Houseboat
 

I been reading the other threads on this and I'm about to start building my floating deck to put a portable wooden building 12ft by 20ft,building weighs 4,000lbs. Deck will be 16ft by 24ft. I have drums but they want 6000$ to fill 50 drums with foam. I hear people using foam 2ft by 2ft by 16ft. My question is how long will it hold up in salt water? And also if anyone has a houseboat built out of drums or foam how high does the camp sit out the water?

Chaz

Unprotected foam won't last long and drums seem to attract idoits using them for target practice. You'd be much better off to spend a lil extra and buy or build some steel or aluminum pontoons.

Wouldn't the drums rust in saltwater? Is that price for closed cell foam?

If it is saltwater, please don't use metal drums. Dat's bad.
It all depends on the bouyancy and density of the foam.
And it can't be open cell foam, it will absorb the water and sink lower in the water.
I see people using those white styrofoam floats used for laying pipelines across marshes. Not sure where they get them from. They hold a lot of weight.

If I were you, I'd try to find an old party barge. Replace any rotten plywood decks and paint the pontoons with a barrier paint. It will probably last longer and be cheaper.
There gots to be one somewhere that someone is wanting to get rid of cause of rotten floors and/or burnt up motor. The toons and framing are all aluminum. Should last a long time.

I would like to find a old pontoon let me know if someone comes across one 28-32 foot.

The drums are plastic I work offshore and been keeping them. I seen someone had a camp with drums and never noticed if they were filled. I figured the foam would last way better in freshwater than salt water.

Lots of butterfly barges are made with foam filled plastic drums and styrofoam pipeline bricks. Styrofoam sometimes breaks up in bad weather. Drums leak around bungs. They build them so that if one or two get loose, it won't turn over. Check out the butterfly barges around your area if they have them.

Ray
Thanks for the info I'm running out of Cameron and I know they have some in old river now that you say that.

You can buy 2 part closed cell foam and do it yourself not sure where you can get it I am restoring an old boat and that is what I am going to use

You can get it at West Marine in bulk. May have to order it online.

WOW. 2 quarts is $108

It's cheaper if u have a large amount like 50 drums to call someone who does spray foam insulation . Tge closed cell does not expand nearlyH as much as open cell does

I will read up on the 2 part foam. I also thought about getting the foam blocks and glassing a box around them.

The person I talked to didn't say which one it was just gave me a price I will call back Monday and find out which one it is. Which one is better?

I just talked to my uncle. His buddy has been building a house boat for the past couple years. It is parked in Mermentau near the bridge. He used plastic drums and they are standing vertical with the bungs straight up, no foam. A few of the drums are kinda dented looking, I guess from getting bumped. He built a few seperate sections like this and put them in the water then attatched them. Not sure how he fastened them together though. He has a solid layer under it of drums, if some one were to shoot a few it would still float. I still would go with a barge or pontoons of some kind. My 2 "sense"

Johnson fiberglass supply in Houston has the 2 part foam mix, it's not near as expensive as you were quoted and they will ship it. or if you decide to use the styrofoam blocks they have the mat and resin to seal them or you could have a fiberglass shop chop shoot them. most of the floating cabins in south Texas LLM are floating on glass covered foam.

Closed cell! It cost more but will not absorb water and is Rick hard when dry

U can get 5 1/2" x12"x 8ft foam used for dropped brick ledge in foundation for 6$ ea then fiberglass over em

The only place that I know that sell the foam blocks are pierre part store. Do you know of somewhere else?

I just bought some from Picou builders supply in gonzales. Call dufrene lumber in cut off and ask them to order u form foam

I will give them a call Monday and get a price to compare. Thanks for the info. Drums and foam on the bottom should be good for a few years..

Just fill your plastic drums full of empty coke, water, gatoraide bottles. Dat way if your drum is compromised you still have floatation. You could also fill em wit ping pong balls.

cant use regular fiberglass resin on closed cell. need to use epoxy which is pretty high around 100 bucks a gallon. when i was younger i tried to make a foam boat out of the sheets of close cell used for insulating and covered it with poylester resin and it melted the whole thing.

Tge foam I'm talking about is not tge same a tge foam sheeting

We speak english on dis here forum! Are you hangin out wit Ratdog tonight?

Try to find some of those black plastic boxes full of foam that they build floating docks with.
My friend found some used ones for his dock.
If you want me to, I can find out where he got them.
They are what you need if you want foam coated with plastic.

I typed the wrong so many times my freakin phone changes it to tge ! Lol

How about the flotation they put around riser pipe used offshore.

I've had foam under a camp and it sucks. Don't do it. They come apart and all sorts of stuff grows in them. Google dock floats. They are not to expensive easy to use and last forever. MUCH better than styrofoam or drums.

Out of curiousity I went to dock floats.com and ran a price on a 2' x 2' x10' foam block . For 1# foam was $120 and 2# foam was $220. I have no idea what the difference between 1# and 2# could be unless it has to do with density. I think the plastic drums would work good . Dem tangs are tuff...

If you are patient and look hard, you will find pontoons from pontoon boats fairly often listed for $500-$1000/pair.

Houseboat floatation
 

My uncle's houseboat floats on 2 foam filled doughnuts that are encased in fiberglass. The doughnuts measure 10 ft and they're fastened together with stainless steel brackets and bolts. The entire houseboat is 20 ft X 30 ft with the 2 doughnuts being in the center. We put 33 drums around the doughnuts for stability and to support the porches on both ends. Houseboat has been docked since end of 05 and the only thing we had to do so far was swap out a few barrels every other year or so. The barrels are not foam filled just seal the bung and the air will stay in there a long time. When you see the houseboat listing to one side pull out some old barrels and put in new ones. You can usually reuse the old barrels b/c they usually just leak around the bung threads. Hope I helped...

Thanks for the info it looks good. I will be starting next time I'm off work...