With your own hands? For such a vessel you need two main elements: a frame and air tanks.
Frame. IN hiking conditions frame catamaran can be made from wooden poles, which saves weight and volume of equipment. In other cases, it is made of duralumin alloy. IN industrial production They use D16T aviation grade aluminum - this is a rather expensive material, it is difficult to obtain, especially in small quantities. Moreover, the pipes should have a diameter of 35-40 mm with a wall thickness of 1.5 mm.
As an alternative, a cheaper AD31T1 alloy is suitable, but this frame is better used for catamarans that will be used on simple rivers.
Cylinders. Manufacturing of cylinders difficult process because it requires some experience. You will need a pattern, PVC fabric itself, glue, an additive for glue and tools (hair dryer, roller, special spatula). I can immediately assure you that the first cylinders, like pancakes, are lumpy :) Therefore, it is better to order production, or buy factory ones. If you still decide to self-production, then our recommendations are:
1. Any PVC fabric, but only boat fabric. Density from 750 g/sq.m. Very good fabric produced by Mirasol, it is used to prepare cylinders for Khatanga kayaks.
2. Glue. Better in terms of price-quality parameters, this is glue 900 I. There is detailed instructions by application. You will need 1 liter jar with a reserve
3. Additive. Desmodur (the Chinese equivalent is cheaper). Needed to be added to glue, it gives thermoplasticity. Your balloons will not fall apart at a temperature of 70 degrees, but do not leave them inflated in the sun.
4. Patterns. Below you can take the pattern and print it on a large format printer. Based on this model, the catamaran in the example above was made, 4 meters long, with a cylinder diameter of 45 cm.
5. High pressure valves - you can buy them at the market where they sell PVC boats.
6. You also need tools such as a hair dryer, a brush, a roller for smoothing the fabric and a spatula (can also be purchased at a market where they sell boats or repair them).
7. Sling, eyelets and fittings
In our online store you can purchase entire cylinders or catamarans.
For those who live near a lake, river, sea or other bodies of water, a means of transportation on water such as a catamaran is very important. In some cases, this type of transport is a necessity, so it must meet a number of requirements, in particular, be durable and reliable. Buying a catamaran is not a cheap pleasure, but there is an alternative - making it yourself. You can find out how to do this correctly below.
pipe catamaran
We suggest considering options for drawings for the construction of a watercraft.
Catamaran layout
Materials and components for the construction of a catamaran
The catamaran is characterized big amount features of its design, if we consider it in comparison with other watercraft. It is for this reason that before you start building a catamaran, you need to find out what components it consists of.
- The main part is the floats, which look like two chamber structures located on the sides vehicle. The purpose of this part is to keep the device afloat. Floats can be made from various materials. For such purposes, you can take the film from which inflatable cylinders, plastic pipes or foam are made.
- Connecting frame. This part can consist of any material: plastic pipes, wood, metal. It should be taken into account that the lighter the frame for the catamaran, the smaller the floats can be.
- Deck. This part is used for boarding passengers, things and, in principle, what is planned to be transported.
- Steering wheel. The functions assigned to the catamaran's rudder are performed by a blade under water, which is installed parallel to the movement if you need to move straight, and bends to the side to turn left or right, respectively. All manipulations are carried out thanks to a rotary handle, which is located on the deck.
- Oars, motor, pedals or other device that will propel the vehicle.
Before you start building a catamaran, it’s worth understanding some of the nuances.
Firstly, before you start building a pedal boat with your own hands, you need to decide on the basic design, namely, what the body will be made of.
Secondly, what the design will be like depends on the purpose for which construction is planned.
Thirdly, now on the Internet you can find a lot of examples of real projects that are easy to implement even under minimal conditions (materials, premises, tools).
Homemade catamaran
A catamaran made of foam plastic boasts a lot of advantages: durability, unsinkability, ease of operation. To make a watercraft, you will need the following parts, which are made from plywood with a thickness of 12 mm:
- Two diaphragms in the nose.
- Four partitions.
- Four frames.
