The Raft in the Collins River

Introduction

The purpose of this page is to collect various tidbits of knowledge, history, lore, and fun regarding "the raft". This raft, located near a left-hand bend in the Collins River adjacent to Alf Adams's property, has been enjoyed by both locals and summer folk for decades.

Thanks

Many thanks to the late Alf Adams and his immediate family for providing both the raft as well as access to the river.

What's This Page About, Anyway?

Each fall, the raft must be pulled up high out of the riverbed
so that it does not wash away during the winter/spring rains.

Some years ago, Alf graciously allowed others to take on the management of the raft.

A modest committee of ~~suckers~~ volunteers now performs the various raft duties. The list below includes special characters so that you can easily copy-and-paste into an email. Current members (send corrections/updates to jra@adamsj.com):

   "Burt Adams" <ageaxis@gmail.com>,
   "David Adams" <david@adamscapital.com>,
   "Dillard Adams" <dillardadamsjr@gmail.com>,
   "John Adams" <jra@adamsj.com>,
   "Garrett Adams" <gadamsky@aol.com>,
   "Karin Adams" <KarinHughesAdams@gmail.com>,
   "Gregory Barro" <gbarro318@gmail.com>,
   "Mikey Barro" <mikeybarro96@gmail.com>,
   "Thompson Barro" <thompsonbarro@gmail.com>,
   "Ran Batson" <ranbatson@bellsouth.net>,
   "Steve Blackwell" <sblackwe59@gmail.com>,
   "Peter Emanuel" <okradog@gmail.com>,
   "Jo Fassnacht" <jofass18@yahoo.com>,
   "Ernest Franklin" <ebfranklin3@gmail.com>,
   "Aaron Hendrickson" <afhendrickson@gmail.com>,
   "Brian Hunter" <bhunter@geiger.com>,
   "Larry Papel" <larrypapel@gmail.com>,
   "Robert Papel" <robertpapel@gmail.com>,
   "Sam Papel" <papels95@gmail.com>,
   "Will Ralph III" <Wbralph322@gmail.com>,
   "David Smith" <david@davidsmithcfa.com>,
   "Sam Snow" <SamSnow@tjsnow.com>,
   "Frank Spruiell" <FSpruiell@wwmlaw.com>,
   "Alfred T. Stewart" <alfred@ajlandcompany.com>,
   "Harrison Taylor" <harrisonht@me.com>,
   "Henry Trost" <hatrost@comcast.net>,
   "Cress Whitfield" <cwhitfield@wlgore.com>,
   "Stephen Young" <syoung@sgylaw.net>

Note that membership in this elite group does require the occasional payment of dues for replacement parts, floats, etc.

New Chain Scheme as of June 2023

In part due to the loss of the tree right on the bank, we now have a new scheme for securing the raft.

A 15-foot chain is attached to the eyebolt on the raft.
9 feet from the raft, the chain is secured to the pulley with a link.
The spring clip is attached to the end of the chain.
A separate 10-foot chain is permanently attached around the tree.

When using the raft, the clip simply dangles in the water on the 6 foot section.
Notably, the raft cannot be (easily) removed from the pulley. It is hoped that this will reduce the chance of the raft wandering off.

When docking the raft, the clip is attached to the ring on the tree chain.

Man/Woman Power

The raft is heavy, and generally best handled by guys in their late teens, 20s, 30s, and 40s. Older folks are helpful with spotting, keeping extra eyes for safety, etc. If you have sturdy lifters, you can have as few as 3 guys on each side and get it done. A group of 6 to 8 sturdy (young) lifters is argiuably the best and safest technique -- although various plans have been spoken of for a system whereby the raft could be skidded up and down the hill. Notably, and significantly, Karin Adams has established a great tradition of providing assorted refreshments.

Takin' Out

The raft is typically removed at the end of the summer; October is a good time, as that way it can be enjoyed up until the leaves turn. It takes about 8 folks to do it, so don't let the last of the summer folks get away before handling this task. A good way to move the raft is to have 4 men on two sides, with no one on the front or rear edges.

Check out this nice video from October 2010 made by Beth Adams Scott. Whoops, John can't find the movie file right now. Two things to know:
(1) the movie is 50 MB.
(2) the video lists the date as 2011, but John knows it is from 2010 based on the fact that his little Aly is too small for it to be from 2011.

Things of note:

Bring heavy pliers to open the link on the chain that goes around the tree.
Remove the floats before dragging the raft to avoid damaging the floats.
Go way up the bank with the raft -- farther than you think -- and secure to posts.
As of fall 2024 the raft is locked; 4 digit PIN is 1923.
The floats should be stored indoors (the sheds behind Howell Cottage were used for winter 09/10)
All hardware should be stored safely and assessed/replaced as needed in the spring.

