Hello There!
Today we’re going to put together this RaftMaster frame.
This frame is an 8x24 so it’s a fair size and it holds a lot of rafts.
And it took about an hour to put together just the frame.
The liner took about another hour to get in, and of course, all the ground work was another
couple of hours.
So in half a day you can get this entire thing assembled and up and running.
Before starting your RaftMaster construction, you will need to prepare a site and make sure
that it’s perfectly level.
The floor will be in direct contact with the liner so you need a protect it from sharp
objects.
Using sand as a base material is an excellent option.
I happen to have some pea gravel that we’ll be using but later on you will see I’ll
protect the liner with some foam insulation.
I can’t stress how important it is to make sure the entire length of the RaftMaster is
level!
Inside your box, you’ll get a detailed list which has the part number, description, and
quantity of everything that’s inside the box.
You’ll get a detailed assembly manual that also shows pictures of all the different parts
with their part number next to it, and, of course, a detailed description of how to put
all of this together.
And then bundled together, is each set of parts labeled with its corresponding number
so it’s easy to match everything with the assembly manual.
There are only a few unique parts with the RaftMaster so I usually like the spread the
pieces around and put them in the approximate locations.
If you’re not familiar with each part, it’s probably best to leave them bundled together
until needed.
To reduce the chance of puncturing a liner, each section of the RaftMaster has rounded
corners and is also sanded to remove any sharp areas.
To connect everything together, just slip the screw through each section and fasten
it with a nut.
All the nuts can be tightened with a 7/16” wrench or nut driver.
The nuts should always be pointing away from the liner.
The end sections are assembled first.
It may look complicated, but it only has a few different parts and the assembly manual
will step through the process.
This is the 8’ wide version which has the appearance of being complicated.
The 4’ wide is not only more popular, but also has fewer parts to assemble.
Each end section is identical and once they are done, make sure all the nuts are tightened
and put each section in its approximate location.
The last part of the RaftMaster assembly is the center ribs and edge rails.
Just assemble each rib section, and continue to connect them to the side rails down the
entire length of the bed.
Once everything is assembled, it’s a good idea to go around and make sure each nut is
properly tightened, then “eye-ball” down the sides to make sure the frame is nice and
straight, and lastly, make sure it’s square by measuring diagonally across each side.
The distance from one corner to the next should be equal as the distance from the other corners.
So that’s about it for the first part.
Today we’re just showing the frame assembly.
That’s what comes with the RaftMaster kit.
The rest of it, the liner and the plumbing, I’ll do that in a separate video.
Most of these parts don’t come with the RaftMaster because there are so many ways
to customize these things, we felt it would be better to give everybody the frames and
let them choose the style of the liner and various plumbing parts.
Thanks for watching!