When Slummies local Kevin Fish sent in the below image of his uncompleted ‘surf barge’ last month, we weren’t sure if the leisure seeking DIY enthusiast would get the 6 X 4 metre floating contraption ready in time for the end of our WeMakeItSic! competition, powered by Bosch and Dremel (ends 30 November). But behold, 150 litres of resin and nine months of hard work later, ‘Mellow Yellow‘ is finally complete and fully functional.
According to the Captain, the barge displaces enough water to float a Land Rover.
“She was christened on 07 November to celebrate my birthday with 18 people on board,” explained Kevin. “After all of this, I have now received a degree in how to get itchy, been through so many overalls and gloves that I care not to think back to. There is flow coat everywhere in my house and car but it’s still been a cool project even if it has totally dominated my life. Everyone keeps asking what I am going to do next year when this project is finished… the obvious answer is I am going to use the friggen barge to go surfing!”
“As things stand we have outlaid in excess of R 85 000, used over 150 litres of resin, 40 litres of flow coat and who knows how many screws. The project has taken up most of my time this year and is finally functional. Without an electric screw driver, angle grinder, router/dremel, this whole project would not have been possible.”
The completed barge, comes standard with built in bar stools.
Having played host to Kevin’s birthday, which floated 18 people at once, it’s safe to say that his calculations about the barge being able to hold a Jeep may in fact be true.
Basic description of what has been built:
• 3 Pontoons, each consisting of 6 barrels. Each barrel displaces 210 litres of water giving me total displacement of 3 600 kgs. In other words I can park a Land Rover on it.
• It is 6.0 metres long X 3.6 metres wide.
• Materials used are wood, fibreglass, millions of screws and plastic drums.
• Equipped with a 25 HP Mariner outboard.
With almost 24 square metres of space on the deck, Kevin still plans on installing aluminium surf racks to house the boards.
Let’s hope Mellow Yellows brings Captain Kev and company many years of surf stoke and adventure.
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Don’t forget to enter your own DIY ideas and stand a chance to win your share of R30 000 worth of prizes compliments of Bosch and Dremel. Head over to wemakeit.co.za to vote for your favourites, find some inspiration and enter. Competition ends on November 30.