Building a Raft and a Paddle With Reused Materials

Hello! We wanted to share this little project we've worked on before going on vacation.

Using 12 plastic buckets (these ones were reused from construction material) and some scrap wood, we have built a raft and a paddle. It's a super simple project and it was completely free.

• 12 (reused) plastic buckets with lids that properly seal (In the video you only see us attaching 8 buckets but we ended up adding 4 more and it was perfect!)
• Scrap wood (I think you can go wild here and use whatever you can find).
• Screws and nuts.
• Finish is optional, we didn't use any because we still want to use the wood for other projects after the holidays.

We started by laying the lids on the floor defining the size of the raft. Then using some scrap wood we built the main frame. Next, we cut all the pieces for the raft floor and screwed them in place. After we turned the raft upside-down, fixed the lids in place, and then fitted the buckets. Finally, we roughly sanded it and it was ready.

For the paddle, we used a piece of mahogany from an old bed to make the paddle. After drawing and cutting we've started giving shape to the paddle, first shaping the blade with the hand planer and then the grip with our angle grinder. Finally, we have sanded everything and waxed it.