I Built A Floating Camp and Took It Down the River

I've attempted to build a camping platform to spend the night here on the river. I have gone way over budget on this one but thankfully I've been sent two K4C motors and we'll be using them electric motors to power ourselves down the river. Except first I need to put this thing together and get it in the water. I'm here on the river Medway currently under a bridge because this thing's going to be too big to launch from one of the locks. I also can't carry it over the locks so I need to get to a nice quiet stretch here. Now as you can see behind me here I'm pumping up the two paddle boards which are the base of this shelter and then I'm going to start on the platform there. So with the platform lashed onto the paddle boards in one two three four five different points I think we're safe to turn it over. And here we have the two K4C cruising motors so we're going to get them installed right now. Both these motors just slide into the skiff like so and then get locked in with a pin. I've got these handles on the back here so I'm going to put the battery packs on them and get them strapped down nicely so they can move about but they won't go in the water. I've got myself a nice chair so just get that set up and locked in. Okay I'll just thread these through and that should lock my seat down. And of course if we're sleeping on this we're going to need a bed so I've got a sun lounger. I'll get them locked down also. Food and beer. Right so just put everything on the platform but I just realised I need to put the platform in so anything that's not secured down I need to take off and wait till this is in the water. What am I doing? Oh it's heavy it's heavy. She floats. Okay okay I think I need... Come on. Oh right so as you saw I've got two motors installed on this and one I had to reconnect the bluetooth on which really showed it needs both because this thing does not turn with one of them running. But as you can see I can turn pretty nicely now. Now I need to find somewhere on this river that's going to be good to camp. I did just have two boats go down that way and I'm kind of hoping they're not coming back tonight. I mean obviously it's their prerogative but for me finding somewhere out the way and don't really want to be found. Now I have insurance, I have like paddle license, you know I've got it all. It's um it's all legit but I'd still rather not be discovered if you know what I mean. So we're just going to have an explore and a play with these motors. So here you can see both remotes that I'm using today and they're pretty simple they're like a Scalextric slot car. Forwards and backwards, left and right on both of them. These are just the trim if you're slightly off. Be hard to tell on this thing and you're on and off button. Now this one over here this is for a repairing as well when you press and hold. But we are going quite well right now. What might be confusing is I don't know what one's what. Hang on. Okay so they should be this way around. Not that that really matters because I'm just doing the exact same thing on both of them. But uh yeah let's head on downstream and see what's what. It's a beautiful stretch of the river this. It's really quiet. I've barely seen a soul. I've had them two boats go past. I saw some walkers when I was setting up but beyond that. I mean it is early evening so we might still see some paddle boarders out and about or something. But this is a path over this side but I think it's private land on that side. So we'll see what's what. I am probably slightly leaning to the side I'm sat on. I've got a power banker's ballast here because we're going to be cooking on this thing. So yeah I may shortly put my bimini up which is my roof if you don't know your boating terms. So let's go down here see what's around this corner. I've done some crazy things before but uh yeah this might be up there. I have slept on this very river in my um little inflatable boat with the outboard and that has like a boat tent on it. That was further upstream there but yeah this device of my own making is another thing altogether. Bought these paddle boards ages ago. They're his and hers basically because my girlfriend Magda she wanted to take up paddle boarding and um so I got matching ones we could both go out. But also I've kind of had this video in mind for over a year now and I've been chatting to the makers of these motors for a while now. Now I've got a few things I want to do with these motors. I want to do a proper range test because I've got the biggest battery and I've already been out a couple of times and I've got more than what they say you can get so I'm very impressed. They are very fun but um yeah I spent a lot of money on this. I bought the paddle boards, the inflatable platform thing here. I've added lots and lots of d-rings to this so my first time kind of properly using adhesive on pvc like that and all went quite well actually with a heat gun and