardwired them so they are either on or off. the original heads had 5 speeds. The speed isn't that great
with all 4 wide open but you can control the speed by turning on any combination of the 1 to 4 motors.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

Jcoglobal says:

Feb 10, 2011. 6:46 PM REPLY


Thank you very much, I am going to build a small house boat with a cabin for pleasure cruising and am searching around for the best ways to create
pontoons, trying to decide between enclosing and fiberglassing them or a way like yours.
P.S. What was the white sheeting that you put above the waterline on the sides of the pontoons?
Sincerely,
Freezing in negative degree Minnesota weather

deceiver says:

Feb 11, 2011. 2:05 AM REPLY


You can do both.... build an airtight pontoon... but if it should leak.. put something in it that won't let you sink.. soda bottles, or foam or whatever.

christopherkellyfurniture says:

Jan 3, 2011. 2:25 PM REPLY

I love it.
How long did it take in total and what is the total cost?

deceiver says:

Jan 3, 2011. 4:06 PM REPLY

about 4 months and $2000. thanks.

christopherkellyfurniture says:

Jan 5, 2011. 3:29 PM REPLY

Brilliant,I am hoping to build something similar here in the UK.


Pontoon boats are not so good here as the canals are small and the bridges are low.
A narrow boat is a typical 1600mm (5 feet) air draught.
I am working on a topside that can go up and down to accommodate this.

deceiver says:

Jan 6, 2011. 3:46 AM REPLY


Cool. One thing about building a boat is that you can make it fit your needs as long as you stay within the laws of physics.

Kiernan says:

Dec 4, 2010. 5:24 PM REPLY

That is a beautiful dragons head

deceiver says:

Dec 5, 2010. 3:55 AM REPLY

thanks

Silence says:

Jun 7, 2010. 6:27 PM REPLY


I wonder if you could get away with a few rows of those 55 gallon plastic drums. If you strap em to your new frame and weld up a cone to fit for each row,
you would have a damn good pontoon with low resistance to movement in the water.

deceiver says:

Jun 8, 2010. 3:09 AM REPLY


I can tell you from past experience that you can float almost anything with drums like that. We had a steel raft with a heavy plywood top. The raft was
about 12x12 feet and very heavy. It took 4 men to successfully move one of it's three sections. Two rows of three barrels (6 in all) floated it very high in
the water. The barrels on their sides were at least 60% out of the water.

zer6 says:

Jun 11, 2010. 1:33 PM REPLY

is there ever any problem with the barrels leaking?

deceiver says:

Jun 13, 2010. 5:50 PM REPLY


Yes, water seemed to seep into them over the summ months.. but very little. I'm not sure about the plastic ones available these days.

Silence says:

Jun 13, 2010. 4:24 PM REPLY


Those barrels are made to hold liquids.. As such are pretty well sealed. I think the tops are fused to the rims making the only potential weak point
the cap.

nunja business says:

May 10, 2010. 10:15 PM REPLY


Ummm ... I hate to sound dumb but, aren't the bottles completely enclosed inside the hulls and never coming into direct contact with the water?
If so, the only purpose the bottles serve is if you sprung a leak. If the hulls are sealed up and watertight, aren't THEY providing all the bouyancy?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

deceiver says:

May 10, 2010. 11:54 PM REPLY


Actually if you look at the picture of the back of the boat you can see that the pontoons merely contain the bottles. They are open to the water
completely. The point was that it is an expense and difficult to built and seal pontoons. The bottles solved that problem.

nunja business says:

May 11, 2010. 4:12 AM REPLY

Gotcha! I thought the pics were while it was being dismantled and I assumed that was partially broken down.

pplthot says:

Jan 4, 2010. 2:16 PM REPLY


Could you use any plastic container such as trash cans, cat litter containers (the ones people buy it in), rubbermaid containers or the gallon jugs they have in
offices? Does it have to be a certain kind of plastic to last in ocean water? For any containers that don't have water tight lids you could seal the lids on with
some marine adhesive.

deceiver says:

Jan 4, 2010. 3:46 PM REPLY

No problem with the type of container at all. As long as it seals.

pplthot says:

Jan 4, 2010. 5:10 PM REPLY


Then all I need to figure out now is how much air I need to keep my boat up. I'm planning on building a simple houseboat using this method. I would
rather use the 55 gallon barrels but the cheapest I could find them for in my area was $20 a barrel and I'm doing this on a extremely tight budget.

