Junk-Raft-Evolution

[Junk Raft Evo]

Greetings all.

We are Junk-Raft-Evolution. Husband and wife with a dream of going sailing around the world. The dream started with my(the husband's) father. He always said once he retires, he was going to sell the house, buy a boat and go sailing around the world. Sadly he passed away 20 years ago, and never was able to live out his dream.

The dream and his memory lives on in me. And now my wife shares this dream with me. But there is one massive hurdle, there isn't any money for the dream. With a total household income of under $500 a month there isn't enough funds for the basics such as food, rent and fuel to get to work, never mind buy or saving for a sailboat. We too could keep working till retirement, like my father planed, but with the South-African Rand losing ground every year against the mayor currencies, our money wouldn't be worth much by then.

So what to do. Well after looking at our option we decided to take the strange path. We're going to build our sailboat. But with no funds we can only use materials we can get for free or cheaper, in other words JUNK.

So this is our project. Build a Junk-Raft and go sail around the world.

[StuM]

Suggest you go to Sailing Anarchy to get suggestions on where to source your junk.

[Delancey]

Great project. "Plastiki" comes to mind.

[Delancey]

JUNK raft

[StuM]

Nah. Flyin Hawaiian II would be a much better way to go.

[Delancey]

Son Of Town Hall

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Town_Hall

[Delancey]

Antiki

[Delancey]

You get the idea. Plenty of naysayers on this site. Not a lot of creative-types with vision but plenty of "blue water" types who have never crossed an ocean who will call you crazy and your plans a joke.

The fact is if you make the right passage in the right season you can cross an ocean in a couple of hollowed out logs held together with natural fiber ropes and sails made from woven plam fronds. Nothing new about that.

I think it's a great project. Good luck!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Junk Raft Evo.

[boatman61]

Hey 'EVO'.. Welcome to CF.
If I may make a suggestion.. back in the '50's there was a guy kinda similar to you guys.. so he knocked up a Catamarran that everyone laughed their tits of at and all and sudry declared him 'Insane', 'Stoopid', Suicidal.. blah blah.
The 'Flat Earth Society' of the sailing world..
Anyway.. this guy set of from the UK with two ladies as crew.. they made it across the Atlantic to the Caribe.. just.
There they set about building another cat to continue their adventures...
Today James Wharram is hailed as the inspiration of the Modern Cat with the appropriate length to beam ratio's.. something the naval architects ignored through the 60's as Wharram was regarded in contempt by his contemporaries at the time.. so after building a load of crap unstable boats like Iroquois, Catalac, Hirondelle's etc they finally accepted that this 'Outsider' maybe had it right.. wider beams and higher centre decks WERE the way to go..
Check out James Wharram Designs | Unique sailing catamarans, self-build and professional built boats of distinction.. and maybe get a set of Study Plans.. they are not expensive but the info in them is enough to guide your path in the expansion of your ambitions.. Best Wishes..

[Longjohn]

Originally Posted by Delancey

JUNK raft

Wow. In every sense of the words.

[Delancey]

13 weeks from LA to Hawaii, Cessna 310 fuselage floating on 15,000 plastic bottles. The plastic bottles are held in nets and then tied to a frame made from old aluminum masts. Not sure what they did with it when they got there, recycled it I guess?

JUNK raft

I like the '09 California boat registration sticker in the photo below. Got to keep yer junk legal!

[brownoarsman]

At $10 per for a Nalgene bottle (that's what they look like to me), that last one may be the most expensive boat I've ever seen!


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[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by Junk Raft Evo

Greetings all.

We are Junk-Raft-Evolution. Husband and wife with a dream of going sailing around the world. The dream started with my(the husband's) father. He always said once he retires, he was going to sell the house, buy a boat and go sailing around the world. Sadly he passed away 20 years ago, and never was able to live out his dream.

The dream and his memory lives on in me. And now my wife shares this dream with me. But there is one massive hurdle, there isn't any money for the dream. With a total household income of under $500 a month there isn't enough funds for the basics such as food, rent and fuel to get to work, never mind buy or saving for a sailboat. We too could keep working till retirement, like my father planed, but with the South-African Rand losing ground every year against the mayor currencies, our money wouldn't be worth much by then.

So what to do. Well after looking at our option we decided to take the strange path. We're going to build our sailboat. But with no funds we can only use materials we can get for free or cheaper, in other words JUNK.

So this is our project. Build a Junk-Raft and go sail around the world.

Why not look for auction sailboats at your local marina. Here in Berkeley marina we see a few each month. Some great deals can be had for not much money.

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[Delancey]

The Nalgene bottles were overstock donated by Patagonia after they were discontinued because of chemicals in the plastic. The rest of the bottles are 2 liters.