Thread: Barge

Has anybody made a barge to float a quad over a river? I imagen it's pretty simple just wondering how many drums itd take to float a bike .

Cheers

Seen clips on YouTube when guys did it with big polystyrene blocks in the 80s (iirc they drove to cape York or somewhere similar in old land rovers with them on the roof racks)

On tv a seen them put chains on the quad then strap a big bouy to each wheel. Seemed to work they got across a reasonable river.

Originally Posted by 223nut

Seen clips on YouTube when guys did it with big polystyrene blocks in the 80s (iirc they drove to cape York or somewhere similar in old land rovers with them on the roof racks)

Seen people do the same at Marokopa.
One crew has a flat trailer made from a chiller panel. Tow it to the river with the quad, drive quad on, walk/swim it over river. Some people just use a dingy.

How about on a big air mattress? Useful for more than just the crossing.

Or pack stuff in sealed plastic bags inside your rucksacks etc, and you can tie the rucksacks on the quad as flotation aids. With the tyres already aiding buouancy it might not need much extra help to stay up.

In the late 1980's I remember floating the little Suzuki LTF250 quad across a medium sized river, on the end of a line. With no rider or luggage it floated quite happily.

Mind you.... I wasn't paying for the wheel bearing maintenance.....

I remember the three wheelers floating without anything else...... IM guessing a 200ltr drum strapped hard onto each end would see you right....if you can find rectangle ones or even square it would be much easier to get them hard onto frame.....

The blue 220l drums should support approximately 220kgs each, keeping in mind that the barrels would be fully submerged at this point. Depending on the weight of the quad (assuming approx. 250kg) 2 barrels underneath would keep it out of the water. Four would be indeal as it would be a lot easier to balance.

If my math is correct, with a buoyancy to support 400kg, a 250kg quad, and using 560mm diameter barrels, approximately 350mm of the barrel will be submerged and 210mm above the surface.

We found our Yamaha trikes floated when we tried to cross a river back in the 80s.
500kg requires 500l container to keep it fully out of the water. Half way up the wheels requires less.
Let me know if you want a bundle of 20l containers we get a few a month ( had nasty stuff in them so not much use for much)
James

Cheers all iv dreamed up an idea il get some photos up tomorrow with anyluck