How hard is it to build a raft in the wilderness?

Have you ever tried to build a raft? I remember being on an Operation Raleigh selection weekend and set this challenge as a member of a team. We had to tie together car tyres with ropes and timber slats, with no instruction. We failed miserably and all went for an unscheduled swim as we tried to cross the pond. The successful crossing was of course the main measure of success. It was one of my many failures during this assessment process. I’m just not an outdoorsy person although I aspire to be.

Like thousands of others, I’m a fan of the TV series alone where participants are dropped in the wilderness and left to fend for themselves with the barest of tools. The one who lasts the longest takes home the prize money. Several participants in the different Alone TV series attempted to make a raft. Some were successful. Others not. The challenge of building a raft gave them focus for a while. It can be boring being alone in the wilderness. And of course, if they were successful at making a raft, they improved their survival prospects.

In my novel Alone with a Tasman Tiger, our hero Seb, sets himself the goal of building a raft. It will allow him a different vantage point for fishing and allow him to explore other areas in his designated area in the wilderness. He has limited tools but access to already felled, huon logs. Long-distance rafts have been constructed using timber and rope for centuries. As a child I was entranced by the 1947 journey of the Kon-Tiki expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. The main body of the float was composed of nine balsa tree trunks lashed together with hemp ropes.  Heyerdahl proved not only these craft were seaworthy but also that they could travel very long distances.

Seb didn’t end up travelling that far, but did end up in a load of trouble. You can read what happened in Alone with a Tasman Tiger.