# Boat made of bamboo, duct tape and tarp



## catman529 (Mar 6, 2012)

I know this isn't quite a tin boat but I made this a few years ago. I am planning to make an even better one here sometime soon.

It is what it looks like... bamboo, duct tape and tarp. I floated in it a few times and still have it sitting under the house.



















It was tippy but manageable. The new one will have a wide, flat bottom and be very short... just long enough for 1 person comfortably, somewhere in the range of 6 to 8 feet. I will use much thicker bamboo but the goal is to make duct tape hold it all together. I plan to make a square stern with the hopes of it being strong enough to put on a 34 lb trolling motor. It won't be a reliable boat, just more of a fun weekend project that I can take out in the water once in a while. I'll have it wrapped in 3 or 4 layers of 10.1 mil tarp which is an upgrade from the previous one. The pros of this type of boat are that it is super lightweight, costs next to nothing, is entirely custom, and leaks can be repaired with duct tape or a new tarp. The cons would be obvious... it's held together with duct tape and probably won't last a long time, nor will it be very durable in the long run. If I take care of it though it could last me a good while. Like I said, it will be more of a fun project though. My main boat is a 1432 aluminum flat bottom.

If I get to work on a new an improved version soon, should I post it in this forum or in the watering hole? Since it's not aluminum I'm not sure the best place to post it.


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## Johny25 (Mar 6, 2012)

Not sure where to post it but that is pretty damn cool in my book =D>


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## vahunter (Mar 6, 2012)

Agree! How many rolls of duct tape?!


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## fool4fish1226 (Mar 6, 2012)

Cool little project =D>


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## catman529 (Mar 6, 2012)

Thanks all.. think it took only one roll of duct tape, but I will buy at least 2 for the next project just in case


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## Jdholmes (Mar 6, 2012)

Now this is just me thinking out loud but I think you will have a real issue trying to make the 'transom' on a duct tape boat stiff enough for the motor without putting a strain on the boat itself...don't forget to account for a 70 lb battery too. 

Have fun.


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## catman529 (Mar 6, 2012)

Jdholmes said:


> Now this is just me thinking out loud but I think you will have a real issue trying to make the 'transom' on a duct tape boat stiff enough for the motor without putting a strain on the boat itself...don't forget to account for a 70 lb battery too.
> 
> Have fun.


You are right, I have considered the weight of the battery and motor and the thrust. I will put some type of floor in the bottom to hold and distribute the weight of myself and possibly a battery. Making the transom stiff will be the challenge but I can get bamboo up to 2" in diameter so I will have to tape it in such a way that is strong as possible.


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## JamesM56alum (Mar 6, 2012)

That would suck so bad to get a hook snagged in that.


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## catman529 (Mar 6, 2012)

JamesM56alum said:


> That would suck so bad to get a hook snagged in that.


 Good reason to carry a trusty roll of duct tape on board


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## Jdholmes (Mar 6, 2012)

JamesM56alum said:


> That would suck so bad to get a hook snagged in that.



Probably suck even more when that big ol' battery sittin between your legs shorts out in the pool of water you are sitting in.


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## fender66 (Mar 6, 2012)

Very cool project.

Do you have too much time on your hands??? If you're this bored, I can use some help with some of my projects. Come on by....We'll make a weekend out of it. :LOL2: :LOL2:


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## acwd (Mar 6, 2012)

I cant remember where I seen it but some years ago there was a guy building boats like that out of aluminum tubing and canvas. They came apart and stored in a bag about the size of a medium size tent. They were for hikers and mountain bikers. They even had a trailer you could pull behind your bike like you got. I seen somewhere where they have contests who can build a boat out of cardboard and duct tape and see who stays afloat for the longest and the most distance. Crazy I tell ya crazy! With that small of a boat, you might look around on CL and see if you can find a smaller trolling motor. My dad has a like 12 lb thrust trolling motor. I seen one on CL for like 10 bucks. Might get by with using a car battery instead of a deep cycle battery that would lighten the load some.

Steve


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## johnnyclack (Mar 6, 2012)

I wonder if my neighbor would his Bamboo ?

When I build my boat I think I'll use a hot glue gun too..... :---)


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## JamesM56alum (Mar 7, 2012)

Either way it's a cool idea i'd like to see more pic's of you fishing outta it


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## benjineer (Mar 7, 2012)

Lawnmower battery.


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## MRichardson (Mar 7, 2012)

Another idea to try might be to go 100% duct tape. That would be pretty damn tough stuff. Have to build it up pretty thick to mount a 25hp I imagine.


