Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

Hi all,

I'm working on a History Channel special and have a unique request for help:

We'd really like to get our show host out on the Mississippi river briefly on a raft, preferably homemade. Is there anyone in the St Louis or Chester, IL area who has a raft that we could shoot on briefly? Or someone who thinks they could build one relatively easily?

If it's wooden, Huckleberry Finn style, that would be great. But it could also conceivably be a modern variant -- recycled bottle raft, etc...

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Chris

Re: Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

cw12yard said:

Is there anyone in the St Louis or Chester, IL area who has a raft that we could shoot on briefly? Or someone who thinks they could build one relatively easily?

Click to expand...

Sorry no help here....

But,,, I think I just found out how Bear Grylls could whip up a white water raft in 30 minutes from 1/2 a shoe lace and a dozen 40' logs.... shoot over Niagra Falls and then pop up on the other side eating a bowl of trail mix cereal

Re: Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

Wouldn't he be eating a catfish raw from the bottom up? Or maybe zebra mussels on the half shell?

Re: Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

Ha, nice try. Wrong channel though. With History fortunately we just have to show things, not make our host out to be a bad-***. Makes it a lot easier, especially when we're running and gunning.

Chris

Re: Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

cw,

Check your PM inbox . . .

Re: Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

Failing all else, you could check with a local dock / deck maker. They probably have a floating dock in stock they could loan out. If it's for filming, what about a pontoon boat?

Re: Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

I'm pretty sure the statue of limitations has expired ....
while in high school there was a homemade raft race sponserd by a local radio station. being a river rat , me and a buddy stole lumber from a construction site (at our high school) and his dad got us (4) 55 gal barrels from his job. we built a 6ft wide x 8ft long deck with the 4 barrels on the corners. we lashed them with rope and painted it white and wrote " Orange County Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers" in big letters . We invited a couple more buddies and a few gals , I think there were about 8 of us. We bought several cases of beer and launched in the Neches river with about 150 other rafts. it was supposed to be a race but I think the tide was comming in and we only went 1/4 mile of the 2 mile race . we had a great time though. We were too drunk and too tired to load it back up in the back of my truck so we just abandoned it on the river bank.
yet some how we survive!

Re: Homemade raft for History Channel segment?

Actually, a pontoon or barge would work. Our priority is to get our host out on the Mississippi, standing up and talking to the camera. If we can get him out on a raft - particularly something Huck Finn style - that would be a plus.

Any thoughts on local docks or companies in the area that might be able to loan something out?

We wouldn't be able to build anything ourselves as we will only be in the area for a few days, and have lots of other shoots to cover in the mean time.

Thanks for all the thoughts so far.

Chris