everything. I've obviously bought the bed, the chair because I needed ones with the u-shaped legs so I could strap them down and um what else did I get? Oh the bimini as well. Maybe I can use that on a boat at some other point but yeah I got it's still like 250 quid even for a cheapo one but um I don't know whether I should put that up now. It kind of restricts my view a bit so yeah I'll wait a little longer because we've got plenty of sunlight left. It's so quiet along this stretch. There's so many little nooks like this I could camp in but I've got other plans. I've actually bought myself an anchor. It's only a small one but what I want to do is anchor myself in the middle of the river. Obviously not till later in case anyone else is coming along but no one's gonna be going up and down here at night so I'll find a wider stretch so I can go to one side a bit but um it'll just make me feel more secure that no one from the shore can get to me on the river. I'm not even down as far as the next lock yet but I fancy a beer. I've got some of these Pillars Helles brewed East London. I got sent some and they've got some different ones Pilsners and Helles so I'm going to try them although I don't have a bottle opener. Oh yeah I had so much stuff to remember. Straightened myself out here. I just unceremoniously opened it with the tripod or a part of the tripod. Tree. Yeah it needs both of these, this wide platform. That is nice. What is this strength-wise? 4.8. I don't really drink lagers but in that ballpark I will drink a Pilsner or a Helles which I always thought was Helles because of Camden Helles but yes it's pronounced Helles apparently. I'm assuming it's German. All right it shouldn't be too long before the lock and then I'll be able to gauge where I want to camp from halfway between where I put in where the lock is probably so I have to make my way back down and find a nice wide part of this river. Okay so here you can see we're approaching the lock. All right so this is me right now. What I might do is get the bimini up and sort out the bed area really although I do need the ballast on that side but we're all looking good. Beautiful lock this. Very neat and tidy and I'll be heading back up the river that way. I'm not gonna lie I was a bit stressed about this one. Things seemed a good idea at the time and everything's fine if I'm buying and testing stuff at home but this was a one-shot deal really. I had to get it down because I needed Magda's help to get it in and everything and I'm quite glad it's gone well so far. It feels pretty stable as well so I'm quite happy from that point of view. Hopefully you can see that. That's my bimini on and cinched down so now just for me to get on and get upstream. For the record I am enjoying this now. The stress has kind of passed. It floats. I'm pretty sure I can spend the night on it. My only real concern is this is a quiet stretch of the river with the locks and everything. There's them two boats that went upstream whether they're going to come back down better. It's not the end of the world if they do but um some people looking at me very strangely. I'm gonna get going. Here we go. It's coming up to seven in the evening now which still gives me plenty of time. It doesn't start getting dark till like nine something like that at the moment so loads of time. I'm wondering if you can hear the motors because they're pretty quiet but they've got that kind of electric hum I guess but uh yeah they're a lot quieter than my outboard. Let's just say that. All right so now I'm in mode of finding a spot. I'm quite looking forward to using the anchor and seeing how that goes. Now it's got no chain on it. It's just you know a hook anchor type thing with a load of rope on it so we'll see how that does. If it digs into anything I'm guessing it's just mud down there Clay. We shall see. I'm just going to nestle myself away over here. Try and not get stuck. Yeah perfect. So I'm out the main bit of the river here really just one side where the trees are so it's going to keep me out of the way if anyone comes. I'm just going to sit and have my beer, relax for a minute, gather my thoughts and see how this is going to go. It's so peaceful. Now this bimini I bought it I didn't know when I'd be doing this video so I didn't know what the weather would be like so it can act like a sunshade or obviously for the rain as well. It did rain earlier today quite hard so there could be a shower. I don't know but it's better safe than sorry. Right I think I need to drop anchor really because I need to cook dinner and stuff. Plenty to do still so this is the anchor I picked up just off of eBay, not eBay, Amazon. It's got the float on there. I have done the proper hitch for an anchor and as you can see it all kind of locks in like so. I'm attaching it to the d-ring that the chair's attached to. Oh didn't do that very smoothly did I? This sure is interesting. It didn't feel like it was really grabbing onto anything down