-chase- says:

Apr 14, 2010. 8:17 AM REPLY


I've looked a many a design - using pontoons, 55gal drums, fabricated dock floats and Styro Blanks as well as barge style base for a possible
vessel.
There are some older books on Houseboat building that goes into the 55gal drum and stryo blank design that seem quite stable, stiff and strong
enough to handle intercoastal water ways.
Costs of the drums depending on area of course - it seems easy enough to replace one if one starts taking on water.
I have not made my desicion yet as to which design style i'm going with - still looking into it and costs involved.
Biggest problem i have with my current location is - "where to build it... " affordably that is. Tough to come by space large enough cheap enough
in the city. lol

deceiver says:

Apr 14, 2010. 9:42 AM REPLY


Two ideas I've toyed with. One was to cap the ends of 6-8" PVC. Bind them together with some sort of pipe frame or straps that could be
attached to a platform.
The other was to take a couple of large lolly tubes. The stiff, thickwalled ones they use for columns to pour cement in. They come from 8" to
about 24" in diameter. Then buy the thick pink Styrofoam sheeting and make a rig to cut circles out that would fit in the tube. and stack them
up like lifesavers inside. Finally I'd get some fiberglass cloth and do the outside of the tubes. A lot of work but I'll bet it would be nice.

-chase- says:

Apr 15, 2010. 3:33 PM REPLY


I agree the lolly tubes would be a good one - i looked into these myself for use as a mold for glassing them in... i like the styfo donut add
idea though... hmmmm...
I'd have to do a calc of the weight add and displacement with the donuts added in.
I also looked into polystyrene water tanks. - which could easily be spin welded to seal and to fix as a repair. - we have a second hand
location for these where i'm at and they go for pretty resonable prices.
I did see someone actually made a house boat out of a single huge one. I liked it kinda - but would hve added two smaller ones to act as
pontoons - some fear i had in jsut looking at it of it rolling over int he night - or some manatee or dolfins playing with it thining it was a
water toy and rolling it put me off to the single water tank idea. lol
I'm still looking at many variations - some i'm finding are way out there but work - so... what ever floats your boat as they say seems to
work.
I did see the guy that built an island with a shelter on it out of bottles - pretty cool - sand plants and all - i understood the country he was in
- confiscated it claiming it was part of the country when he tried to move it to a different location out of the country ... ? But it was neat and they showed how he would add to it or fix an area using bottles he found - it was on tv.
i like the lines of your vessel - looks good!

TheIrishApe says:

Apr 4, 2010. 6:24 PM REPLY


You should make an instructable, i would defiantly love to make a house boat out of 55 gallon barrels, or if you have some kind of blueprints
could you email me. TheIrishApe@yahoo.com. I would appreciate your help. Trying to find a summer project.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

pplthot says:

Apr 5, 2010. 12:02 PM REPLY


I never went through with the plan because this kind of boat can't stay together in the ocean. You can do it on a lake though.

deceiver says:

Apr 5, 2010. 4:27 AM REPLY


Well, the boat was just a lot of head planning and then building by the seat of my pants. sorry, I never had any documentation at all. Often
when I build something it's like a road trip. It's fun to just think about it and see where it takes you. This was that kind of project.

