Add “boat” to the long list of things that duct tape is good for building.
Roy Burke, a computer technician from Frederick, Md., began building a Viking ship from duct tape in May and has plans to sail it 100 miles later this summer, according to the Frederick News-Post.
Burke told the News-Post he spent about $400 and used about 800 feet of tape, as well as other materials, to build the vessel. With no boatbuilding experience or plan, this was Burke’s third attempt: Last summer his boat was not seaworthy in the shallow, rocky Potomac River. This summer, his second attempt ended with a broken keel and he had to start over.
The boat isn’t constructed entirely of duct tape — it needed a support system to float. Using the research he did on Viking boat construction, Burke fitted PVC pipe sections together to form a skeleton for the tape coating and a support for the wooden deck. He fashioned a sail from white canvas.
