I designed and built a full sized floating fishing cabin in my garage using wood and 18 gallon storage bins. The whole cabin breaks down into panels that one man can lift and install by himself. Then I loaded up my two oldest boys and spent a night on the water fishing and camping. Was this genius or a horrible mistake???
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TravelTranscript
00:00Hey Becca, can I have another boat?
00:05You already have tons of boats.
00:07No I don't!
00:09What's that?
00:10This is just a pontoon boat.
00:11And what's that?
00:12This is just a skiff.
00:13And what's that?
00:14I don't think kayaks should count.
00:16Does this one count?
00:18No I only use this for shark fishing.
00:20And this one?
00:21This is a stand up paddle board, not a stand up paddle boat.
00:25And what about the paddle boat?
00:28It was on sale.
00:29Luke, you can't buy any more boats.
00:32I won't buy any more boats.
00:36Ha ha ha ha ha!
00:39Loophole!
00:40Loophole!
00:41Loophole!
00:42Woo!
00:43Luke and Jake here with the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel and it is a cold winter morning and
00:54a perfect day to build a floating fishing cabin.
01:02Yeah!
01:05That's good!
01:09That's good!
01:13Yeah!
01:16That's good!
01:32That's good!
01:48That's good!
02:08That's good!
02:36Well I got a lot more done today than I thought I was going to get.
02:51And if you guys want to see kind of a list of materials and some plans and details about
02:57this project, I'm going to post it on Facebook and put a link to that post in the video description.
03:02So if you want to do this at home, you can figure out how to do it.
03:05But I've got to get to bed and I will see you guys in the morning.
03:08Alright, it's another beautiful day and we've got to screw some wood together.
03:12You ready Jacob?
03:13Yeah!
03:45Oh my back's killing me.
03:46I'm going to call it for the day and I'll see you guys tomorrow.
03:52Well it's day 3 of this project and it's one of the few days that it's warm enough to paint.
03:56So we're going to go ahead and do that today.
03:58Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain so we have to do it all in the garage here and it's
04:02just barely enough room to paint here in the garage.
04:05I've got some exterior deck paint we're going to slap on there and let's see what happens.
04:11There you go guys.
04:12This is your first glimpse at the size of this project.
04:144 units making a total of 16 feet by 8 feet.
04:18Alright, let's get painting.
04:29I slapped about a half a gallon of paint on there.
04:31We're going to let that dry for about 4 hours.
04:33Then we're going to hit the sides and the bottom.
04:40We're going to let that dry for about 4 hours.
05:10We're going to let that dry for about 4 hours.
05:40We're going to let that dry for about 4 hours.
06:10We're going to let that dry for about 4 hours.
06:40We're going to let that dry for about 4 hours.
07:11We're going to let that dry for about 4 hours.
07:20Well, we've made pretty good progress on this project but my little boys decided to bring
07:24home stomach flu.
07:26So, for the last few days I've been doing other things.
07:31Stop.
07:33Pooping.
07:35We're going to get back on.
07:36We've got one more wall panel to make and the roof and then we are going to start putting
07:40things together.
07:50Alright.
07:52Oh.
08:04Alright, a lot of you guys are wondering how we're going to make this raft float and to
08:07do it we're going to use 18 gallon stair light bins from Walmart.
08:11They run about $3-$4 a piece so they're super cheap and the dimensions are perfect.
08:16Each one of these bins will fit perfectly into one of these squares.
08:19You get 10 bins per raft and we have 4 rafts that will form together to make one big raft.
08:25So, that's 40 bins.
08:26Now, if you want to know how much these can hold, do some simple math.
08:30One gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds.
08:3418 gallons of water, the volume of one of these bins, is roughly 150 pounds.
08:4110 bins is 1,500 pounds.
08:44Four rafts, 40 bins, is 6,000 pounds.
08:48So, it takes about 6,000 pounds to sink 40 18 gallon stair light bins.
08:55Now, obviously, we don't want to sink them.
08:57We want to have a margin of safety.
08:59We only want about a third of the bin to be submerged in the water.
09:04We want the raft to sit nice and high out of the water so that we have some safety in
09:08case of waves or bouncing around.