Ranie-K says:

Jan 10, 2010. 6:38 AM REPLY


I've heard about fighter jet's drop tanks. These are supposed to be sold as scrap aluminium when the airplane type they're made for is scrapped.
These should be super flotation devices. Anyone know where to get these?

deceiver says:

Jan 4, 2010. 6:28 PM REPLY


Forget each bottle. Look at the volume of space all your bottles will take up. for instance if your bottles take up a volume of 2'x2'x10' then you'll
have a volume of airspace about 40 square feet.
It needs to be done in metric and then converted to the standard (american system) but I can help you out here. 1 square foot of air space will
float about 60 pounds of weight. so a pontoon that is about 40 square feet like the example above will float about 40 sq ft x 60 pounds = 2400
pounds. Now, that's floating at water level. If you want the boat of that weight to be 50% out of the water then you'd need about twice that volume
of pontoon.
If you made two pontoons 3ft x 2ft x 20 ft that would be 120 sq ft. Multiply that time 60 and you'd get 7200 pounds of floating. Two pontoons
would lift roughly 14,000 lbs to water level. To have the pontoons half out of the water the boat and it's contents would have to be around 7000
lbs or less.

pplthot says:

Jan 5, 2010. 6:48 AM REPLY


I was actually just going to have a single square hull. I figure this would simplify the building process. I also figured if I'm putting a cabin with
furniture on this boat I might need the extra space for more air.
I'll be measuring each container I put into the hull for accuracy. If I were using bottles I wouldn't, but since I'll be using much fewer containers
it shouldn't be too much trouble. Water is 8.35 pounds per gallon, so a 35 gallon bin would support about 290 pounds? Is this correct?
Couldn't you stuff the hull with too much air, then hangs weights off the sides, or the bottom of the boat to bring the hull down to 50%? The
reason for doing it that way would be so I have the option of adding and taking away cargo without having to add more air to the hull. Like at
some point I'd add a couch, or a wood stove and other heavy objects. I'd just remove some of the weights each time I add another item.

deceiver says:

Jan 5, 2010. 11:28 AM REPLY

Sound about right for 35 gallons. Why weight it down? just let it float higher.

pplthot says:

Jan 5, 2010. 6:34 PM REPLY


I read somewhere (might have been a comment on here) about how having too much buoyancy might cause the boat to bob like a
cork. I'm not imagining it flipping over but I don't want it floating so high that it might compromise the stability of the boat. I'm obviously
no naval expert so I'm just thinking of any possible problems.

deceiver says:

Jan 6, 2010. 7:01 AM REPLY


You are right there. I have a raft made of the same way as the boat. it's 8x8 ft and about 2 ft high. The kids love it because when
the boats make waves it sways a foot and a half up and down on either side.
My boat is 50% out of the water but it has such mass that even a large boat wake barely moves it. It's not easy to get that amount
of mass moving. Then the waves are gone and it's over.

pplthot says:

Jan 6, 2010. 9:52 AM REPLY


My hull is only about about 25% of the height of the boat. How much support would I need if I wanted my waterline to be at
25% of the height of the boat?
Here is my design if it helps:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i145/peoplethought/boatweight.jpg

deceiver says:

Jan 6, 2010. 1:00 PM REPLY


Cool design. It really isn't the height. It's the mass and surface area on the water. So, you surface area is as big as the
area of the house. If it's well floated it should be ok. But the more mass you add to it the lower it will float in the water.
There is a direct relationship I have described way above in the replies long ago
Density = mass / volume. It only works in metrics. 1 cubic centimeter has a mass of 1 gram. or a density of 1 gram/cm
cubed. Any object less than 1 will float and any object more than one will sink.
So, if you had a boat that was 1000 cubic cm. and had a mass of 500grams it's density would be D = 500grams/1000
cubic cm. or 0.5 g/cubic cm. 50% of that boat would be out of the water. A rock weighs more than it's volume. so it sinks.
A boat with a mass/volume relationship of 1000 to 1000 would have a density of 1. It wouldn't sink or float.. sort of hover at
water level.
A boat with a mass/volume relationshop of 1000 to 500 would have a density of 1.5 and sink.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

These relationships are the beauty of the metric system and why it's used exclusively in the sciences.
Try and estimate how much the boat will weigh (in grams) and the volume of the pontoon part in cubic cm. and see if your
density is greater or less than 1.

pplthot says:

Jan 6, 2010. 1:47 PM REPLY


So I have 32 air tight bins in my design. Each one is roughly 5.625 cubic feet. Convert that to 159282.262 cm. I have
32 of them, so that comes to 5097032.384 cm3 combined.
I think my original guess at the weight of the boat is too much, but for this example - If the boat weighs 6500 pounds.
That is 2948350.405 g.
2948350.405 g / 5097032.384 cm3 = 0.58
That would put the waterline just above the mid point?
Double that much air and I get to about 0.28. That would put about 1/4 of the boat underwater?
Thanks for helping me with this.

