Design
Float Boat
Designed by Grandpa's Archive
Float Boat is a raft on inner tubes, written up in Mechanix Illustrated after a Huntsville, Texas insurance man named J. E. Davis built one for the lake behind his house. His first ladder-shaped frame on four tubes floated but tipped; a wasp-waisted frame spreading to 5 ft at each end was stable with two aboard, and an extra frame section with two more tubes let it carry four.
He then added a bracket for a 3 hp outboard and tried it on the Gulf of Mexico, did well enough to patent and sell it, and the magazine printed a drawing so readers could build their own from 1 x 4 lumber and old tubes. Two pages, free.
What building a Float Boat actually takes
Medians from the build logs kept on this site, not the designer’s estimate. Nobody has logged this boat here yet, so they are empty until the first builder does.
Those medians firm up as more people log this boat.
Builds of this boat
Nobody has logged a Float Boat here yet.
If you are building one, yours becomes the reference: the page the next person building this boat finds when they search for it. One photo and one line is a valid first entry.
Start the first log of this boatBoats like this one
Same type, closest in length.
| Design | Plans from | LOA | Logs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caladesi Carolina Dory | Spira International | 20′ 0″ (6.1 m) | 2 |
| Squirt | Glen-L Marine | 10′ 0″ (3.05 m) | 2 |
| 1957 echocraft runabout | Echo-Craft | n/a | 1 |
| Cabin Skiff | Glen-L Marine | 16′ 3″ (4.95 m) | 1 |
| Flying Saucer | Glen-L Marine | 12′ 3″ (3.73 m) | 1 |
| Garvey Skiff | Daniel Berg | n/a | 1 |