there so we'll see if I actually move or not. I can see some reeds over there and about 10 foot from the shoreline there so we'll see what happens. Under the bed here I've got my EcoFlow River Free. If I get that powered on I can plug in my induction hob. I've got this cool box because it's the exact right size and height. I've got my induction hob on there. I've got the steel pan. It's kind of the same setup as I used in Morocco and I've got my ingredients which are all divided up into the exact right amounts I need because of the nature of this camp. So let's get cooking. First up I've got some peppers and some onions. Oh and by the way I am making cashew chicken in a oyster sauce. So I'll get that chicken in there. Come on. I didn't want anything to be too shallow frying and you know sending hot oil everywhere so this seemed okay in a pot. Now I've got a pilsner. Piller's Pilsner. So that is... how strong is it? Oh four percent. Gluten-free. Let's try it. I like it. I like it. Yeah it's got to be a pilsner or a helles for me if I'm having lager. It's got to have some flavor. That'll do nicely. I'll go in with some cashews now. I don't want to overdo it. That should probably do. And I have some noodles. I was going to do rice separately but I figured this would be the easier way. That's quite a lot of food. Right and our oyster sauce. Oh can I open it without a knife? Tell me I can. Just about managed to open it. Right so I'll stick that in and get that all mixed together. Really it's so much simpler when you've got everything measured out before you leave the house. This is going to be good. Smells lovely and what a view. Just remembered I picked up some soy sauce while I was in the supermarket from the sushi desk or whatever you want to call it. Sushi bar. So I'm going to put a bit of that in. Not too much. Well it certainly looks cooked so let's try it. Really nice. Let's have some noodles. Beautiful. So I have been here about half hour and I think I've not moved. Let me see. No I'm still in the same spot which is good. So this anchor is working. I'm obviously drifting around but I'm not actually moving from this area. These beers incidentally have just launched in Sainsbury's so you know where to pick them up. Support these breweries. And my cap as well as the mug you'll see later. New merch in my store that are available now as well. And by the time this goes out you may have seen an ad for it but we've got the new sauce and spice which are a smoky wing spice. Obviously you can use it on anything but it's brilliant on wings. We've been eating nothing but. And we've got a nice chipotle hot sauce with agave. It's beautiful. So dinner was delicious and the bugs are coming out as that sun's starting to go down so I've got some jungle formula with me. I was going to put the flex towel bug repellent thing up but I couldn't find it. Oh god it's repelling me. I also looked for my head bug net to get in the sleeping bag and put that over my head but I couldn't find that either. Oh god I'm dying. I do have a lantern with me and I'm gonna have to finagle it a bit. Might not be the most stealthiest of things but uh really cares that I'm spending the night on the river. There are of course proper moorings but I'm on two paddle boards. Seems silly. But uh yeah gotta light up because it's starting to dim even though the sun's not down yet. Um yeah I'm just gonna chill out and have another beer. I think as a surfers for cooking on this worked out pretty well because I think you're pretty much going to be level on the river aren't you? I mean as long as I'm centered. Right I need my knife or something to open this again. Oh there we go and cheers to all you too. Everything here stinks of that jungle spray. It's horrible but uh as far as I'm aware I've not been bitten yet. I'm sure I will have a few bites by the morning. We will see. I'm not exactly enclosed here am I? I did have a few different ideas for what I was going to do on this. I was going to make something out of pvc tubing and kind of use a tarp or something um and that was a bit inspired by a double uh paddleboard setup I saw someone sells with a cooler on it but that was just two seats and I needed a bed so I'd start from scratch and probably spent more than that thing even though it was really expensive. Definitely starting to chill down now. Just had someone go past in a kayak said hello. He didn't ask any questions would you? Now get this jumper on while the sun goes down. Now we have to kind of sort this space out a little bit so I can easily pull that bed a bit more to center and kind of yeah balance everything. There was a few bugs. I gave another spray about the jungle spray and they seem to have disappeared. Hopefully that keeps up even with the light on. So I've uh inflated my bed now. I've got my um sleeping bag now next to me here. I'm not going to go to bed just yet but chill out for a little while longer especially until it's dark at least. Proper dark. It's