To secure parts, use duralumin clamping pipes (steel pipes are also suitable) thin-walled pipes). The pipes must be threaded, the size of which should be approximately 12 mm.
Before assembling the floats of the craft, epoxy glue is placed on the wide parts of the plates, and then they are combined using steel tubes using ties. Next, the future watercraft is covered with calico or fiberglass folded in several layers. It is better to do this using epoxy resin.
The front side of the floats is also made by hand using corners, and then sheathed with aluminum sheets.
The covers, consisting of sheet duralumin plywood, are attached to the corners of the bow with screws, and the bow itself sits on the ends of the coupling pipes and is tightened with nuts. The final stage is to fill the bow of the craft with foam, after which the lid is closed.
The deck is built using slats and wooden blocks. Next, the mechanism is attached to the frames with bolts and nuts.
Attention! For those who wish to speed up the vehicle or move against the current or wind, an electric motor can be installed in the stern.
foam boat
Most often, floats have a two-layer design: a chamber on the inside and a protective shell on the outside. To make an inflatable catamaran, you can use internal chambers with two compartments.
The installation of an inflatable chamber into a vehicle on water is carried out into the skin of the float through the holes that are located at the ends of the skin. All actions must be carried out as follows:
- The camera is placed next to the hole.
- The skin is put on the hand through another hole.
- The camera is pulled into the skin.
- The ends are bent approximately 10 cm.
An inflatable craft with primitive hatches does not have a fastener, since at the moment of inflation, the chambers close themselves. As the two chambers are inserted into the skin, they are layered on top of each other. Next, two skins are drawn in simultaneously.
The tube that inflates the chambers comes from the skin through one of the hatches. As for the pressure in the chambers, it is generally no more than 0.1 atm.
Important! When the catamaran remains on shore, it should be in the shade. Otherwise, the pressure in the chamber should be slightly reduced.
Inflatable catamaran
Catamaran made of PVC pipes
And finally, we suggest considering how to make a homemade catamaran from plastic pipes(PVC) with your own hands.
For such a device, it is quite possible to take sewer pipes made of plastic with a diameter of 110-116 mm. The length of the pipes should be 3 m.
For each float, on average, you will need 5 pipes, 3 of which will go to the upper part, and the remaining 2 to the lower part. Between themselves plastic materials it is necessary to connect, which is easy to do thanks to the corners or tees (in this situation, you can take what is at hand, since there are many mounting options). The floats are fastened together by transitions made of pipes, the diameter of which should be 50 mm.
Video on how to make a catamaran with your own hands
For those who want to receive more visual instructions, it is best to watch a video on how to make a catamaran yourself.
Those who want to relax near bodies of water, be it a river or the sea, a pond or a small lake, increasingly prefer active boat trips to passively lying on the beach under the hot sun. Among the many entertainments associated with moving on water, pedal boats have long been very popular among vacationers.
Introduction to technology
What is a pedal boat? To put it simply, this is an ordinary catamaran, which we have seen more than once on the piers of boat stations and, of course, rode on the surface of the water, enjoying and admiring the beautiful scenery, while simultaneously receiving a boost of energy from training the muscles of our body.
Usually this technique is different small in size and weight, allowing it to be easily transported in a car. Of course, a big advantage is that this type of transport does not need to be registered, there are no age restrictions for it. Fishing enthusiasts will probably also appreciate such a pedal boat; for them it will be a convenient purchase, since the watercraft will not capsize when the wind blows. Unlike a boat, you can fish while standing in it.
Where can I buy such a bike?
Such a pedal boat can be easily purchased at any specialized store. There is a wide variety of them by model, country of origin and technical specifications. The price range is also very different, from the cheapest options to the most expensive.
We create a homemade catamaran
What if you try to make a water one? Do you think it will work? Before you start work, you need to study the relevant literature and listen to the advice of experienced craftsmen.
Anyone who wants to construct such a catamaran on their own can come up with what materials they will use to create it. There are a lot of options for this! Nevertheless, for clarity, we would like to give several examples of accessible assembly of such equipment.
Such a pedal boat will be made from two wooden floats, a comfortable bridge, a chair, as well as a steering rack and drive.
