Floating Tiki Bar From Recycled Materials

I co-own a float shack on a beautiful lake where we spend a lot of time in the water...floating, drinking, swimming, and even sometimes snacking. I also have a strong interest in using recycled materials (especially hard to recycle materials) and have been following instructables for years. So this weekend I built a floating, swim up tiki bar mostly out of recycled materials or things I had lying around. While it's not close to perfect and I have many modifications I am going to make, I decided to put up my first instructable (forgive me in advance for my novice instructions).We had fun hanging out around the tiki bar, swimming it over to the neighbors, and inviting friends over for Bloody Mary Sunday morning at the tiki bar...maybe you'll have as much fun making something similar!

Supplies

Materials:

Two 10ft pieces of 3/4" PVC

PVC 3/4" connectors --4 side elbow outlet connectors, 2 T connectors and 2 elbow connectors (I used connectors I had lying around so I only had 2 side elbow outlet connectors and used 2 additional T shape connectors and 2 additional elbow connectors but it would be easier with the above list.)

a piece of plastic 4.5ft by 5.5ft (I used an old plastic paint drop cloth)

About 50 tan single use plastic bags

A thin sheet of plywood 4 foot by 2 foot

Plastic bottles with lids--(I used 12 but would use more)

4 plastic laundry bottles with 3/4" spout (This is something I will likely modify)

4 pieces of bamboo about 2.5 or 3 foot long

2 pool noodles

parchment paper

*Gorilla glue

*Waterproof spray for wood

*Brown spray paint

*A bag of zip ties

*Duct tape (I bought gold duct tape)

*these materials were the ones I bought, everything else was recycled or left over from other projects

TOOLS:

PVC pipe cutter

Iron

Drill

Scissors

Optional:

battery powered party lights

Step 1: Creating the Frame

I decided to make the tiki bar frame from PVC because I had some lying around, it is fairly light, can be put together with connectors and taken apart, is water proof, and just an all around easy material to use with few tools. I originally was going to put a frame around the bottom but did not think the 3/4" PVC on the bottom would create enough buoyancy to hold up the rest of the frame and I had some laundry detergent bottles I hadn't yet recycled and they happen to have a 3/4" inch spout so used these but am thinking of modifications.

Begin building the frame by cutting the following

A.) three 4 foot pieces of PVC

B.) four 3 foot pieces of PVC

C.) two 5 inch pieces of PVC

D.) four 1 foot pieces of PVC

Connect two of the one foot pieces with a T shaped connector and do the same for the other side Connect 2 of the four foots pieces to the crossbars that you just created with the elbow side outlet connector to form a rectangle. Add the 5" pieces of PVC to the open end of the T shaped connectors on the crossbars, add 2 elbow connectors to the ends of the 5" pieces and attach the last 4 foot piece of PVC to those elbow connectors. Add the four pieces of 3 foot PVC to the open end of the side elbow outlet connectors. Put each of the legs in one of the laundry detergent containers(or whatever you are using for buoyancy). Finally spray paint the framed structure.

Step 2: Assemble the Bar Top

I used thin plywood and plastic bottles for the bar top so that the bar top would be light enough to float and low enough to the water to act as a swim up bar. In hindsight, the bottles that I used were not enough buoyancy to help stabilize the frame so we added some pool noodles when we were out at our floatshack.

Begin assembling the bar top by spraying down both sides of the thin plywood with a waterproof spray and let dry. Then glue or attach plastic bottles to the bottom. I used bottles that had a fairly strong plastic (I used these pom drink bottles but you can use other thicker plastic bottles...for examples, gatorade bottles are better than soda or water bottles). I then drilled some small holes in the 4 corners of the bar top to be able to attach the bar top to the frame by zip tying the corners of the bar top to the laundry detergent handles.

Step 3: Make the Roof

This is my favorite part. Single use plastic bags are hard to recycle and such a problem. While I now use reusable grocery bags, I have a big bag of tan grocery bags that I was able to put to use. While this was my favorite part, it was also by far the longest part.

First cut off the writing and logo from our local grocery store and cut off the handles. Save the handles for the very top. Then fold the bag like a paper fan and cut small strips like fringe. Repeat this to about 50 bags. Then iron with a low temp iron in rows to the sheet of plastic. Use parchment paper between the plastic and the ironing board and also between the plastic and the iron. I did 4 rows on each side with the fringe pointed down and then took the handles and ironed them over the middle section. After all the cutting and ironing, I taped 4 pieces of 3 foot bamboo pieces to the underside of the tiki bar roof with 2 pieces along each of the 5.5 foot sides and leaving about 2 inches of space in between the bamboo pieces in the center and with the bamboo hanging out of the plastic roof. (see the diagram if this description is hard to follow)

Step 4: Assembly

I disassembled everything and took all of the floating tiki bar pieces out to the lake in our tiny little boat that is like a cross between a small jon boat and a canoe. I wanted to make this all so that it can be disassembled and stored at our small float shack. Taken apart it doesn't take up much space.

At the lake, I assembled everything on one of our docks by first assembling the frame. Since I want to be able to take it all apart, I duct taped all of the PVC connections. If you had room to store it you could use PVC glue to put it together. I also duct taped the legs of the tiki bar to the laundry detergent bottle spouts. Then I slid the bar in place and used zip ties to attach the corners of the bar top to the handles of the laundry detergent bottles. Finally I put the roof on and attached it by zip tying the bamboo to the PVC.

After the launch, we added the pool noodles with zip ties to help with buoyancy and stability. We tied a rope to the dock and to one of the handles of the laundry detergent bottles so we didn't drift too far from our dock. As evening approached I added the party lights and duct taped the battery pack to the PVC.

Step 5: Modifications and Things I Might Do Differently

This was a "first draft" and I may have jumped the gun by submitting this instructable but here is a list of things I would do differently:

• Like I mentioned earlier, I am going to add more bottles on the bottom of the bar top. The bottles keep it low to the water but I just didn't have enough to be super stable.
• If I redid the roof, I would make sure that I ironed the bags all the way to the end of the plastic and I wouldn't leave any space between the rows of ironed bags. I am not sure if I am explaining this well, but basically, it looked really good at my house but when the wind was blowing at the lake, we would see bare spots where you could see the bottom sheet of clear plastic.
• I am not sure if I would use the laundry detergent bottles or something else for the corners. It wasn't super stable in the wind. I am going to continue to experiment with that.

I am also planning on working on some modifications, including:

• more cheesy lightweight tiki bar decorations
• a floating cooler that is partially submerged so it is easy to reach into from the water.
• another floating bar section to create mixed drinks or keep bar snacks
• straps that can be zip tied to the bar top and used on all four sides to keep bar patrons close to the bar
• cup holders and a holder for two plants that have wicks
• bar games...like a very shallow pan (like maybe a super small cookie sheet), some dice and laminated yahtzee scoreboards with a dry erase marker

I have learned a lot from other instructables. If you build a similar floating swim up tiki bar, I would love to see how it turns out and what modifications you may make. This was definitely a fun little project that was completed fairly quickly (except for the fringing of the grocery bags). It was a hit at the lake and a fun addition to our chill lake life vibe!