RiverRaft

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So I was talking with my buddy Paul from Grace Bible Church and we came up with a wild idea of building a raft and trying to navigate the most pristine 75 miles of the Sacramento River starting just below the diverter dam downstream of Redding. Neither of us have any boat building experiance but it was time to see if we could actually pull this off. What follows are the chronicles of this most excellent adventure.

Here is the basic idea modeled up in Solidworks. I expect that there may be some deviation from this design, but we will follow the basic concept shown here.

 

Raft Tech Specs:

  • Floatation: 6 or 8 55 gallon barrels giving a theoretical load capacity of either 2750 or 3670 pounds respectively.
  • Frame: .05" wall 3" diameter aluminum irrigation pipe donated by a farmer out in Stockton.
  • Deck: 1" or 3/4" tongue and groove plywood. (Donations now being accepted)
  • Dimensions: 20' x 8'
  • Navigation: Long wooden poles.
  • Transportation: I'm thinking of possibly integrating some removable wheels into the design so we can just tow it to the launch

    Here is the proposed 75 mile route from Woodson Bridge State Rec Area to Colusa.

     

    Sacramentoriver.org maps

    Sacramento rafting from Redding to Red Bluff"

    Phase 1: Aquiring materials and testing out the aluminum mig welder kit(03.21.2009)

    Phase 2: Welding up the starboard truss(03.26.2009)

    Phase 3: Welding up the port side truss and figuring out the deck supports(04.13.2009)

    Phase 4: Assembling the monstrousity and other stuff about bungs(05.23.2009)

    Phase 5: The maiden voyage of the USS Pipe Dream(06.03.2009)