55 gal drums???

[Dutch Dog]

Guys, we have some 55 gallon drums we're going to float our blind on this year to combat rising/falling water conditions. Will 4 of them float a 6 x 12 blind constructed of steel with 1" cypress floor? all in all the blind itself will weigh about 400 lbs. the total holding weight will be about 1500 lbs. We can put as many barrels as we need under it, but the less the better (less work/banding etc). What is y'all experience with drums of this size do they support a lot of weight?

[Greenhead22]

Dutch, I would have to say at least 6. I'm assuming that you are wanting to put one barrel on each corner of the blind. I would add the other 2 in the middle to add more bouyancy and stability for movement, shooting, etc. Better get in touch with an engineer to find out for sure. We have some guys by us that hunt out of floating blinds and use 8 or 10.

[timberjack]

A guy over at the 'fuge did some calculations on this (see topic below, "The ultimate duck blind"). He calculated the cubic foot volume of his pontoons and said each cubic foot supplied 64 lbs of postive buoyancy. I ain't vouchin' for that but he seems to believe in it and after seein' his blind he better hope it works............

[Wingman]

Can't you just say, one 55 gallon drum will displace 55 gallons of water. 55 gallons of water at 8 pounds per gallon=440 pounds. So 4 drums should "float" 1760 pounds? The only problem is placing the drums so that your weight is distrubuted evenly over them. When everyone sits in the back of the blind, you are off balance and can probably expect to capsize. I would go for 6 or 8...or make some type of Polynesian outrigger.

Wingman

[RebelYelp]

and they said that Mississippi boys were backwards and didn't have any book smarts...........

[Anatidae]

Unless you either lower the center of gravity/mass or attach the barrels outside the perimeter of your 6x12 'box.......that thing's gonna be a might tispy. I'd suggest building your 6 x 12 frame on a 10 x 12 deck with 3 barrels on each end of the deck, lined-up front-to-back. Or if you're planning-on driving your boat up under the platform, turn your barrels the long way (using 4 barrels front and back). Either way, you really want your barrels outside the 'box' for an 'outrigger' affect.

[Delta Duck]

I would make it on atleast 10x12 if not a 12x12 frame and use as atleast 6 if not 8 barrels. If you use 4 and one of them leaks just a little you are in a world of hurt. If you use 8 you will need to have a plug on the top where you can add water or put water in. It will make it more stable to have some water in the barrels. It alot of work, but it would be worth it to be able to add or take water out of the barrels.

How deep is the water?

[Wingman]

...and go with plastic barrels. At least I would. Most of these plastic barrels around here only have had crop oil or chlorate in them....easy to wash out and pretty much harmless to the environment if residue is left. They won't rust either.

Wingman

[Bustin' Ducks]

Got a bud in TN that uses the barrell blind...I'll give him a shout..

[SCOOTER]

Drive steel post around it and put the post in large eye bolts, when the water rises it will float up the eye bolts and it helps to balance it real good, go with plastic, the others will rust fast.

[Jeff]

We built a floating blind a few years back in TN, it worked great. We could hunt five people out of it comfortably and we used eight plastic 55 gallon drums to float it. The blind was extremely stable. The drums were on the outside of the blind kind of as Anatidae suggested. It proved for some great shooting and also great comfort. Ah.. fond memories of that blind.

[JMallard]

We used some larger pieces of styrofoam. Like 4' wide and 2' deep. Cut them and build brackets to hold in place out of wood. Very sturdy. Make the center of gravity lower than the floats is the trick.

[00ducksr.]

better use enclosed plastic filled with flotation that will pass muster with tva and the corp of engineers. if you don't and they see it they are lible to send you a bill for it's removal

[mfalkner]

Guys, one cubic foot of water weighs 64.4 lbs. 7.48 gal/ft3. Or, you can figure 8.6 lbs/gallon. So, the buoyant force of a 55 gal volume = 473 lbs.

Keeping it stable is the trick, so I'd use 6. On a smaller scale, we used to strap a section of 6" PVC pipe with plugged ends on either side of a canoe, like an outrigger. Made loading the dogs a lot easier, plus you could use it to store pushpoles, etc.

Mike F.

[BeastMaster]

Dutch dog..... i'm curious to see what you come up with.. take some pic with a digital camera and post them..... sounds very interesting and very useful in some practical applications....... let us know what you come up with..

The Beast