09:11So, if you only want a third of the raft to be submerged, then you take that 6,000 number,
09:17divide it by 3, and that's 2,000 pounds is the max safe load of the raft.
09:24Now, fortunately, I have more than just a theoretical knowledge about how these bins work.
09:29I've built rafts like this before and floated rivers on them.
09:33I took a troop of Boy Scouts down the James River one year on a bunch of rafts made out of bins like this.
09:39As a matter of fact, a lot of these bins are left over from that project, and it worked great.
09:44The things floated like corks, and they handled Class 2 rapids very nicely.
09:54These 18 gallon stair light bins come with a quarter inch hole right here in the handle,
09:58and that's how we're going to attach them to the deck of the raft.
10:02All of these bins are old bins that I recycled from my old raft projects,
10:06and you can see some of them have done multiple whitewater trips,
10:09and you can see where they've been hit stuff. It's left a little white scuff mark.
10:14But very few of these bins break, and when they do, we just replace them.
10:36I went and made a whole bunch of these little wood washers here,
10:39and we're going to take and put them just like that down there.
10:47One down, 80 more to go.
11:06Whoa!
11:15Nathan, what are you doing?
11:17I'm drilling in a bunch of stuff.
11:20What's in that one? And who's in that one?
11:25Ugh!
11:31Alright, that's the foundation of our fishing platform and cabin, 16 feet by 8 feet.
11:54Drilling
12:02Drilling
12:05Drilling
12:08Drilling
12:25Drilling
12:29Drilling
12:32Drilling
12:35Drilling
12:48Drilling
12:54Ha, ha, ha, this works.
12:56All right.
12:57All right.
13:27The big kids...
14:26There we go
14:56I
15:26Will
15:46Look at this
15:49She's looking gorgeous
15:51A
15:53Little bit of light inside just enough to see by
15:59Everything's
16:01Working good
16:02Well, everything seems to be working great, but my wife wants this off our front lawn
16:08So I think I need to break it down and put it on that trailer
16:21I
16:41Go eight bolts and 40 knots that's all that holds this thing together
16:51I
17:21I
17:44Come aboard live my lady. There we go. We got our electric power grab
17:51Bye children
17:53We've taught you well raise yourselves. We're not going fast, but you know, we're getting a mile per hour or two the love boat
18:02exciting and for sure
18:21Oh
18:46There we go, it's all together
18:49Look at that so long suckers
19:01Well, here we are with the maiden voyage of the floating fishing cabin, we've got the whole Nichols family aboard and it's doing really well
19:08We're not we're not too back heavy. The nose isn't sticking up too high as it's riding evenly. That's good. Very stable
19:16The wind doesn't seem to make it want to tip over which was another concern
19:21We're using a little bit more freeboard that I thought we would right now. The bins are about
19:27Halfway submerged. So we still have about that much from the top. And so we're doing pretty good there
19:35But yeah, I wouldn't want to load it up too much guys. I think we should go camping on the fishing cabin
19:46Oh
20:10There we go
20:16You
20:33Guys ready to do some fishing and camping. Oh, this is gonna be awesome
20:43We're going we're cranking
20:46We just built a boat. Yeah, we did
20:49High-fives got the skiff towing behind us. Yeah
20:53I'm really glad we got the window in the back because we can see what's going on with the boat back there
20:57It's nice to be able to see behind you
21:02This is sick, I just saw some shad jump maybe we should try to get some bait
21:17We've got a great spot that I think will produce some good fish here
21:22so we're gonna go and post up right here some really shallow water and
21:26We're gonna be able to access the shallow stuff and the deep stuff and hopefully get some good fishing in
21:32I
21:45Think it's time to do some fishing. Let's catch some big old catfish. We're gonna use some pieces of cut-up shadows bait
21:56Well, I thought I saw some carp jumping so I'm gonna make up some carp bait
22:00Unfortunately, I forgot to bring any corn
22:02So I'm just gonna use jello poncho grits throw it on a method feeder and we're gonna see if we can't catch some carp
22:23I'm gonna take a little glob of grits and poncho and we're gonna squish it on to the method feeder like this
22:30And we're gonna take this little fake piece of corn
22:33Jam it in there
22:35See if we can't catch a carp
