Boat 1
Our first DIY pontoon boat was built out of 55 gallon drums and some wood. It was basically just an 8ft by 12ft flat work barge. It served it’s purpose, but once we got it up and running, upgrades were needed. We added a center console with a steering wheel under our solar panels.
Boat 2
Our next logging machine got upgraded to an 18 foot pontoon boat with an enclosed box to withstand the subfreezing temperatures of the winter months in Michigan. The box itself is about 8ft by 8ft, which gets pretty tight sometimes. It’s very nice having heat though!
Boat 3
When we scrapped boat 1 to make boat 2, we left behind the floating dock that was made from the 55 gallon barrels. We grabbed some pvc pipe and some tarps and created a sailbarge!
Boat 4
After we got bit by the sailing bug with boat number 3, we needed to learn more. After about a year of searching Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, we found the “Perfect” deal. It turned into a true money pit. Want to help us out? Click here to join us on Patreon!
Absolutely, but we want to have fun and learn a bunch of useful skills along the way.
We used 12 x 55 gallon barrel to float our 8ft x 12ft DIY pontoon boat/work barge thingy.
The barge started with 4 12 volt deep cycle batteries, and they weighed wayyyyyyyy too much. We eventually upgraded to 2 lithium batteries because they weigh less and have more energy.
Yes. As of right now we have 10 x 100 watt solar panels mounted on our roof providing us with up to 1000 watts of electricity!
The cool thing about the solar boat is that you can go forever, as long as you pay attention to your battery monitor.
