calculations for floatation of a pontoon

plumbwhite

I am looking for a calculation to work out the amount of floatation that would be required to hold up a pontoon weighing apptox 2 tonne?

DaveC426913

The pontoons will displace 2 tonnes of water. It's all just geometry and simple math from there.

BillBLack

Displacement of the pontoons(floats) minus the weight of the pontoons will give you the actual carrying capacity.
A 55 gallon drum will displace approximately 440 pounds in fresh water-subtract the actual weight (22 lbs for a plastic barrel) and off you go!
Hope this helps.

plumbwhite

Thanks very much for your help I am only a plumber

DaveC426913

Well yeah, but the pontoons are still part of the structure you're floating, so why subtract them out?.

(I guess it depends on whether you're doing the calc in the classroom or on the shore. In the classroom, you'd calc the entire weight of the device, which would include the pontoon. On the shore, you're really interested in floating the device only - the pontoon is merely the solution, thus its weight would be a side-effect. So OK, yeah.)