Hardware includes:

*Rope, preferable at least 3/8" inch, minimum 180(?) length.
Pulley for same.
The chain that goes around the tree, which includes a ring approx 2" diameter.

* We have had pretty good luck with a rope from Lowe's: 200 ft, 5/8", braided blue and white. Need to be sure and get a decent-sized pulley; we have found a suitable one at Tractor Supply.

Puttin' In

The raft is typically placed in the river around Memorial Day.

Tools to bring:

Hammer to re-seat nails.
Heavy pliers to close the link to attach the chain around the tree
Rake to help clean the general area.
Heavy trash bags for cleanup.
Hand-mitts, long sleeves, etc. for pulling poison ivy.

Things of note:

Be careful to avoid "girdling" the tree with the chain.
Wrap the rope perhaps 6 times around the tree on the opposite side before tying off.
When wrapping, have the long end on the upstream side of the tree.
Be sure to make it obvious that the raft-chain is to be attached to the metal ring.

Building a New Raft

Many thanks to Harrison Taylor and Ran Batson for building a beautiful new raft prior to the 2022 season!
Some quick notes:

Use pressure-treated decking.
Use screws instead of nails? If nails, use shank nails.

The dimensions of the decking, from edge to edge, are 10'6" by 12'.
The frame is made of six 2x8s. Four are 12', and the other two are 10'.
Dimensions of the frame is approx 10'3" by 12'.
Decking is approx 26 pieces of 5 1/4" decking, approx 10'6" long.
Corner brackets (approx 5") secure the corners, attached with bolt/nut/washer.
One large eyebolt with large washer for the chain.

Misc Tidbits, FAQs, etc.

How far up the bank does the raft really need to go?
Farther than you think. Then, a little bit farther. Then, two more feet. There, that should do it. Secure the raft to the metal fence posts. Seriously -- if you've never seen the river during high water, it is a very surprising, awesome, and scary sight. Starting around 2014(?), the preferred technique has been to haul the raft all the way to the top of the hill.
In 2022, new techniques were used to remove the raft -- some sort of winch situation(?), which I bet Cress was involved with. Need to add details....

What's the deal with the metal ring attached to the near tree?
This is a crucial part of the system. The chain that is attached to the raft should be clipped into the metal ring when the raft is "parked". The idea is that the raft is secured to the raft-chain which is clipped to the ring which is secured to the tree -- not the rope. This way, if the rope breaks, the raft doesn't float downstream. The ring is big enough, and obvious enough, that people are naturally inclined to clip the raft-chain to the ring. This is exactly what we want them to do.

Why not use those nifty chain quick-links that simply screw/unscrew?
Well, using those links would indeed eliminate the need for heavy pliers. Which is exactly the problem with them -- the need to bring tools is a feature, not a flaw. We don't want it to be easy for people to "re-engineer" our system in a mis-guided and unwelcome attempt to "improve" it.


Good (requires heavy pliers)		Bad (too easy to monkey with)

Don't you just use the raft in the fall to disconnect the rope on the far side?
Well, when you disconnect the rope, the raft will float downstream. Of course, current in late summer is likely to be slow to none, so probably not a big deal. But if you try this at some other time of year, and/or there has been some rain, you will regret having let the raft drift even a few feet downstream. Try and visualize this scenario:
Assuming there is some current, and the raft has drifted downstream, then you might be tempted to try and stand on the raft and pull on the rope to pull it back upstream. But watch out. You will find that while standing on the raft and pulling, you will be pulled to the front (upstream side) of the raft. Your weight will tend to submerge this upstream corner, and catch several tons of water flowing downstream. I presume you get the drift (pun intended) and can see the challenge. Hint: toss another rope to the hapless souls on the raft, so that they can pull from several corners at once, and avoid allowing the upstream portion of the raft to dip down and catch tons of water.

Where do we get the floats?
The current raft design requires 5 or 6 floats, sized 3 feet by 4 feet by 18 inches. Such floats can be obtained from www.DiscountDocSupply.com 931-261-0197. We formerly used the John McCluen Company, but they are no longer in business.

Discount Dock Supply is based in TN, but they drop-ship from the factory in Arkansas. The larger floats (including the 36x48x18 size) must be shipped LTL (by truck) instead of a standard carrier like UPS or FedEx.

Notably, a float sized 24x28x16 can be shipped by standard carrier, which is quite a bit cheaper. The float guy mentioned that the somewhat lower profile float (16" instead of 18") is often preferred for a raft as it is easier to climb on. The next time the float needs to be rebuilt, we should consider design changes to allow smaller floats.

Original July 7, 2012
Last updated: Sept 11, 2023 by John R. Adams (jra@adamsj.com).
Please send suggestions, comments, and updates to John.
Thanks go to Harrison Taylor for inspiring this page, and providing much of the content.