Stone Boat In Action

I finished up my stone boat this week, wrapping things up by screwing the runners on.  The runners got a heat treat with the propane torch and then I melted Paraffin into them for protection.

Once that was done, I took it for a test spin with the riding lawn mower.  Even with the weight further distributed over the are of the skids, the riding mower lacked the mass to gain traction to get it up the hill when loaded with stones.  So, out came the big guns, my 1973 International Harvester 284, which perhaps not inconsequentially is a 28 hp, 4 cylinder smaller size farm tractor.

You can just about make out the crease in the  grass from the boat in that picture.  Still a lot better than tearing up turf or killing myself with a wheel-barrow.  I had tried using my garden cart with the lawn tractor, but I wound up with two flat tires after just getting it partially loaded.

Here are a couple of videos to cap off the project.  Getting the stone from the quarry site to the construction site was the sole purpose I built this boat for, but it will no doubt serve in the future for other projects that require moving heavy loads.

Here's the boat in action!

And here's my haul for the evening.  At the end, if you're wondering, I said "I'm tired.".  Kind of hard to tell.