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Unusual Boats

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"Unusual Boats" gives you the complete step-by-step instructions for 10 different fun boating projects. Make your own hovercraft, build a boat out of duct tape or cardboard and much more! All projects come from Instructables.com, are written by our creative community, and contain pictures for each step so you can easily make these yourself.

Instructables is the most popular project-sharing community on the Internet. We provide easy publishing tools to enable passionate, creative people like you to share their most innovative projects, recipes, skills, and ideas. Instructables has over 40,000 projects covering all subjects, including crafts, art, electronics, kids, home improvement, pets, outdoors, reuse, bikes, cars, robotics, food, decorating, woodworking, costuming, games, and more. Check it out today!

Laura Khalil
Editor, Instructables.com

10 HP Hovercraft by mickydee

Solar Boat Kit :: KidWind Project by kidwindrob

Duct Tape Boat! by lselse3

Fab your own rowboat from cheap pvc tubing, tent fabric a… by jelleAtProtospace

Remote Controlled SOLAR POWERED Barge by prabbit22m

Incredible Soda Bottle Pontoon Boat by deceiver

Painted Mattress Survival Boat by TimAnderson

Rc Duct Tape Swamp Boat v1 by hightekrednek2396

How to build a Boat made of Trash & Recyclables! by jrobinson

How to build a cardboard kayak for less than 40$ (Updated… by msd8

18 comments

Mar 10, 2012. 2:35 AM=O@<>;LGC: says:

cool !!!!

Oct 13, 2011. 2:07 AM

.Unknown. says:

Does anyone know if I have to get these licensed or not if I build one?
(I'm from Australia by the way)

Feb 21, 2012. 12:52 AMHACKER_PRO says:

you don't need a license unless it has a motor. If it has a motor (not sure abiut the hovercraft) it needs to be registered and you need a boat drivers license... not hard to get, just a written test rules depend on the state

Jan 16, 2012. 2:44 PM

HMice says:

If you want you could add my boat ( http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-Ice-Cream-container-boat/ ) but if not please look!!

Nov 8, 2011. 8:56 AMdaveand5 says:

I'm really hoping that most anyone that attempts to build one of these boats will have some sense, otherwise the plan requires some water wings for the builder. Oh wait, they are REQUIRED for any craft on the water, hmm, so much for on the cheap, lol.

May 11, 2011. 7:53 PMseolfor says:

Nice guide. It's presented as an ebook. When I click on download ebook, I'm taken back to the guide. How to do I download the ebook?

Jun 1, 2011. 1:20 PMjcksparr0w says:

think you need pro

Jun 23, 2011. 8:13 AM

twoherbs says:

I'm Pro, and still can't download it....just goes in circles.

Jun 24, 2011. 10:25 AM

zazenergy (author) says:

For Pro members, visit this page to download the ebook:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Unusual-Boats/?download=ebook

From there, click on "download epub" or "download pdf". Works for me.

You need to be a Pro member to download ebooks. If you are experiencing problems after following these instructions, please PM me.

Cheers,

Laura
Editor, Instructables.com

Sep 19, 2011. 1:10 PM

twoherbs says:

still having problems, I go to where it says "download ebooks', and it just goes in circles. I'm using foxpro, I have a pro account.

Sep 27, 2011. 12:36 PMjcksparr0w says:

apparently you can also get them if you have a nook. just got one and they show up in the store.

Sep 27, 2011. 2:03 PMseolfor says:

Thanks for the info, I'll have to look for them there.

May 28, 2011. 10:44 PMReefpimp says:

You are going to get someone killed stone fricking dead. And I say this as a professional mariner with actual Gubbimint-approved USCG certification as an Able Seaman.

Yeah, it's nice to get out on the water, Yeah, it's cool to hack the system. But actual structural integrity, engineering, and watertightness aren't to be taken lightly.

Aug 14, 2011. 2:45 PM

Wazzupdoc says:

Maybe. The spirit is in the vein of Bolger, Payson and the Mariner's Catalog's "Cheap and Dirty Boats". It's glorious when there is success. Learning with failure and sadness with death. Natural selection among self-testing boat designers has always been a good thing in my mind. It allows the survivors to evaluate, adjust and improve. Even if it is duct-tape boat. Sit back, sip your cold beer with me, and enjoy the regatta!

Aug 3, 2011. 7:15 AMAlgag says:

yeah these aren't "lets go trans-atlantic" or anything, this is a lets go out on the wave-less "i can always see the shore" kinda places

Jul 8, 2011. 10:02 AMtheexpert says:

i do agree that if it is to be taken out on water it does need to be water tight as most store bought ones are (anyone ever seen a store that carry's hovercrafts?)so yes if i were to take it out i would got to say your local pool one night and just throw it in with the motor of and see if it floats. it is a safety feature that keeps you from drowning and losing your piece of awesomeness when you run out of gas on water

Jun 1, 2011. 9:42 AMSuperCoPilot says:

I think these are more "take out on the small still lake" projects than take out on anything serious, besides, he just compiled the list, he didn't make the instructables, you might want to talk to them.

May 27, 2011. 11:42 AMlavaz says:

B>65 B0:CN E>GC))))