The main part is the floats that keep the entire structure afloat.
Float manufacturing options
From wide boards 40 millimeters thick and about 3 meters long, support skis are made - floats, at one end of which cuts are made at an angle of 45 degrees. To increase the buoyancy of skis, dense foam is used, which is glued with waterproof or epoxy glue to their lower surface. After it dries, all edges of the workpieces are carefully processed sandpaper or a file, and then covered with several layers of bright nitro enamel.
Inflatable floats are made, the material for which will be rubberized fabric. The creation process is quite labor-intensive, but the weight of the entire catamaran will be significantly reduced due to this.
The advantage of the first method of making floats over the second is that wooden structure It is much easier to adapt the chair, as well as the drive mechanism.
The driving force in such a catamaran will be ordinary pedals from a simple bicycle. To install them, holes are cut in the bridge. To put such a technique into action, it is necessary to make a paddle wheel and blades, due to the rotation of which it will be possible to increase speed. They are usually made of stainless metal and welded to the rear hub. To control the catamaran, you also need to install a steering wheel, which will allow you to turn the device in different directions.
And now, finally, all the main work on creating a homemade watercraft has been completed. Now we should test this device to see how it behaves on the water.
Hydrofoils for a pedal boat: how is it?
Now we know how to make a pedal boat. Have you heard anything about aquaskipper? It turns out that this is the so-called hydrofoil pedal boat. Sounds nice, doesn't it?
And its easy aluminum construction, made of material used in aviation, provides minimal resistance to hydrofoils, thereby allowing speeds of almost 30 km/h. And all this works without any fuel or motors, only the strength of your muscles is required.
Is it possible?
Is it possible to construct such a water one? Yes, easily! There would be skillful hands and the head, everything else good master there will definitely be one. Let's take a closer look at this unusual look transport. A man sitting on an aeroplane resembles a rider, bouncing up and down, as if galloping on a very rough road. At the same time, with the help of the steering wheel, it can turn in any direction, and, most importantly, all this will happen not on the ground, but on the surface of the water. When creating such a bicycle, close attention should be paid to the reliability of the leg mounts; it is also necessary to make correct calculations for hydrofoils, in order to ultimately ensure complete safety for the “rider”.
Looking from the side at such a jumping person is funny and cheerful, and it seems that it is easy and simple to do. In fact, to glide smoothly and confidently through the water, a lot of effort and skill is required, because it’s not for nothing that such a bicycle is considered a sports trainer.
Why not buy it?
For lovers active rest on the water, who has a great desire to have such equipment, but is not able to construct it independently or buy it in a store due to high prices, the option of purchasing it with the help of various means information. A used introductory bicycle, if, of course, it is sufficiently reliable and suitable for use, it may well please the owner for a long time and give him a lot of pleasure. After all, someone may sell a bicycle not at all because it has fallen into disrepair and the owner decided to get rid of it quickly. It is quite possible that former owner For a completely different reason, not related to the technical category, I decided to take this step. Of course, when purchasing such a watercraft, you need to carefully, or better yet, in the presence of a person who is familiar with this type of equipment first-hand, examine all the components of the pedal boat, and then make a final decision.
Well, isn't it great?
It's hard to resist a purchase like a pedal boat, which weighs only 14 kilograms and, in addition to this, can also be disassembled. By putting it in a bag for a while (disassembled), you can travel with it everywhere and test it on any body of water. The maximum weight that the design of such an aquaskiper can withstand is 110 kilograms, the minimum is 35. Therefore, for safety reasons, teenagers under 11-13 years old should not ride it.
These age limit guidelines are provided for hydrofoil bike buyers. For those who decide to purchase a catamaran-bicycle for walking around the water area, such restrictions do not exist. In this case, everything depends on the adult: if he allows his child to see him, it means he trusts and does not doubt his strength and endurance. But attentiveness and control over children and adolescents are always necessary and never hurt. Be careful on the water!
For short walks or trips on the water, a catamaran has a number of advantages over a boat or kayak. This means ease of disembarking and landing, reliability, greater stability and maneuverability, as well as increased cross-country ability in various rapids areas.
