If you add more sand the barge will be weighed down taking away height from the barge. If you take away sand, the barge will float higher and have an even better chance of not being able to fit under the bridge.
It only needs to be designed to withstand the weight of the water. Why? A ship always displaces an amount of water that weighs the same as the ship, regardless of how heavily a ship may be loaded.
Barge
Barge
BARge
Barge
Your basic barge is 35 x 195. A basic tow (collection of barges) on the Tennessee river is 5 barges long by 3 barge wide, due to lock sizes.
NO
By river barge.
A funeral barge is a boat that ancient Egyptians used to send dead bodies down the river.
Enlarging, surcharging, river barging...
A river vessel is defined as almost any boat/ship/barge that is able to navigate a river.
hudson river