22:39Guys I can't believe it. It's taken weeks. But finally we're doing it
22:43We're camping in our floating fishing cabin that we built ourselves and we've got the rods out. It's beautiful. We're safe
22:52Just having a ball starting to get a little hungry. So I think it's uh, it's time for dinner you guys hungry
23:01Oh
23:18Over here on this corner see what you got. Keep them out from that log and don't let them get wrapped around the boat motor
23:24Oh
23:28Oh a nice carp
23:39Beautiful carp Tom
23:41Congratulations, bud. Put them back in there
23:44Good job, buddy. Oh
23:47Slimey high-five bud
23:50There we go
24:04Yeah, oh that smells so good put these sweet peppers in there
24:13Wonderful bit right there here have some peppers just to eat some vegetables. Okay
24:18This is probably one of the best camping trips we've ever done
24:22This is pretty nice. Just sitting here eating steak with my boys
24:26Looking out over our rods
24:28Life is good. Oh, hey guys, look at bite
24:32Grab it really quick. Don't let him get it tangled up in the other stuff
24:39Yeah
24:41Well, we had two carp on landed one gotten some bites on the catfish rods we're off to a good start
24:56Well, the temperatures dropping quickly it's supposed to get in the 30s tonight
24:59So it's a little chilly right now, but what but we're nice and cozy in here. The boys are cuddle up
25:05it's getting past their bedtime and we're just gonna kind of snooze and watch our fishing rods and
25:10Have a good time. Oh guys, this is so nice. I got this toasty little propane heater here. You got my memory foam
25:18fishing caught
25:21Oh Tom Tom, I just got really in the rod and there's a fish right there far right one
25:28It's a big fish he's fighting hard
25:40Oh, that is a big car. Oh, you want to go and get warm you go get warm
25:54Yeah, let's get back in the water though
25:57Well, this is a load of fun, but it's 10 o'clock and I've got to get the kids to bed
26:01So I'm gonna reel it up and we're gonna get to bed
26:04Okay, hop into bed guys. Good night
26:07Did you sleep well last night? Yeah, well should I get up and make some food boys?
26:25I'm sitting here filming a YouTube video while Nathan's watching one of my YouTube videos
26:30My life is like the movie Inception. Sometimes we got some Mountain House biscuits and gravy here. We're gonna try this out
26:37I
26:40Just found out sausages cooking
26:45There you go, you got hot chocolate over here to me
26:51Let's do some fishing
27:01Got the rods out. I'm gonna go inside and hang out with the boys wait for a bite
27:06Because I'm in a floating fishing cabin
27:08It's just a cold
27:11Miserable day outside. This is just so pleasant sitting here at the here on the boys are snuggled up in their little bags
27:19Just man. I don't think I could get the boys out fishing and camping in this weather
27:23It wasn't for this cabin, but we've got a fish on and I think everyone wants to stay warm
27:28It's a good deal with it. Oh
27:31Yeah, there he is
27:35Oh
27:38You put me in that same
27:42Well, darn it I just lost another carp and another carp rig in that snag over there so I
27:48Started with three rigs. I'm down to only one rig and one rod for carp
27:53I really came here expecting to catch a lot of catfish. Well guys, you got to use up that steak
27:57You guys want an early lunch?
28:05Oh
28:11It is cold and rainy out here
28:15Fish haven't been doing much
28:16So I think we're gonna reel it up and go take the boat out for a little cruise
28:21Just see how it's doing after a night out on the water
28:27There we go just out for a little sailing trip on our floating fishing cabin
28:35All right, guys, I'm just doing a little inspection from the outside and check her out look at that she rides pretty well in that water
28:44It's a good-looking ship right there
28:48I am super happy with this project
28:51if you guys like this type of video make sure to click that like button and
28:54We'll do more camping trips and fishing trips in this cabin
28:58If you want to see more fishing check out my other channel the catfishing carp YouTube channel
29:02I've got 500 videos on fishing and if you want to see more camping and survival videos
29:07We got that here at the outdoor boys channel, too
29:09So we'll put links in the description to some of our survival camping trips, which are pretty fun. So thanks for watching
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