This means of transportation on water also has disadvantages, for example, increased windage of the hull and low speed when moving with oars. But these disadvantages are compensated by the advantages of the catamaran.
There are many designs of catamarans, in the manufacture of which they use available materials. With help detailed description and drawings, anyone can assemble the model they need with their own hands and at virtually no cost.
The catamaran is an easy-to-use and build vessel, versatile in use and viable in extreme situations. According to the type of movement, these vessels can be rowing, sailing and motor, as well as mixed designs. These devices consist of a frame and floats. The frame is made from a certain amount longitudinal elements, and the floats are made of an airtight internal cylinder. Next we will tell you how to make a catamaran with your own hands.
The floats of this vessel have a certain chamber structure, that is, an outer shell, which provides strength and an internal chamber, which is responsible for tightness. This function simplifies the production of this model and increases its reliability. The contours on the floats help achieve low water resistance when moving. The frame is constructed of duralumin tubes with bolted fastenings using shaped nuts.
The catamaran is equipped with a steering wheel to facilitate control and relaxation. Also, such a design provides for the presence of sailing weapons. Almost all components are made independently, you only need a small amount of turning works.
The cost of this product is low. A sailing catamaran is used on rapids and flat rivers and lakes. When the water is calm, speed and overcoming rapids are ensured.
Floats
There are two of them and each looks like an air-filled hollow and round design V cross section. The floats have practically no cylindrical sections and differ in bow and stern sections. The large ratio of surface to underwater volumes in the stern and bow parts of the floats contributes to excellent surfability on waves.
The float consists of an inner chamber and an outer shell, which is fifteen percent smaller than the chamber. This factor is necessary, as it contributes to the tense state of the camera and ensures its safety. Making cameras is a major operation and takes a lot of time. Part made from synthetic materials, is considered the most durable, and of the rubberized ones, the cheapest.
Uncover
If the chamber cannot be cut out from a single piece of material, then the panel must be glued from the pieces overlapping. The seam width must be at least three centimeters and additional fabric strips must be glued in their place. During assembly, the back of the chamber, which looks like a sleeve, is twisted and tied with a rubber band.
The sleeve design allows for repair and drying. Also, in the chamber, in front of the bow rowers, it is necessary to glue a special valve designed for rubber boat. With its help, you can pump up the floats on the go if necessary.
The bottom is also cut out from a single piece of fabric or from separate panels. Next, the lower and upper shell parts are stitched from the limbs to the middle. These parts should be cut very carefully, to the nearest millimeter, to ensure the correct shape and avoid wrinkles on the float.
Bridge
This part is made from a set of aluminum tubes various diameters, fastenings for which studs and bolts are used. All stringers consist of two components connected by a sleeve, which is attached with glue to the stern part and secured with a pin. The ends of the stringers are secured with plugs made of any materials and secured with shaped nuts.
Deck
This part has the appearance of a rectangular panel made of a dense type of nylon. Its dimensions depend on the assembled frame. Along the perimeter it is necessary to tuck the edges of the panel thirty millimeters and stitch it. Then you should install the grommets designed to secure the bridge and deck. Lacing must be done from the middle of the float to the limb.
Steering wheel
This part of the catamaran has the form of a feather made of fiberglass sheet two millimeters thick, which later bifurcates and folds together. Both halves need to be attached to the back and front edge using holes and copper wire and screws. Then all the edges must be filled in turn epoxy resin and cover with plasticine.
Wire should be used if necessary. After polymerization is complete, the wire and plasticine must be removed with a knife and the edge cleaned.
The steering wheel should be hung on the bracket using homemade hinges.
Oars
To make oars you need dur aluminum pipes, to which the roll, flattened by heating, is attached with four bolts or rivets.
Sailing weapons
This auxiliary weapon is ineffective and therefore rarely used, but is provided on this type of catamaran.
Motor catamaran
In production this type floating craft using a moped. To do this, it is enough to place the land vehicle on floats fastened with cross beams and fix the car on them.
