Weight of concrete

TWINKLE_TOES · Dec 12, 2000

Bird,
The sections that sank are still down there. You are right, some on the floating sections were towed away and sank for an artificial reef.

Rowski · Dec 12, 2000

Thanks to all for the timely reponses!!!!!

If my calculations are right (not much of a numbers person) my ballast will be approx. 1000 lbs. which is what I wanted.

Harv- I will ask, What for???????

Bird- When I was in tech school they built a concrete canoe for a contest. I think they lost.

Derek

Harv · Dec 12, 2000

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where houseboats are pretty common. The ones I have had occasion to board were very nice 2 and 3 bedroom homes, complete with concrete basements.

The basements are actually the "hull" of the vessel. In one particular floating neighborhood I visited, there were a couple of brand new basement hulls tied up to the dock, just waiting for someone to build a house onto them. Strangest thing I ever saw -- a big concrete hole in the water.

I had to go home and re-read about Archimede's principle to convice myself that these things could actually float, with or without a house on them. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Harv · Dec 12, 2000

Harv- I will ask, What for???????

Derek - Kinda like putting a big button on the wall labelled, "Don't Push", isn't it? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

When I was first comtemplating how to cross the water channels on my tractor property, I considered pouring my own concrete and steel beams and just laying them across to form a small bridge.

There's a number of reasons I didn't wind up going that route, but I still might make some beams just for fun. I might even re-visit the idea of pre-stressing them for extra strength, but I doubt I can muster the force necessary to do that.

I enjoy a good concrete project now and then. Concrete itself is fairly cheap and easy to work with, but by the time you form it up and add the steel, you'd better have a good reason for doing it.

Pretty low on my things-to-do list now.

Bird · Dec 12, 2000

Re: I enjoy a good concrete project now and then. Concrete itself is fairly cheap and easy to work with

You're kidding!!!!!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif I always thought it was just plain hard, dirty work./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Bird

s1120 · Dec 12, 2000

>>Yeah, I saw a concrete boat once<<

As a boat fan, and an amateur boat builder.[Ok only one, but I have plans to build more when I have the space] I have done a lot of reading on boatbuilding. Cement boats are very common in larger home built boats. It is a cheap means to build a one off design, and id a larger boat[ say, over 30ft] the weight does not make as much difference.

Paul Bradway

Harv · Dec 12, 2000

Bird -

I always thought it was just plain hard, dirty work

Well, yeah -- that part's true.

I was just saying that if you've done your forms and steel right, it's just a matter of mixing, slopping and rodding. I always enjoyed the floating and troweling -- very satisfying.

You know, maybe it's because I spend most of my life sitting in front of a computer -- makes physical labor kind of a pleasant diversion. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

I've done patios, floors, foundations, driveways, retaining walls and steps, and now that you mention it, the retaining walls were a ***** (technical construction term).

My first retaining wall was only 24 inches high, and I got my first lesson in hydraulic pressure (appropriate, huh?). Basically, I grossly underestimated the forces involved, and my plywood forms were not braced nearly enough. We had built a long chute to get from the cement truck to the wall, and had no way to stop the flow once it started.

Before the forms were even half full, the plywood started bowing out quite noticeably. Lesson #1 -- you can't push a form full of wet concrete back into shape. We quickly jammed some 4x4's against the forms to stop the spread, but by the time it was over, the wall had gone from 6 inches thick at each end to just over 12 inches in the middle. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

Fortunately, this wall was at a friend's house, not mine. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif I salvaged my self esteem by capping the hardened wall off with some nicely finished redwood planks. That dressed it off nicely and provided a long, attractive, very sturdy bench to sit on. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

scruffy · Dec 12, 2000

In WWII, they made several concrete ships (freighters), there was one that was used as a pier at Newport Oregon. Remember my Dad working off that pier many times as a Long-Shoreman, while us kids did the grunt work at home. One of us kids would always get to go with him (to fix his lunch) when he worked up there. Nice little get away from the ranch and stay in a motel on the bluff's overlooking the harbor intrance.

ERNIEB · Dec 13, 2000

When I was about twelve on a visit to Galveston, I saw hull sticking up out in the Gulf. Was told it was concrete, made during WWII, and had sunk there and was just left. I thought they were kidding me, but I guess not.

ErnieB
"We were surrounded by some gross, proud, and victorious men. Anyone who knows the character of the North Americans can judge what our situation must have been."
Jose Juan Sanchez Navarro

Anonymous Poster · Mar 2, 2001

We had a big "float" wash up on the beach of some property we have. All I can see of it is a big block of concrete. Defies logic that this thing could float, but 747's get off the ground so I'll have to go with it, regardless of what my mind tells me!

del