Huge Rubber Raft in Weirs Bay
 

Found this June 2015 but was hesitant to post it because I wasn't sure if it was compelling enough. Changed my mind after trying to figure out what is was used for exactly, where it came from and how it ended up on the bottom. Same questions I have for most of the other wrecks I find.

Massive rubber raft 23 feet long with large steel U-shaped handles built into the sides. Heavy duty industrial-grade construction. In about 70 feet of water.

Ideas welcome.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/spohp8bgGbg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spohp8bgGbg

A lifeboat perhaps?

Pontoon from the "Secret Project?"

Damage Appears...How Long Has It Been There?
 

There are some very big rafts manufactured and rented-out on Winnipesaukee today. The one below was placed (and used to jump on) in Winter Harbor this summer.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...pstft9kijp.jpg

Yes, that scaffolding is part of the rental...

:eek:

.

The raft is "old", jet black in color and so heavy duty I doubt it was used for something other than commercial purposes. Inflated it would probably increase in length by another 4 to 6 feet.

The steel hand rails are about 3/4" in diameter and badly rusted but still intact.

I agree that it's some sort of life raft but of course I could be wrong. And if so from what? I can't see how it would have survived the fire on the old Mount if that's where its from but I suppose it's possible. Another lake mystery.

All in all, very strange.

I think they did practice drops of rescue rafts on the lake during and after WWII. This might be one that didn't survive the impact. Those heavy steel bits though, have me leaning towards and industrial type of activity. Life rafts, even military ones, are usually made of lighter colored material.

We has this as kids.

Sure sounds like Weirs in June with all of that prop noise overhead. Yikes.

Huge rubber raft
 

That looks like a section of a pontoon bridge, particularly with the fittings on it. Maybe Army surplus?

I agree.

http://www.cbi-theater.com/national_geographic/p6.jpg

That looks exactly like our raft looked. I do believe it was army surplus. I never knew it was used as a bridge by the Army though. Very interesting. We had a lot of fun with that but it was hard to get up on.

Wow great pictures everyone thank you. The piks from TIS and Dave R. with are certainly as close as I could hope for as a match to what I saw on the bottom, esp. the one with the soldiers in it-nice. What I saw could easily hold large amounts of weight, and of course it would be even bigger inflated than what I filmed.

I may need to dive it again and take a closer look for any identifying marks and traits.

If any divers want to check it out and report here what they saw go here in Weirs Bay:

43 36.989N / 71 27.207W

Depth about 70 feet.

Thanks again everyone.

This is how they were used.http://www.strangemilitary.com/image...ent/153776.jpg

http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/Media...hap4_img_7.jpg

Instability was moot when they were ganged together side by side.

Seeing these pictures begs the question.
 

Seeing these pictures makes me wonder why these pontoon bridges could not be used for temporary bridges today. If they can move tanks across them, why not today's traffic. I was always amazed by the pictures of these bridges when I was a youngster.

Thanks for posting all the pics.

I think the biggest issue would be the load restraint.Lookslike they run 1 tank at a time.Not sure how they would control 1 car at a time traffic.

Thanks Dave!!! I never knew that was how they were used!

There are permanent floating bridges in use today. I drove on one on Interstate 90 in Washington state. It crosses Lake Washington by Seattle.

Most temporary bridge solutions are designed to not block navigation and to stay in use for months, that's why they use metal trusses and place them high. A temporary floating bridge is very temporary and has to be managed carefully as water levels change. You also need fairly flat entrances and exits for them to work with cars. The military vehicles that typically cross them are much more capable off-road than they typical American family car.

Here is one I've been on several times on ski trips to British Columbia. This is in Kelowna BC. Doesnt look like a floating bridge but it is/was. (just taken out of service). Those are big concrete pontoons and this bridge had a section that raised. This was the longest floating bridge in the world when it was built in 1958.