Swamp Raft

This document is an overview of how we built our 12x16 raft at Ephemerisle 2017.

We did this as a 3-person project: 1 person handling logistics and materials, 1 (experienced) person managing the onsite construction, and 1 person directing the art. Additional people chipped in to help with construction. The whole build took about 4-5 hours on Thursday, working at medium speed and building entirely onsite.

We tied to the end of an island of 5 sailboats and also moved between islands at one point. We used the raft for island docking, general hanging out, and sleeping. We fit 8-10 people comfortably.

Materials

The basic materials cover (1) base platform, (2) shade structure, and (3) art. We’ve reproduced the base platform multiple times while shade and art vary per instance.

Base platform (12’x16’):

• Dock floats: six 8’x2’ or 8’x3’ dock floats (about 1.5' deep)
• Plywood: six pieces of 8’x4’ plywood (we used CDX)
• Outside frame: four 12’ 2”x4” wood beams
• Inner frame: four 93” 2”x4” wood beams (e.g. trimmed down from 8’)
• (lots of 3” screws, impact driver, ropes and cable ties)

Dock floats used Base and frame for raft

For shade/art, we used a 10’ long x 8’ wide x 7’ tall carport frame drilled into the raft with four footpads. We had outdoor rug on the floor, ghillie netting along the walls, thatched bamboo on the roof, and a chandelier hung from the roof with yarn, flowers, and electric lights. We also added cleats onto the edges for docking and towing.

Building

Logistics

First step is getting all materials to a (single) build location at Ephemerisle. Luckily we had dock floats previously stored near Pirates Lair, and drove the rest of the material to Pirates Lair in a pickup. We then transported by boat from Pirates Lair to Ephemerisle: stacked, tied, and towed dock floats from Pirates Lair to Ephemerisle with a motorboat; carport poles and art supplies transported in a motorboat; plywood and wood beams transported on deck of larger sailboat.

Would have benefited from better planning here. Getting all materials in one place is not trivial when you are on the water! It is easy to lay plywood/beams on top of floats while towing, or build at Pirates Lair and tow a constructed platform, or perhaps transport materials with bigger projects.

Basic platform

Once at Ephemerisle, we tied our bundle of dock floats to a sailboat and built onsite in the water. We effectively built two 12’x8’ platforms and screwed them in series to make a single 12’x16’ platform.

1. Basic frame: Started by screwing the edges of three of the dock floats into the 12’ wood beam, leaving gaps between each float to cover the full length of the beam. Then screwed the second 12’ wood beam onto the other side of the dock floats. 4” side goes vertically so you can get good grip from the screw.
2. Plywood layer: Attach plywood, then 8' wood beam underneath, then plywood, then 8’ wood beam, then plywood across the surface of the dock floats. 4” side on wood beam goes horizontally so you can connect adjoining pieces of plywood. Perfect fit may allow additional screws from the outside 12’ beam into the internal 8’ beams.
3. Double the platform: Screw another 12’ wood beam onto one side of the first 12’x8’ platform, then build the same thing again.

Each 12’x8’ platform takes 30min-1hr and is a 2-person job when done in the water (one person to hold pieces together; one person to fasten). We only needed an impact driver and 3” screws + washers.

Additional features

Once the basic platform is built, easy to add on top of it.

We put four 8’x6’ outdoor carpet rugs (cheapest ones from Home Depot). The outdoor rugs are much more comfortable than outdoor turf and do not get as hot during the day. Built skeleton roof of the carport and did basic decoration. Screwed in footpads and then hoisted the full carport into the footpads. Attached netting along the sides and did final decorations. Added a cleat onto the side of the platform. Would have brought more had we known how helpful these were for docking and towing!

Our raft was mainly used for sitting/lying down, so we left an open roof and made the floor super comfy. We were able to fit ~8 people at a time comfortably, with corridors of space outside the shade walls for coolers/bags/etc and for climbing on and off.

Observations

• We divided ownership across (1) logistics/materials, (2) onsite building, and (3) art and shade. We benefited from having dock floats owned and transported ahead of time.
• We had 3 people committed to support the project. Group was most appreciated while transporting materials and building onsite.
• Shade is awesome during the day and open air is awesome at night. One improvement I would splurge on next time is an easy way to roll up and down our ceiling and even some of the walls.
• We ended up using the raft for: sleeping, eating, storage, docking visitors, general hanging out. We also towed the raft to visit different islands.
• (All notes at General BYOL Considerations apply.)

Shoutouts

Building wasn’t possible without the help of the community! Thanks to Peter McEvoy for help building the platform, to Mandy Bliss for artistic vision, to John Shannon for use of dock floats, to Trevor Ellman for hosting us on Notan Island, to Michael/Stellar/Brian/Peter for transporting materials, and to DIY Island and Elysium for letting us park during arrival and departure.

Any questions, recommendations, or tips on how you built your own structure? Email bregman90@gmail.com or message me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ben.bregman).