deceiver says:

Jan 6, 2010. 2:13 PM REPLY


If your calcs are right then you should be right on. I calculated mine and sure enough I could have put a chalk line
on the pontoon before I set it in the water and it would have been spot on.
Your next step is to see how much more stuff or people could be on the boat before it gets too low in the water. I
think you'll find it's a lot.
I must say, that if you ever do make this be sure to overbuild the part below the water when it comes to
connections. Use bolts instead of screws for instance. Mine eventually lost integrity below water line when it came
to such things.
You're welcome.

pplthot says:

Jan 6, 2010. 2:41 PM REPLY


Yes I'll be using galvanized bolts. I don't think I'll have to worry too much about people or somewhat lightweight
items like my bike. I will be putting large things like couches, shelves, and mattresses into the equations.

deceiver says:

Jan 7, 2010. 7:00 AM REPLY


You know, I don't know where you are. I know that in some southern states houseboats are allowed on
some lakes but in most other states it's not legal to have a domicile type of boat. You can't have a boat with
rooms that are like a house to live in. There are even restrictions on cabins in sailboats. Here in Maine, we
have thousands of lakes. I've never seen a houseboat. So, I'm sure you're privy to the laws on this were
you are but I just thought I'd mention it.

pplthot says:

Jan 7, 2010. 9:10 AM REPLY


Do you know where I can find information on that? I can't find any information on the internet about it?
All I've been able to find out is that if it has a means of propulsion then it is considered a vessel. If it
doesn't then it's a "floating home".

deceiver says:

Jan 7, 2010. 9:36 AM REPLY


You might try here.
Houseboat Living - what laws, rules, or regulations affect house boats?
You could also find your state online and search the site for boating laws. You might call your local
or state fish and game.

pplthot says:

Jan 7, 2010. 9:56 AM REPLY


According this this, as long as I use my boat for navigation, even if only occasionally, it isn't
considered a live aboard vessel. I guess this is why I read somewhere that if you had a means
of propulsion, it isn't a "floating home".
http://www.boatus.com/gov/GA005FLAnchoring.pdf

deceiver says:

Jan 6, 2010. 2:11 PM REPLY


If your calcs are right then you should be right on. I calculated mine and sure enough I could have put a chalk line
on the pontoon before I set it in the water and it would have been spot on.
Your next step is to see how much more stuff or people could be on the boat before it gets too low in the water. I
think you'll find it's a lot.
You're welcome.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

-chase- says:

Apr 14, 2010. 8:08 AM REPLY

Question - Why not just go the extra few feet and seal the pontoons rather than having a cage design to hold the bottles?
Seems like a real nice design - personally after all the work you put into it - closing in the pontoons and sealing the edges with 4" fiberglass tape and sealing
the wood would have been a simpler solution. Cost more - but easier in the long run.
Unless i'm missing something in the design - this probably would help with the drag and you could pick up a knot or two as well as vessel lift.
Neat though - for sure! thanks for sharing

deceiver says:

Apr 14, 2010. 9:37 AM REPLY


Sealed in, they leak eventually. Especially wood. And I wanted to have a Soda Bottle boat. That's why the back was left open with pipes to cage them in.
When I'd go around the lake people would ask.. and I'd say. .. about 2400 of them. They would then look astonished. That's what I wanted. Otherwise
there are other options. Thanks for the comment though.

defiant1 says:

Mar 5, 2010. 8:00 PM REPLY

I've read this instructible before but it's still so cool.

deceiver says:

Mar 6, 2010. 3:02 AM REPLY

thanks a lot. I still think of it fondly.

deceiver says:

Jun 1, 2008. 1:59 AM REPLY


The redemption center. In Maine we recycle our soda bottles. We turn them in to centers for a nickel each. You can buy them back too.

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Incredible-Soda-Bottle-Pontoon-Boat/

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