Self made marker buoys

[MikeD]

wondering if anybody has a brilliant ideas for making your own marker buoys?

found info online to make them out of closed cell foam, and some cool but pricey existing products

post or PM any ideas that may have worked for you, looking to build about 15-20 buoys to support a "learning opportunity" I have coming up.

[BassinFever]

Absolutly, and they work great!

You know those flex foam tubes the kids use swimming, they come in several colors, I used the pink and green ones. 3/4" PVC will fit right into the holes. I cut the peices of tubing about 2" wide, slipped them over the PVC to where I had about a 3/8 " space and measured and cut off the PVC and glued them on with PVC cement. Now, to keep them from unrolling after they hit bottom, I Hot glued some old worm weights to the under side of the foam tubeing after making a shallow hole with a 3/8" drill bit turned by hand.. Only takes about a 1/4 Oz on each side directly across from each other. I used heavy sturgeon fishing line in a dacron for the line and a regular 1/2 Oz fishing weight for the drop weight. Now for the cool part, you know those soft sided six pac coolers at walmart? They are around $5.00. Six of them fit ito them great and you have a case for them. Spray or brush WD-40 on the zipper or they will corrode in the boat.

Have fun, your kids can help you make them.

[MikeD]

BassinFever, have a photo of those you can send over? I think I'm still confused over the pipe in the 2" section of foam noodle, and how the dacron keeps from unrolling

this part: "slipped them over the PVC to where I had abouta 3/8 " space and measured and cut off the PVC and glued them on with PVC cement."

where does the dacron wrap around -- the outside of the 2" noodle section? they sit in the water on the side, or sitting upright?

sounds like a great setup

[MikeD]

ahhh, think I've got it, looks like a dumbbell and the line goes in the gap between the 2 pieces

[ash]

Gator aid bottle with the line wrapped around it and a weight. This way it looks like there is just a piece of trash floating near you and doesnt get the scrutiny of unscrupulous people that would see marker bouys lined up. Some guys even will add water to them so that they are only semi bouyant and you can still see the orange cap

[MikeD]

Gator aid bottle with the line wrapped around it and a weight.

how do you keep the line from peeling off it after the weight is on the bottom?

[BassinFever]

Gator aid bottle with the line wrapped around it and a weight.

how do you keep the line from peeling off it after the weight is on the bottom?

"Now, to keep them from unrolling after they hit bottom, I Hot glued some old worm weights to the under side of the foam tubeing after making a shallow hole with a 3/8" drill bit turned by hand.. Only takes about a 1/4 Oz on each side directly across from each other".

[BassinFever]

ahhh, think I've got it, looks like a dumbbell and the line goes in the gap between the 2 pieces

Exactly, the weight slips nicely into the crack where the line is so they don`t unwrap in the case.

[MikeD]

ahhh, think I've got it, looks like a dumbbell and the line goes in the gap between the 2 pieces

Exactly, the weight slips nicely into the crack where the line is so they don`t unwrap in the case.

so each side of the dumbbell shape is 2" wide? 4 3/8" total width? have you tried a smaller width on each of the ends?

sounds like a win-nah

[BassinFever]

so each side of the dumbbell shape is 2" wide? 4 3/8" total width? have you tried a smaller width on each of the ends?

sounds like a win-nah

I just guessed at my width, you can make them any width you want, after all , you are holding the saw!

[MikeD]

I just guessed at my width, you can make them any width you want, after all , you are holding the saw!

didn't know how the width affected the "floatability" or the stability of the buoy when it's on the water with the sinker on the bottom, I'll play around with it abit and see how the smaller ones do. this is for up close fishing vs trying to come back to a spot later from a long distance away

great idea, thanks for the post and the info, appreciate it

[MikeD]

well, BassinFever was spot on. here's how they go together:

parts list from Walmart:
pool noodle $1.50
3 bags of 1/4oz bullet weights, 10/pk, ($1.18ea) $3.54
2 bags of 1oz sinkers, 8/pk, ($2.76ea) $5.52
48" of 3/4" PVC, $1.20 (orchard supply)

parts totaled out at $11.76

I ended up buying a glue gun ($4.47) and some mini glue sticks ($1.37) for $5.84, so I'm into this for $17.60 so far

I'm shooting photos for this as I go, here is a shot of the parts laid out:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... /parts.jpg">

hacksaw,marker pen, and measuring tape in the top left of the photo

close up:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... _close.jpg">

I'm going to be making 1.5" pieces of noodle, and cutting a piece of PVC 1.75" long

measure out the PVC:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... ke/pvc.jpg">

make 3 marks on the PVC, one at 3/4", ( I added one at 7/8" that I never ended up using, this mark is the middle and is the 4th mark that is not referenced from here on out) and one at 1" and one at 1 3/4". the 3/4" and 1" marks will be used to note the edge of where the noodle pieces will go. The sinker is about a 1/4" wide, the gap between the 2 noodle chunks will be 1/4" to help snug the sinker in there for storage. cut the PVC at the 1 3/4" mark.

