by unclejoe » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:19 am
Lowrider,
What you're describing is known as displacement or flotation.
When an object of a certain volume weighs less than the equal volume of water, it floats. :)
Water weighs aproximately 8.33 pounds per gallon. Each barrel/drum displaces 55 gallons of volume.
Since you have a definite size, multiply 8.33 x 55 = 458 pounds displacement.
OR
If you build your own flotation (watertight box) mulitiply 62 pounds(aprox.weight of water)
per cubic foot of the object to get displacement/pounds of flotation.
And, just a suggestion, use PVC (blue plastic) barrels instead of steel drums.
They're cheap, readily available and don't rust!
unclejoe