YouTuber Builds a Working River Boat out of Scrap Oil Drums—and Actually Takes It on the WaterMotorBiscuitRahaan MazumderWed, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleHere at MotorBiscuit, we see our fair share of insane DIY automotive projects. But every so often, an internet fabricator decides that land vehicles are entirely too boring and turns their welder toward the open water.Enter Kenny from the YouTube channel Paton Machines, who recently set out to achieve the ultimate backyard challenge: building a fully functional mini jet boat entirely out of scrap Castrol oil drums.Over the course of a multi-part series, Kenny has documented the hilariously chaotic process of beating steel barrels into a hull, sealing the seams with copious amounts of marine adhesive, and eventually hitting a freezing New Zealand river for a highly questionable maiden voyage.The Build: 120 Rivets and a DreamThe design idea behind the oil drum boat is remarkably simple, relying on raw fabrication and an incredible amount of trial and error.AdvertisementAdvertisement"I challenged myself to build a jet boat out of oil drums, so I started with a little paper model that I made up and then scaled it up to oil drums," Kenny explained during the final assembly phase.The boat's aesthetic mimics a classic, aggressive river jet boat, complete with an angular front bow and a custom-cut windshield frame. But because the entire hull is constructed from flat-beaten steel drums, ensuring it was watertight proved to be a massive headache.Kenny ultimately opted for top-shelf marine adhesive combined with roughly 120 hand-pulled rivets to hold the overlapping steel sheets together. "I mean I could have done cheap adhesive, but we're going to marine adhesive," he reasoned. "I could have just gone the cheap route and kept mucking around… but that's kind of then also being ignorant of the limitations".To cap off the "showroom" look, he utilized thin acrylic from old fluorescent office light fixtures to create the front windows.AdvertisementAdvertisementNow, while the hull fabrication was surprisingly thorough, the mechanical controls were an absolute lesson in pure, unadulterated jank.Because the mini boat relies on a 2.5-horsepower, air-cooled Japanese outboard motor mounted to the rear, Kenny had to figure out how to pilot it from the front seat. His solution? A John Deere riding mower steering wheel connected directly to the outboard motor using a web of heavy-duty fishing line routed through rubber hoses."I've got two [fishing lines] there for redundancy," Kenny laughed after tying the spool to the motor.The Freezing Maiden VoyageAny maiden voyage of a DIY boat is inherently terrifying, but Kenny upped the stakes by testing the craft in the dead of the New Zealand winter, complete with snow visible on the surrounding hills.AdvertisementAdvertisementAfter initially struggling to find water deep enough for the outboard motor to clear the riverbed, he eventually found a calm dammed area for the test. Armed with a stick to push off the bank, he fired up the tiny two-stroke motor and officially hit the water.Unsurprisingly, a boat made from round steel barrels is not the most planted vessel in the world. As soon as the motor kicked in, the craft became incredibly twitchy. "I wouldn't say it's the most stable of boats, but not terrible," Kenny noted while trying to balance his weight in the hull. "I reckon the round sides on it probably doesn't help."As the speed increased, the fishing line steering system predictably stretched under the tension, making it incredibly difficult to navigate in a straight line. "It gets a bit squirrelly," he yelled over the sound of the outboard.Eventually, the steering completely loosened up, forcing him to manually reach back and grab the motor to pilot the boat back to the muddy shore. To top it off, the pull-start cord snapped right as the test concluded.AdvertisementAdvertisementDespite the mechanical failures and the freezing water seeping into the hull, the project successfully proved that with enough determination, an angle grinder, and a tube of marine sealant, you can absolutely turn old oil drums into a working river cruiser.