cut 1.5" chunks of noodle off, black marks on the noodle at 1.5" and 3" locations:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... e_meas.jpg">

you end up with a 1 3/4" pvc chunk and two 1 1/2" chunks of noodle:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... noodle.jpg">

stuff the 1/4oz bullet weight into a side of each noodle:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... weight.jpg">

the weights help keep the line that I'll wrap on the PVC from unspooling

pretty straight fwd from here to the finish line, you should have something that looks like this:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... semble.jpg">

using the glue gun, glue the weights into the holes you created for them

glue one side of the noodle on to the PVC, slide the noodle chunk up to the line

I attached 30' of 15lb mono to the PVC and glued it on so that it wouldn't slip:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... ftline.jpg">

I've got the line tacked down near the T in TEED on the PVC. I've got the noodle chunk slid up to the mark, you can faintly see it on the bottom of the PVC.

::only tricky part::
put some glue on the other side of the PVC and slide the other noodle chunk on -- -- BUT be sure the the bullet weights line up so that all the weight is in line. In hindsight I should have drawn a line with the black sharpie on the noodle chunk to help show me where the bullet weight was, that glue dries fast and I whiffed the first time, tore it apart, added more glue and got it right the 2nd time

tied the weight on to the other end of the line and wrapped the line onto the pvc and tucked the weight into the gap between the noodle chunks - and this was the finished product:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... emble4.jpg">

post assemble thoughts:

- as noted above I'd make a line on the outside of the noodle to help line up the bullet weights

- I'll prob use a larger bottom weight, that noodle *really* floats, the buoy sits maybe 1/4" in the water.

- when the noodle goes to roll over and play out more line the 1oz weight is really lifted off the bottom and in a strong current might move. I played with it in the sink and splashing some water around caused the weight to move pretty easily on the real smooth sink surface -- but only about an 1" or so at a time. on a rocky/sandy/grassy bottom it might not be an issue

- i tried gluing 2 1oz bottom weights together and repeated the rollover test to play out more line, and those lifted a bit too. They also started to push/tear the noodle off of the PVC

- thinking that a ratio of about 6:1 between bullet weights and bottom weight would ensure that the bottom weight stays put. that would make the final weights: 3oz bottom weight to 1/2oz bullets

- I'd use Dacron/old braid vs mono, prob easier to see the Dacron/braid when you wind it up and less issues with line memory

- I'll prob play around with making the noodle chunks 1" and 3/4" at some point to see how it goes, plenty of flotation with it this small. that way I can stuff a bunch of these away in a smaller space.

the sink test:

<img src="http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... /test3.jpg">

you can see the weight standing up since the bullet weights are starting to roll towards the top

I figure I have enough material to make 16 of these things, so final cost is about a buck each plus effort

hope this helps somebody else, and thanks again to BassinFever for the inspiration.

link to all the photos -> http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x251 ... filter=all

[Phil]

Curious, as to why you would go thru all that expense when you can buy them for $ 5.00 a pair factory made, unless you are doing it just to kill time instead of fishing ??

[MikeD]

Curious, as to why you would go thru all that expense when you can buy them for $ 5.00 a pair factory made, unless you are doing it just to kill time instead of fishing ??

cause at a buck or less each that leaves me $4 I can spend at your place for other goodies

[Phil]

WORKS FOR ME !

[L Dub]

I can't see the pics, is it just me?

[badbass25]

I can't see them

[DeltaDan]

..........Same here.

[MikeD]

I can't see the pics, is it just me?

stupid yahoo photo's, let me move them somewhere else

[DeltaDan]

Mike- both my work and home PC will not view....... I think Jigs is running around the internet w/o a condom on.


You can not go wrong with PhotoBucket -- It is free with ALOT of space and bandwith for both photos and video's

[Phil]

Mike;
if you can make them that cheap.......make me 10 of them, i will gladly pay you $ 2.50 each or $ 5.00 per pair for them, especially if they look that good !!

JIGS

[MikeD]

photo's relinked, moved them to photobucket and they actually render a bit bigger and they look clearer now. so some gain from the pain. thanks for the pointer Dan

think the "that works for me" from JIGS above was in response to me about my reasoning for making these myself vs spending $4/ for manufactured ones (so that I would have more money left over to spend at his store)

Phil - I hadn't considered making them for anybody, but I cut up a bunch of pvc and noodle yesterday so I'd be happy to shoot a few over to you and $2.50 seems like a fair price. You around at the store today? If so I'll swing them by so that you can have a look at them prior to buying to make sure they are what you want - if they don't work for whatever reason then I'll keep and use them.

[Phil]

I'LL BE HERE UNTIL 3 TODAY

[L Dub]

MikeD, you are a genius. Thanks for sharing!

[MikeD]

MikeD, you are a genius. Thanks for sharing!

credit goes to BassinFever, not me. I just wrote up his idea, but thanks for the props, hope this helps you out