We are two high school students with a homemade pontoon boat. I’m Michael Hayworth, I’m 17 and I live in Coralville, Iowa. I’m Mike Watkins. I’m 18 and I live in Iowa City. We are seniors at Iowa City West High School. We are both active in our churches, wrestling, football and are both pursuing our Eagle badge in Boy Scouts.
We started our boat-building careers last summer by building a ten foot plywood john boat, the USS Aesthetically Pleasing. The AP was a great boat, but naturally we were hungry for a bigger, better craft. So we started building the pontoon. The pontoon is an 18’ by 8’ vessel made from lumber from the local theater that was closing, and whatever other materials we could find. As high school students, our financial situation dictates that we must be as frugal as possible when it comes to the construction of our boat, while maintaining the utmost structural integrity. The deck of the pontoon is a 2x4 frame with plywood flooring, sitting on our pontoons, which are twelve used 55 gallon drums filled with plastic pop bottles, to maintain flotation in case of leaks!
After our senior year of high school is completed, we want to take our boat down the Mississippi river from Minneapolis to New Orleans. It will be an adventure navigating the 2,300 miles of the river. We will need a lot of fuel for this trip. Also, the trip will take about a month and a half, so we’ll also have food and maintenance costs over that time period, as well.
If you are interested in helping us make our Mississippi trip a reality, anything that you would be able to contribute would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact us via email.
Thank You!!
Mike and Mike
email us at toon.saloon2012@gmail.com
