Pre pressurise your floatation pop bottles with a pinch of baking
powder and a drop of vinegar. Screw the cap back on, and you no
longer have soft bottles, but hard ones which will not lose
volume and bouyancy when they are submerged and get cold. the
caps are quite secure. Stick them together with cellophane tape
and expanding foam caulk, just a dot here and there to stabilise
the herd. You could probably build a skeleton for a boat out of
this kind of mess, then cover it with a thin skin of glass and
resin. Cello packing tape is phenomenal, I have used it down
wells and know that, at least in the dark, it withstands fresh
water immersion quite well.

I will be trying this idea one of these years, just to say I did
it.

The manager of our local bottle exchange said I could have a big
bag of about 1000 pop bottles for 50 bucks bag and all, but was
not enthusiastic when I suggested the guys leave the caps on for
some reason, possibly related to training and retention. Those
highly skilled lid flippers are hard to recruit, and get edgy
when asked to make major adjustments to their task descriptions.

This spring I may attempt to make a floating dock out of pop
bottles. 1000 bottles makes 4 tons of bouyancy. I am gathering
ideas as to the best method for construction. I want small
modules to enable easy in - out with seasons that include mucho
ice.

Terry K

Tailgunner wrote:

Here are my conclusions regarding that long thread I started about using
Ping Pong Balls for floatation..

Ping Pong balls are not cost effective. $20/144
PPB burn real nice.
PPB are relatively fragile.

2 Liter Soda Bottles are cost effective.
2 LSB can withstand the temp changes here in New England.
2 LSB looses volume quickly under external pressure. Designed mainly for
internal pressure.

Both will degrade in direct sunlight.

What will I do? More than likely I will fall in with everybody else and
use 2 part. I'll just have to make allowances for moisture to be able to
flow from bow to stern. With either of the other methods I would not
have to do this.

Thanks to all that posted.

--
Tailgunner
http://boat.nbrigham.com

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