One of a kind boat?

[Ronnie]

I'm not easily surprised on the water anymore but even I had to circle back around to take another look at this boat. On closer inspection, the hull is made of styrofoam. I was half expecting the "captain" to breakout a card board sign requesting help. Not putting him or his boat down, he is probably the greenest boater I've ever seen with a boat made completely of recycled material, just wasn't expecting to see anything like that on the water. Contrast his boat to the two in the last pic, can't get more basic than that (i.e., raft, paddle and cooler). All the pics were taken just north of Sacramento where the American and Sacramento Rivers meet.

 

[Bousbous55]

That first pic might be of Tom Hanks, lol.

 

[justason]

awesome ! everything on the "boat" makes sense to me....with exception to the large length of 3-4" PVC pipe........articulating hinge point? Bilge drain line ?

 

[Glassman]

Wow, is that one of those survival capsules at the stern? And a bike rack! How cool is that.

I can't tell from the photo, is he paddling with a rake?

 

[Ronnie]

I'm pretty sure it was a paddle. There are a lot of companies that offer guided and unguided raft tours up stream so he may have found a broken or lost paddle from one of those companies. One of my guests that day believes that this guy can break everything down and carry it all on his bike from time to time (I doubt it, especially the cooler and the bike rack but I've seen a lot stuffed into a shopping cart before so who knows).

 

[Bruce]

awesome ! everything on the "boat" makes sense to me....with exception to the large length of 3-4" PVC pipe........articulating hinge point? Bilge drain line ?

I believe the PVC pipes are structural. There is a second one further to the stern. It appears to be PVC on the port side and perhaps a log on the starboard side.

 

[Speedling]

It doesn't matter how ya get there as long as ya get on the water.

 

[sysinu]

looks like he stole someone's dock and built a barge!

 

[itsdgm]

This is in California, right? I'm surprised that he's not getting ticketed by a park ranger for that. I'm mean really, he obviously is in a no wake zone and I can clearly see a few ripples coming off that paddle

 

[TN888]

Wonder if it has an articulating keel.

 

[Glassman]

Wonder if it has an articulating keel.

hahahaha, good one.

By the looks of it, the whole friggin' thing articulates!

Much better shot though...I can see that it is a paddle now. And I love the design of those sponsons. This guy is a nautical engineer for sure.

 

[itsdgm]

I do love the fact that Styrofoam in this application is multi functional. It's use means that he doesn't have to put out fenders in order to protect the dock.

 

[TN888]

His blue cooler is bigger & better than what Yamaha provides...just sayin.

 

[HawkTX]

Now that's a RIG!!!

 

[spaz1868]

This reminds me of the time when I was a kid and a few of us took a refrigerator styrofoam packing and put it in the neighborhood lake to paddle around in. That was a day full of fun. This guys just took that idea to the next level.

 

[Ronnie]

By the way when I caught up to this guy he was turning around and paddling back up stream and he was making some good progress without paddling his ass off. It's a good thing too because the Sacramento River's current is much stronger.

 

[beachbum]

if you're floatin' ... your boatin'

 

[Ronnie]

Anyone remember this boat from a recent MythBusters TV episode? It was on the property at the Marina I launched from this past weekend.