Send me a ticket and I will be right there! sounds like a fun project.

seriously

You are trying to construct and outrigger canoe type thing? and you are paddling it i assume. For speed you would want a fine entry and exit and less wetted surface area. If you could cut the poly drums in half or climb inside through a hole into the top assuming that the drums are big enough and some how bolt them together end to end you could probably make a pretty decent tube shaped hull. It would be tippy so the outriggers would be manditory. You would have to find something to form a bow and a stern to cut the water easily. I think finding enough floatation will be easy but making the ship fast will be tougher.
There is a post below on kayak outriggers below that might help in your construction of a fast outrigger.

Hope this helps

Tom

: Hi,

: We are not regulars on your list, but would really appreciate some help with
: a problem. We do realise that you a serious group and please excuse/ignore
: this post if it is inappropriate. We are building a home made quick and
: cheap outrigger for a raft race at work (a Fisheries Research Institute in
: Tasmania, Australia). None of us has any kyaking/canoeing experience and
: we have been challanged by the boys (we are a girls team!). It has to be
: stable and have enough floatation for 4 people and be as fast as possible.
: Materials we have available include polydrums, plastic pipes,fishing
: floats, large plastic containers etc (just about anything we can
: scavenge). The only rule is that it cannot be composed of any water going
: vessel (ie: surfboard, existing kyak etc). We realise a shaped front and
: back is necessary to reduce drag, but are not sure about
: length/size/distance from the main part for the outrigger bits. Does
: anyone have any ideas/suggestions/handy hints (dimension/floatation needs
: etc)? We have searched the web but not really found much on this. Please
: help us kick the boys' buts!

: (race date is 15 Dec 2000)

: Thanks.