getting into twilight now. Right so I've had a bit of a shuffle. I've got the bed a bit more towards the center and put all the weight over the other side there so I should be okay. There was quite a lot of bugs inside the bimini. Still is actually. I just gave it a bit of a dousing in the spray but um yeah I'm just gonna have to tuck my head under a bit. I don't think they're mosquitoes or gnats. I don't think they're bitey ones. I think they're just little flies. Anyway it's quite late and uh I seem to be okay where I am. The anchor seems to be working so I'm gonna try and get some sleep. So I'll see you guys in Good morning. It's uh pretty early. It's not even five yet but the sun is coming up so I've got up just in case there's any uh early risers trying to get down the river here. I just listen to them birds. Millions of them. Love to hear it. Right I'm just gonna get this bed put away or you know put the back the way it was and um chill for a minute and then do breakfast probably. Oh that's hot. Oh god I'm pretty tired. I think I sort of napped on and off really but um it was peaceful I can say that. I just knew I wasn't going to sleep well because a floating off was going to be on my mind and b sinking was going to be on my mind because I wasn't wearing my flotation to bed. That wouldn't have worked at all but um yeah plus I had to get up early anyway just in case any boats were going to come past or anything. Oh plus the hay fever's acting up I think. Um yeah I was laying there last night and my head was kind of half out of the bimini. It doesn't really cover the whole bed. I started to hear on the roof. I was like oh no don't start raining now. Luckily it didn't really. It just spat for a bit and then the same thing happened this morning. I was quite happy with this bimini. I um I think it's the same make as the platform I've bought actually but um it's got like this slot loading sort of thing that comes with a foot and I've managed to glue on these d-rings in exact right positions and um just thread through a bolt with some washers on and that seems to work perfectly for holding it up that and the straps to the other d-rings. I guess I can kind of see how it makes people kind of seasick being on the water because this has been going back and forth back and forth around in circles all night long. I quite like it. I think it's relaxing. Well I'm going to be making an omelette for breakfast. Um I've got some pre-cut bits and bobs, got some mushrooms, got some cheese, some bacon um and where is it? I've got some egg that I've pre-scrambled and um I think we're ready to go with it. I think I'm going to take down the bimini, get some light in here. Some of it went in the water. Get these mushrooms in first and I think that's actually a bit hot. Some pre-fried bacon here as well. Stuff you get from like the deli counter just so I didn't have too much fat spitting everywhere. Give that a sec. Time to go in with the egg that's uh pre-seasoned. Couldn't be bothered to bring two pans so I thought I'd do both in the same pot. Right and I'll just get my cheese ready as well. God it's only about five in the morning. I'll get that cheese in there and then I'm going to put the lid on just let that finish off hopefully. Starting to see a bit of a sunrise. Right that should have kind of set up a bit. We shall see. If you're using that pot it's really not that bad. Turned it out a bit poorly. Nice looking omelette to be honest. That'll do very nicely. I think it's probably only a matter of time before someone walks past with a dog or something. Must be quite the sight. So I guess before I set off I should put on my flotation aid. My one concern thinking about it now is the fact that I have had the controller, the fin, the propeller plugged into the battery all night. So does that drain it? Hopefully not. I guess we'll find out. It's not something I've tested. So pretty tidy here so I need to get the remotes out and give it a go. All right let's just get both of these powered on. Well battery indicators seem okay at least. I need to do my anchor. Well this will sure be interesting. Has kept me pretty well. Not bad. All right time to set sail. Guess I'm going to have to back up here first. I've got some extra time before my lift comes to pick me up in that direction. So I think I'm just going to go down here and have some fun first. I love it. It's so much fun. This is not going to be the last video with these. I'm going to do the range test. Hopefully in a very decent inflatable kayak by Sandbanks and I'm sure we can figure some other stuff as well. I honestly thought this would be really hard to control with two motors like this but it acts exactly as you'd expect. It's brilliant. I love it. That's me all done for this one. Just waiting for my ride now. Thank you guys for watching. If you've got any ideas for what I can do with these motors or this setup let me know and I'll give it a go. Thanks for watching. See you soon. Bye.