The cases of this assembly are made of four-millimeter hardboard. After bending the workpiece, you need to drill holes at a distance of fifty millimeters. Then you should sew the hull with copper wire and glue a transom board with two frames there. Then the joints should be glued and the wire removed after drying. After removing the wire, the seams must be glued with glue and secured with fabric strips in three layers.
Fiberglass should be glued into the hull, the deck should be made of hardboard and attached to the hull using epoxy glue and copper wire. The inside of the body must be covered with parquet varnish, and the outside must be carefully covered with fiberglass. Pine blocks must then be used as cross-section beams and secured with epoxy glue and frames.
At the ends of the housings, it is necessary to secure bearings curved independently from three-millimeter steel strips using clamps. The maneuverability of this motor catamaran is ensured thanks to the rudder feathers. They are cut out of twelve-millimeter plywood and hinged at the ends using homemade hinges.
Next, you need to remove the wheels from the moped and fix it using the pin axes in the rear and front attachment points and replace the chain with a longer one so that you can throw it through the engine located on the paddle wheel.
In the design of your catamaran you can use either Gas engine, For example .
Inflatable catamaran
This type of catamaran is very light and takes up very little space when folded.You can swim on it in pairs and there is even room for luggage.
If you wish, you can easily install a small sail here, which brings little benefit, but still worth a try.
This vehicle, of course, is not suitable for serious hikes, but it’s just right for a boat trip on a weekend. Its design is very simple and to assemble this catamaran it is required: two inflatable floats in fabric covers, a U-shaped tubular frame and fabric seats.
The floats are glued from pharmaceutical durable oilcloth, the surface of which is covered rubber glue and carefully powdered with silver powder.
Fabric covers help preserve the floats and protect them from sun rays. For the manufacture of the frame frame and seat bases, aluminum pipes with a diameter of twenty and twenty-five centimeters are used. The oars can be used for kayaking.
PVC – modern material, having mass positive qualities. It is quite inexpensive, lightweight, strong, durable, resistant to different climatic conditions and environments. In addition, plastic pipes are easily and quickly connected, ensuring absolute tightness of the joints.
Thanks to this, the use of plastic pipes has gained wide popularity not only in the installation of water pipes and sewer systems. From these, “traditional craftsmen” use their own hands to make many useful “gimmicks”, ranging from racks and drinking bowls to sleighs and watercraft.
In this article we will tell you how you can quickly and inexpensively make a catamaran from plastic (with your own hands.
Contents of the article
Why a catamaran?
There are a lot of options for watercraft, as well as their purposes. For those who live near bodies of water, and especially for those for whom overcoming a water obstacle is a vital necessity, a catamaran is ideal. This type of vessel has many advantages. in front of kayaks, boats or yachts.
- To make catamarans from plastic pipes, a minimum amount of material is required. In addition, remnants from the recent installation of a sewer or water supply system may well be used;
- the catamaran is light in weight, so it does not cause problems in terms of transportation;
- due to the design features - two cylinders connected by a deck, such a craft has high seaworthiness, strength, reliability and sufficient speed;
- possibility of accommodation required quantity seating areas;
- Any type of engine can be installed on a catamaran.
What does a catamaran consist of?
The catamaran has a large number of design features compared to other watercraft.
That is why you need to know its components in detail, before starting drawings and installation work.
- The first, and most important, part of the catamaran is the floats. These are two chamber structures located on the sides of the craft. Their immediate task is to keep the ship afloat. Cylinders can be made from different materials, limiting the outer perimeter of the float. To do this, use the film from which inflatable cylinders, foam plastic or PVC pipes are made.
- Connecting frame. It can be made of any materials, from the same plastic pipes to wood or metal. The lighter the catamaran frame, the smaller the floats can be.
- Deck. This part is created to accommodate passengers, luggage and other things that will be transported by water.
- Steering wheel. The function of the rudder of any watercraft is performed by an underwater blade, which for movement is directly installed parallel to the movement, and for turning it is bent in one direction or another using a rotary handle brought to the deck.
- Oars, pedals, motor or any other device that propels the catamaran.
