Construction Techniques

The main materials required are:

Item	Note
Pioneering Poles	You need longer lengths than usual, eg 4m for the width and 6m or 7m for the length
Ropes	10 mm manila for the frame and barrels. Telstra rope is ok for the cabin and deck.
Drums	200 litre (aka 44 gallon) drums are recommended They must be clean and firmly sealed. Silicone is recommended to avoid leaks.
Deck	Most teams used 15mm thick plywood sheets which are 1200mm wide.
Cabin Walls & roof	Most teams used 3-ply sheets for the cabin walls and roof.

The event crew will provide each team with a 2 way radio and can supply up to 10 canadian canoes for use as a raft tenders.

The event crew can assist with obtaining drums and 10 kg danforth anchors, but please let us know early.

Types of Ropes Required

The types of ropes required for the various tasks are:

Task	Type	Note
Raft frame	Manila, 10mm	Need structural strength, non-stretch rope which swells when wet.
Fixing barrels to frame	Manila, 10mm	Need structural strength, non-stretch rope which swells when wet.
Tying deck to frame	Any, eg Telstra	Telstra, sisal or 8mm manila are ok for this
Tying cabin walls	Any, eg Telstra	Telstra, sisal or 8mm manila are ok for this

The recommended methods to tie the components are:

Component	Method
Frame lashing	Square lashing using levers to tighten frequently, especially for the frapping turns. It helps to stand barrels under the corners of the main lengths, so you can work at waist height.
Barrels to frame	A truckies’ hitch uses a 2:1 ratio and gets the barrels very tight. It helps to use a small block of wood to keep the barrel off the rope around the frame. This allows the rope to slide around easily when tightening.
Decking to frame	Use a blanket stitch to tie the deck to the frame. This allows you to tighten the rope better than a simple stitch. It helps to have one person underneath to pass the rope back up.
Cabin walls	Use a blanket stitch to tie the walls and ceiling together.
Fixing cabin to deck	Use a blanket stitch. One team tied timber to the deck to form a frame and then fixed the cabin to it. They still tied it to the deck but it was easy to get the position right.