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## kfa4303 (Mar 7, 2012)

Cool! I love any kind of funky, DIY boat-oriented project. I've seen similar designs using PVC frames and tarps/duct tape. Shoot, I'm half way there myself. I use a good 'ol Blue tarp for my boat cover and have made several bamboo accessories for my boat including a push pole and kicker/luggage rack, and my rod holders, bilge pump and tiller extension are all made from thin-walled 1 1/4" PVC and a couple pipe clamps and they work great!


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## fender66 (Mar 7, 2012)

We have more talent and ingenuity on this forum it's scary! =D>


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## catman529 (Mar 8, 2012)

Bamboo is the stuff! I love it... diy'ers best friend. I've seen duct tape boats on youtube but it looks like a lot of duct tape and a lot of work, when 3 or 4 layers of heavy duty tarp could be just as tough and more easily replaced.


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## TimRich (Mar 8, 2012)

This reminds me of the Mythbusters episode of the duct tape boat...lol They made an entire boat out for duct tape over a thin metal frame. It was pretty cool.  Awesome idea! Looking forward to your updates!


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## kfa4303 (Mar 8, 2012)

Bamboo is like Mother Nature's version of PVC  I recently found a nice little patch that I can go get some anytime I need it for free. My 1" diameter bamboo pushpole in the pic works great so far. I don't have a stern mounted poling platform (yet), so I stand on the casting deck in the bow instead and it works very well. I can even use it in sort of a kayak paddle fashion to move myself along in shallow water. I just lashed it to the top of the rub rails using some large velcro straps I cut down to size and mounted with a single SS screw and aluminum finishing washer. I was amazed at how stable it is/was. It barley moves when I'm towing, or underway on the water. I painted both cut ends and every other section mostly just for looks, but it seems to have sealed the ends a bit and greatly slowed the drying process, which has keep that pole nice and green and pliable even after several months exposed to the elements. I'm sure you could make rod holders, cane poles and all sorts of stuff for your boat out of bamboo too. I even saw a pic of a boat with a bamboo floor in his tin boat. He just took lots of pinky sized bamboo the width of his sole and laid them side by and mounted them to a bamboo frame and voila! he had a floor. He can remove the current one to hose out the boat, etc.... after a trip and when it wears out he can just make another one. Heck, you can even eat bamboo when it's young and tender enough. Gotta love it. Now if only nature could devise duct tape that grew on trees, I'd never have to go to Lowes/HD again.


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## catman529 (Mar 9, 2012)

kfa4303 said:


> Bamboo is like Mother Nature's version of PVC  I recently found a nice little patch that I can go get some anytime I need it for free. My 1" diameter bamboo pushpole in the pic works great so far. I don't have a stern mounted poling platform (yet), so I stand on the casting deck in the bow instead and it works very well. I can even use it in sort of a kayak paddle fashion to move myself along in shallow water. I just lashed it to the top of the rub rails using some large velcro straps I cut down to size and mounted with a single SS screw and aluminum finishing washer. I was amazed at how stable it is/was. It barley moves when I'm towing, or underway on the water. I painted both cut ends and every other section mostly just for looks, but it seems to have sealed the ends a bit and greatly slowed the drying process, which has keep that pole nice and green and pliable even after several months exposed to the elements. I'm sure you could make rod holders, cane poles and all sorts of stuff for your boat out of bamboo too. I even saw a pic of a boat with a bamboo floor in his tin boat. He just took lots of pinky sized bamboo the width of his sole and laid them side by and mounted them to a bamboo frame and voila! he had a floor. He can remove the current one to hose out the boat, etc.... after a trip and when it wears out he can just make another one. Heck, you can even eat bamboo when it's young and tender enough. Gotta love it. Now if only nature could devise duct tape that grew on trees, I'd never have to go to Lowes/HD again.


yup it's some good stuff, I have a cheap plastic paddle I found in the river that came into 3 parts for storage, with a 2 part aluminum handle. Well one of the parts went missing and the other was run over by the car. So I cut a piece of bamboo with the correct width and now I have a working paddle again.


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## kfa4303 (Mar 9, 2012)

Cool use of bamboo to save the paddle! You should post a pic. I saw a commercial the other day where they had replaced all of the tubing on a bicycle with bamboo too. It's also really crazy to see them build all of the super space age skyscrapers in Asia while still using good 'ol bamboo scaffolding. After seeing that, I'm still toying with the idea of making a poling platform out of some bamboo. It should be strong enough (famous last words), and it's very light weight, but getting all of the bits to go together properly would be tricky. It's always hard to get two round objects to join together. Ah, well the daydreaming continues.


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