Making boats from plastic bottles

Outdoor enthusiasts can't sit still, especially when the weather pleases with sunny days. It makes you want to get into the boat, sail off the coast and go towards new adventures. However, not everyone can buy or rent a boat. The event is costly, fuss with it more than enough. Moreover, special transport is needed to take her from home to the river and back. Craftsmen were not at a loss and came up with a way to make a boat out of plastic bottles that can be stored at home. It is worth knowing how such a non-standard swimming facility is designed.

Empty plastic bottles are sold in any store. But if desired, the required number of bottles can be collected over the winter. For construction work, containers with a volume of five to six liters are suitable. The number of bottles depends on the model of the future boat. For an ordinary punt, 2000 bottles are more than enough.

If it is planned to build a large boat with high sides, care must be taken that at least 5,000 bottles lie in the bins. It is recommended to store all this goodness in the country. Firstly, in an empty house it is easier to allocate a separate room for this kind of thing. Secondly, you do not have to test the patience of households who constantly stumble upon lemonade bottles.

All containers must be clean, free of mold and odor. It is not necessary to tear off the labels, but outdoor enthusiasts note that the boat looks much neater without papers. In addition to plastic containers, you should purchase 4-5 rolls of transparent tape in advance. The final quantity will be clarified in the course of construction work, but it is better to purchase a certain amount in advance.

Finally, for the work you will need sharp scissors, a clerical knife, superglue, a plastic or plywood crossbar, small diameter wire and polyurethane foam. An oar for a homemade boat is made from a thick stick and an old beater. First, they wrap the beater with tape, and then tightly wrap it to the stick. When all the materials and tools are collected, you can begin to form the boat.

Immediately before starting work, each unit should be prepared. To do this, the bottles are washed and at the same time they check that all containers are of the same volume. Then perform the so-called swap. To do this, open bottles are left in the freezer for one and a half to two hours.

Then they are taken out of the cold, the lids are tightly screwed on and left in the sun. As the air warms up, the bottle will expand.

The simplest designs are considered to be a raft and an ordinary boat. To create them, both ordinary soda bottles and five-liter canisters are suitable. Despite minor differences, the principle of construction is practically the same.

1. Form the required number of "logs". To do this, you need to take two containers and connect them so that the protruding part of the bottom of one bottle enters the concave part of the bottom of the second container. They should be linked with superglue, and then additional fixation should be provided with a plastic cylinder. The latter is made from the third bottle - the bottom and neck are cut off.
2. The necks will stick out in different directions. To hide them, you need to take two more containers, cut off the necks, smear them with waterproof glue and put them on the workpiece. For reliability, the joints should be wrapped with wide tape.
3. The rest of the boat skeleton is assembled in the same way.. Each owner sets the length of plastic "logs" independently. It is important that you feel comfortable on board.
4. From the made "logs" you should tie the so-called floats. To do this, the logs are connected using a thin wire and a wide adhesive tape. Separate joints should be additionally treated with superglue.

If you plan to assemble an ordinary raft with your own hands, all the "floats" are connected with wooden or plastic crossbars using wire. Then plywood or a plastic board is laid on the resulting surface, attached with wire to the crossbars and taped around the edges with tape. If it is planned to assemble a swimming facility that looks like a boat, it is worth making low sides and decorating the bow. For greater stability, all voids between the bottles should be filled with mounting foam.

As a basis, you can take not only plastic and plywood, but also foam. This is exactly what New Zealander Thomas Davis did, who glued all the bottles together and then attached them to a sheet of foam.The result is a robust design that can easily support the weight of three grown men. At the same time, it does not differ in large dimensions: it took only 600 bottles to build it. Thomas is convinced that building homemade boats is the best way to fight for a clean environment.

To create a small canoe, you need to collect one and a half, two and five liter containers. Then you should get vinyl film, tape, plastic sheeting, sharp scissors, a knife and a handle for garden tools. When everything you need is collected, you can begin to build a swimming facility.

1. First, you should collect two "sausages" of the same length from five-liter containers. The bottles in each "sausage" are connected with tape. When both blanks are made, they must be connected with a wide adhesive tape. Thus, a boat frame was obtained.
2. It is necessary to equip the bottom of the boat, equipping it with “fins” and end elements. This will increase the stability of the craft on the water, and it will be easier to manage it. For this purpose, containers of one and a half and two liters are useful.
3. The nose of the boat is made from the throat of a five-liter container. This part should be emphasized by building a hill near it.

At the final stage, the boat is first pasted over with polyethylene or any other material that is resistant to the aquatic environment.

The optimal dimensions of this boat are a meter wide and two meters long. It is laid out in layers, so for its manufacture you will need a separate well-ventilated room. First you need to make a deck. To do this, the required number of bottles is laid out flat in accordance with the shape of the future boat and fastened with superglue on the sides. There is no need to be zealous - an adhesive layer of 5-6 mm is enough for the bottles to stick together firmly.

When the deck dries, it is necessary to start assembling the hull. The execution technology is the same, only the body is made for one bottle already. When both layers are completely dry, you should glue the containers of each of them to each other from all sides. In this case, it is necessary to check the correct operation. If the bottles look outward with caps, everything is done correctly.

When the containers are completely dry, you can begin to connect the layers. The deck should be moved down, and it should lie so as to fall into the depressions of the bottles of the first layer. Thus, the lower part of the boat is formed. All its elements are overlapped, which ensures rigidity and stability of the structure.

While the frame dries up, you should glue the seat. In fact - another layer, but not very long. First, they wait until the seat dries, and then install it in its place and fasten it with superglue. From the remaining bottles, sides are formed, which perform a protective function (do not allow water to enter the boat) and give the swimming facility a complete look. For a punt, you can build a homemade paddle, but it is better to get a special one - for a kayak. With it, it is much easier to control the boat and keep it on a given course.

How to make a boat out of plastic bottles with your own hands, see the next video.