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Comment by Giorgio on January 18, 2012 at 2:02pm

Aloha !

Here are a couple more pics to give you better idea.

The GM Raft System

This design is fricking awesome...I'm growing lettuce almost  2x faster than regular foam rafts and cause the only part of the raft that touches water is the 2" pontoon there is lots of aeration underneath the root system (WITHOUT) the need of air stones, valves, siphoning or any other device.

Is very simple concept that works great, I'm sure whoever tries it will love it and is less than 1/2 the cost of the foam rafts and  about 75% less work without the mess and once you get one going you can make a bunch at a time.

I used 3 screw at the ends and 4 on the sides, make sure to use stainless

Have fun...

Comment by Chris Schup on January 18, 2012 at 11:47am

Interesting idea. About how far apart are those 1/4” screws placed? And the system water has absolutely no contact with them?

Comment by Mörður Gunnarsson Ottesen on January 18, 2012 at 10:13am

If there would be an intake for air like on a tire then one could also use other lighter gasses to fill the pontoons giving maximum lift.

Comment by Bill Anderson on January 18, 2012 at 6:19am

Great idea indeed. Never liked the idea of the rafts not having any support. Looks like this will last quite a bit longer. Will have to do a price comparison of raft+paint against (a list of parts) for the ... We need a name for this new raft type. Polywall Pontoon, Hawaiian Raft, Big G's Raft,...

How about threading an air injection port in the side of the pontoons to pressurize the pipes? Like the type for filling a tire with air. Granted you would have to glue the end caps on, but it should give you more buoyancy. Interesting idea.

Comment by Mörður Gunnarsson Ottesen on January 18, 2012 at 4:50am

Great idea, I'm gonna test this method on my system. Thanks for sharing.

Comment by Giorgio on January 17, 2012 at 5:10pm

I’ve been doing backyard aquaponics for almost 4 years now and I was doing mainly the Raft system using the styrofoam boards from HD, (I have no choice, I live in a small Island).

These board get waterlogged  rather quickly and working with them is very messy and you have to do so much work with them.  Finally I got tired of buying new foam and making new rafts and I figured out a way to make them last longer,  I got some FOOD GRADE epoxy and painted the bottoms that touch water and they seem to be doing good so far but still you need to put some sort of aeration in the grow bed for plants to grow better which will required space, time and money (resources).

Finally I came up with a great solution which will create aeration naturally and is pretty cheap and easy to build.   I teach a Aquaponics class in the backyard and many of my student were impressed with the new design and after a few crops I feel confident that is a great way to go and I want to share with the AP community.

FYI:  I’ve dome my research and I’ve talked to the manufactures of some of these products that I use but you are welcome to double check and share.

I took some pics and I will try to explain how I did it.

The top is called Polywall from HD and I cut it to 2x4 pieces for easy handling u can make them bigger if you wish.

The pontoons are 2" PVC pipe with caps I don't use glue just silicone

I used 1/2 pipe for the frame, you can get all T's and Elbows anywhere (HD) cheapest.

I used stainless 1/4" screws to sucure the Polly the the frame

and I used zip ties to secure the frame to pontoons.

You don't want to make any holes in the pontoons or it won't float.

These are so easy to make and no need for painting and no mess and the 2" net pot just barely touch the water (which is what we want)

The only thing will be  to figure out some sort of clip to secure the raft to the side of the grow bed when plants get big and heavy  cause it will sink a bit

Have fun

Giorgio

Comment by Linda Logan on January 17, 2012 at 1:09pm

Sounds great!

Comment by Chris Schup on January 17, 2012 at 12:45pm

Very intruguing, Giorgio. Bring on the ultimate floating raft!

Comment by Giorgio on January 17, 2012 at 12:21pm

Aloha fellow Aquaponicos!

Please STOP buying the styrofoam and pain fot the rafts...

I will share how to make the ultimate floating raft for your system cheaply, easily and superefficient with so many benefits for you and system.

We can build this rafts   from locally available materials that are way safer than foam with incredible results.

I will take pics and post them here , so, you can have a better idea how is made.

This will be a revolutinary concept in Aquaponics

Comment by Jovan Johnson on January 13, 2012 at 12:23am

What paint do you use to paint the rafts?

Does it stop the extruded polystyrene from breaking don because of UV light?

And wont the paint leech chemicals into the system? 

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