Vessel size calculation
The diameter of the floats, as well as the width and length of the vessel, depend primarily on where and how it will be used. The larger the crew expected and the more cargo will be transported, the larger the size of the craft and the diameter of the floats should be.
The carrying capacity of a vessel can be increased by increasing the cross-section of the cylinders or their length. The decisive factor in this situation is the volume of air inside the cylinders.
Optimal parameters for calculating floats, Based on the crew and carrying capacity the following:
- a single-seat catamaran should have a length of 2-3 meters with a cylinder cross-section of 0.3-0.4 meters;
- for the manufacture of a two-seater vessel, cylinders with a length of 3.5-4 meters and a diameter of 0.45-0.5 meters are used;
- three and four-seater watercraft have a length of up to 6 meters with a float diameter of 0.5-0.6 meters.
It is not recommended to make a catamaran longer than 6 meters, since it will almost completely lose its maneuverability. Although, if you are going to sail mainly in a straight line, there are no restrictions on the size of such a “ship”.
How larger size the vessel, the greater its maneuverability and stability, but the less maneuverability. This applies to both its length and width.
The width of a catamaran is primarily determined by its purpose and method of propulsion. If you are making a catamaran for river rafting using the kayak principle, its width should not exceed 1.2 meters. Otherwise, capturing water with oars becomes impossible. If it is planned to board rowers on cylinders, the width of the vessel can be increased to 2 meters.
If the catamaran is a fishing or pleasure boat and it is planned to be equipped with a sail, motor or blades with pedals, its width can be increased further.
The width of the catamaran should be at least one and a half times less than its length.
Manufacturing procedure
To make a catamaran with your own hands, you need to decide on its purpose and, based on from this, calculate the dimensions. We will consider two options for the vessel: the simplest single-seater and a tourist raft based on a catamaran.
Single catamaran
We start making the simplest single-seat catamaran by making floats. We take two pipes of the same diameter and length (based on the calculations given above, we will need plastic pipes for external sewerage with a diameter of 0.4 meters and a length of 2 meters). We fix it on one side of both pipes. This will be the back of the catamaran.
The front part needs to be raised for greater cross-country ability and maneuverability. To do this, we use two plastic elbows with a 120 degree bend. We attach them to the other end of the pipes and also close them with plugs.
When assembling cylinders Special attention Pay attention to the tightness of the joints. The slightest depressurization can lead to the sinking of a ship on the water.
The floats are ready. You can start assembling.
To connect the floats into one “whole” catamaran, you can use anything. Plastic pipes of small diameter are suitable, wooden blocks, metal corners And so on.
- From the material you choose, we make crossbars 1.2 meters wide.
- We install the cylinders strictly parallel to each other so that the bends point up and in the same direction.
- We fix cross bars on top of the cylinders. For fastening, both clamps and self-tapping screws can be used, with which the transverse strips can be screwed to the floats for greater strength.
- We install any comfortable seat on the cross beams, take the oars in our hands and row where we want.
Do-it-yourself single-seat catamaran made of plastic pipes (video)
Tourist raft
The basic principles of making these two watercraft with your own hands are not particularly different. The only difference is that the pleasure raft will obviously not be designed for one person. And it’s even better if it can also accommodate cargo in the form of provisions, a sun umbrella, clothes, dishes, and other things.
- We make floats using the above method. But you should take a pipe with a diameter of 500-600 mm and a length of 6 meters. This will make it possible to create a stable and passable vessel on which you can take a nap without worrying about the life of the crew.
- We make a strong frame measuring 6*2 meters. Since the frame not only must hold the cylinders in correct position, but also serve as a platform for the deck; it is better to make it from metal corners.
- Clamps are tightened onto the pipes from which the floats are made, to which, in turn, the frame is attached using bolts.
- Flooring is made from boards on the frame.
This design allows you to install any driving device on the catamaran, from blades driven by pedals to gasoline engines.
In addition, such a platform allows you to fully sunbathe in the sun, catch fish, and, in general, have a fun and fruitful relaxation in a narrow circle of best friends.
