Yes I’m serious. You take 2 canoes and make a pontoon out of then with rope and 2x4’s to increase stability. They will easily hold the weight. One canoe would hold the weight but it wouldn’t be stable. The only thing that requires any thought would be the attaching point to the towing vehicle. It has to be a quick release setup while towing across water. That’s nothing but a loop in the rope through a harness with a pin holding it in place.
From a logistical point of few it would be a piece of cake. Now ask me how to set 26’ trusses on a new garage without any help or lifting equipment.
I suppose that depends on how you define “lifting equipment.” Do pulleys count? Don’t mean to hijack, but you do have my curiosity piqued… I’m imagining a tripod a little taller than the roof peak when sitting on the garage floor, and lifting each truss with a block and tackle hanging from that (the truss would have to be angled so it fits in the garage, then straightened once it’s dangling above the walls). You’d need something where the rope tension could be controlled from either up top or below; that could take a little creativity. Am I close?
Even if the footprint of the canoes had the displacement to handle the weight I think you are wildly overestimating the stability of two canoes lashed together with 2 x 4’s that are supporting a large with with a very high (for canoes) center of gravity. Assuming your lash up was strong enough I think it would tip within seconds once it got in the water.
People that live on the lakes generally have more than canoes available to them.
I’m not an ice fisherman myself, but I’ll defend the ideals of those that are. This was a huge, huge ice floe, not a few people stuck on a couple of meters of ice.
The press today is indicating that the rescued people are rescuing their gear with adequate equipment.
Not trying to cause any great debate here; just pointing out that this is something quite normal. No one was in any immediate danger. The “rescue” had to do with timeliness rather than peril.
The 2x4’s span both sides of each canoe (overhanging the sides)and are lashed to the thwarts forming a catamaran. There is no way the canoes can tip at this point. You could connect the 2x4’s on the end to form a box and a diagonal brace for rigidity but if they’re lashed to the thwarts on both sides of the canoe that shouldn’t be necessary. By lashing tight to the thwart the edge of the canoes pull tight to the 2x4 which makes a parallelogram with the other canoe and thus prevents them from tipping. The distance traveled over the water was measured in feet so it doesn’t have to be designed for a 2000 mile voyage.
I used a ladder and a 2X4. When I built the walls I cantilevered the top of the walls out (see side view of wall below). I then placed the ladder under one end, walked the end of the truss up and laid it there. Repeat on the other side with the result of an upside down truss hanging on the outside of the wall. Take a poll and flip it over so it’s on the inside of the garage (dangling upside down. With 3 of them inside the garage I spaced them out (still upside down) and laid down the roof sheeting so it formed a floor. From there I had a stable platform to stand on and brace rest of the trusses until I got 3 of them started and braced together.
The 3-stooges part of this started when I tried to brace the end truss from the ground using a ladder and a 20’ 2x4. It fell over (into the garage) with me holding on. Luckily I had the garage door open so I landed on it still holding onto the truss.
The end result was that I used the roof sheeting as a temporary floor so there was no cost involved and the cantilevered top of the wall became extra support for the overhang on each end. There is no sag if you stand on the overhang because of the way I supported it.
I spoke with someone yesterday who lives near to there. They said that there were a couple people who were charging $600 to retrieve vehicles from the floe. Hovercraft involved, I believe.
I didn’t see any detail around the guy who died, but one suspects he might have tried jumping or swimming a short distance and misjudged it. That’s a guy who needs rescuing.
The rest just need to get off the ice. It’s the emergency services, and whoever is in charge, who turns these sorts of things into a major emergency operation with hundreds of thousands of dollars spent rescuing the stupid and careless.
The truth is, the emergency services love that stuff. Guys love flying the helicopters and being needed and being rescuers and getting out their equipment and all the rest of it. For a bunch of bozos out ice fishing who drift out and around for a while, there is no emergency. There will be plenty of people with various means at their disposal to gradually remove them and their jank. Or the wind will shift and the ice will drift back to close the gap.
I am amused at the carnival this turned into, but the most ridiculous thing of all is that petty sheriff venting that stupid people are costing the system money. He is likely one of the persons promoting the decision to turn it into an emergency event. He’s right to note that dumb decisions cost us a lot of money, but fundamentally how is the macho fisherman different from the macho smoker who wants an ambulance when he infarcts? And who decided it was a major emergency that need the $4k/hr helicopters?
According to my insurance agent a few years ago, once a car has been submerged in water up to the floorboards (as in it enters the cabin), they’ll declare it a total loss instead of paying to repair it. So they at least, believe it’s not worth the effort to repair it. And whenever there are big floods somewhere in the nation, you start getting those consumer warnings about checking the history of used cars to make sure they weren’t flooded.
Dirty Jobs had a segment last year with a company in Minnesota that retrieved cars from the bottoms of lakes. IIRC, the owner of the car hired the company because it was cheaper to retrieve it than to pay all the fines. They didn’t say what they did with the car though.
Buddy of mine told me about driving his snowmobile through the ice a couple of years back (on a private lake in Mich entirely surrounded by 1 owner’s property). The machine stayed down until the thaw, at which time they winched it up and hauled it out. According to my friend, after drying it out it started right up. Verified by the owner of the property who assisted in the salvage.
I understand that many larger lakes in Mich and Wisc impose fines for every day a vehicle remains under the ice, which makes prompt salvage a profitable proposition.
As my buddy told it, at first the sled just cracked through and was pointed down through the ice. When my buddy realized what had happened, he had the bright idea that he would single-handedly haul the machine back up onto the solid ice. You ever try to dead lift a snowmobile? His trying to pull it out caused the sled to crash through the ice and plummet towards the bottom - before he knew what was happening and even thought to release his grip!. First thing he new he was completely underwater and watching the surface light disappear above him. Fortunately he let go, swam up, climbed out, and warmed up. Made quite a funny story upon the retelling!)
I agree. There wasn’t an emergency except for the person who fell in looking for a way back. Instead of a $4000/hr helicopter they could have driven the flatboats back and forth collecting the stranded people. The first trip over they could have hauled a couple of tents and a thermos of hot cocoa. The stupid person wasting money was the sheriff.
I suppose that depends on how you define “lifting equipment.” Do pulleys count? Don’t mean to hijack, but you do have my curiosity piqued… I’m imagining a tripod a little taller than the roof peak when sitting on the garage floor, and lifting each truss with a block and tackle hanging from that (the truss would have to be angled so it fits in the garage, then straightened once it’s dangling above the walls). You’d need something where the rope tension could be controlled from either up top or below; that could take a little creativity. Am I close?