How to Make Pontoons
If you want to have a great outdoor project with the kids, you can't do better than making your own raft. But one thing you will need for such a raft are pontoons, which will provide the buoyancy that your raft surface requires to stay afloat. Building such pontoons is a good lesson in teamwork, as the following steps will show.
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Things You'll Need
- Water bottles
- Roll of plastic netting (see Resources below)
- Heat gun
- Bungee cords
Instructions
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1
Gather your materials. You primarily need a large number of empty 16-once soda or water bottles, with their caps on. You can buy these bottles from some local retailer that has a recycling bin, or ask a local scout troop to help you collect them. How many bottles you will need will be determined by the weight over the rest of your raft, plus passengers. One 16-ounce bottle will support about 1 pound. This means that if the combined weight of your raft and passengers is 500 pounds, you need at least 500 bottles for the pontoons.
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2
Cut out your plastic netting into two large squares about 8 x 8 feet. If your roll is smaller than this, cut two pieces 4 x 8, and then use a heat gun to weld them together. Take one square and fold it once. Use the heat gun to seal the ends to form a pocket.
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3
Place 250 of the bottles into the pocket. When they are all in, trim off any excess net material, and seal the last edge with the heat gun.
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4
Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the other square of netting. Then construct a simple raft floor using planks and 2 x 4s. Drill four holes at each end of the raft big enough for a bungee cord and its hooks to pass through.
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5
Use bungee cords to attach the pontoons to the bottom of your raft by passing them through the holes and hooking them together around the pontoons. Keep in mind, the further apart you place the pontoons, the more stable your raft will be.
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