I’m trying to compile a collection of photos of canoes & kayaks built from weird materials, for my club website http://www.banburycanoe.org.uk/jokes.htm (the photos are a little way down the page).
So far we’ve found boats made from concrete, paper, cardboard, milk cartons, beer cans … and even Yorkshire Pudddings. Does anyone know of any other weird materials that have been used to build boats?
Popsicle Sticks
– Last Updated: Dec-25-05 2:10 PM EST –
I saw on a news site a couple of months ago somebody in Holland or Belgium had built a Viking ship or similar craft from popsicle sticks intending to sail or row it to somewhere or other - maybe England or Iceland.
http://www.sail.nl/english/news/viking-ship-made-of-15-million-popsicle-sticks-on-display-at-sail/
Thanks for these
Thanks for these, folks. I’v fopund a picture of the pumpkin boats and put it on the site.
Anyone know of any more?
Concrete
Engineering students in the US build concrete canoes and race them at a convention each year. I don’t have direct links, but the Univeristy of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) had the winning team this year.
Paul
Animal skins and tree bark.
How about a cheap blue poly tarp,
green willow branches, and grip clips…a four hour kayak. http://www.shelter-systems.com/kayak.html
strange boats
Every summer the city of Minneapolis has a milk carton boat race. One of those boats may resemble a canoe.
Try googling Mineapolis Aquatenial Boat Race and Lake Nokomis
There’s also a guy who built a
pirogue out of paper. Lost the url, but do a search on Google.
In the Yukon some boats were built
from moose hides…I saw a boat built from 25 moose hides…oh yeah these were built in the 1800’s…
Papyrus Reeds
This is a photo from the Nile river basin…
http://www.nilebasin.com/pd/images/Nile06.jpg
Paper Boat Plans
– Last Updated: Dec-27-05 3:46 PM EST –
http://www.riparia.org/paperboat/paperboat.htm
This was interesting....
Paper Kayak
http://www.mndaily.com/daily/1999/05/21/news/kayak/p1kayak.html
Corrugated steel sheets
Wooden keel…referenced here…
http://www.instantweb.com/s/siudzinski/Cruise/KatieKat2003L.html
Steel Kayak/duck boat
Mullins made them years ago…
http://www.speedboatclassics.com/images/MullinsShop.jpg
Bored…
so I’m surfin’ the web doin research on boats…
If rafts count, there have been rafts
made out of everthing that may float, and some things that don’t. I’ve seen milk jug rafts, innertube rafts, log of course, and on and on. Then, there’s the oil barrel raft. Don’t know if kick boats fit your definition of a boat, but many variations of those are made with the simplest being styrofoam with pontoons cut out and a seating area.
Durt Bag
Yeah, the spellings’ correct. These are a nylon mesh bag filled with styrofoam packing peanuts for flotation. They’re 6 ft. by about 3 ft. in size. There’s a center pocket for storing a few beers. There’s a pillow, also mesh filled with packing peanuts attached with straps and D rings. I bought one of these at a raft rental shop in Gold Hill, Oregon in 1988 to use on the Rogue River. It’s paddled with a 2 bladed kayak paddle. Not much fun on flat water but a lot of fun on rapids up to class 2 and some class 3. More of a raft than any type of boat, but another way to have fun on the water.
I saw a boat made from 4 skins …
pumpkins…
I have not done this my self but have seen pictures of it. Apparently there is an annual race, I think in upstate New York, where entrants race across a river in hollowed out giant pumpkins… do an internet search and see what comes up!