Frank81 Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 I've been wanting to do this for a while.... I am not the most experienced person in a canoe and rarely ever fish out my canoe, but with Bass season just about here, I would like to get off the shore so me and my fishing pals can target bass and other species in new spots on the water rather than the same ol'e shore spots. Since I was off work today I decided to construct a canoe stabilizer to help aid us in stability, obviously lol Here are the parts I bought, all 1" PVC ...Note the niagarafishing.net sticker I have had on there for years, it's been on there since Rick owned this site and I bought it at the now gone Gil Finnigans tackle shop in Niagara Falls. While standing in Rona this past Tuesday for almost an hour piecing together PVC parts to come up with an idea I only bought a couple pieces because I was not sure how long I was going to make the vertical connections from the boat to the water,so I came home and did some searching on the web and found a guy who used 1" PVC Compression Tees, now finding those fittings around here was a pain in the butt. I called and visited Rona, 2 Home Hardwares, Home Depot, Niagara Plumbing Supply, Noble Trade and 2 Bardons, no one had them, frustrated now searching for these, my last phone call was to Lowes in Niagara Falls, talked to the girl in the plumbing department, told her what I needed, she called me back and said she had 2 LEFT!! I asked her to save them for me and she did, now I am super happy! lol Here are the ever elusive PVC Compression Tees.... The reason for these Compression Tees is they make the stability floats vertically adjustable, so I have some room for error if need be and they also help in making my stabilizer more portable, it breaks down into 3 pieces. I am not sure as to how far out I need the floats, so I cut the 10" FT PVC to about 7ft, since my canoe is exactly 3 feet wide at the yoke, I have 2 feet of over hang on both the port and starboard side, when I go to test it out, if I find that it is too long then I am able to cut more off the ends to compensate. Once I got everything mocked together, I realized that I need a couple more feet of 1" PVC, as I do not have enough left to attach any floats too, tried buying some more but I cannot seem to find anyone that will just sell me a few feet, everyone keeps saying that I need to buy a whole 10ft piece again, don't want to waste the money on another whole piece, does anyone know of a place that will just sell me a piece? Anywho, after everything seemed to look right, I used some blow foam to fill the hollow PVC pipes and glued some of pieces together so they are sealed, then I added a piece of pipe foam covering to the piece that goes horizontally across the canoe and added some bright reflective tape and ended up with this. I still need 2 U Bolt BEAM CLAMPS, no one around here seems to sell those either, not even Lowes lol and I need a little bit more 1" PVC and some crab floats or something close, orrrrr figure out a way to connect some 2L plastic pop bottles. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and if anyone knows where I can get these clamps around here is also greatly appreciated. http://www.menards.com/main/electrical/rough-electrical/strut-supports/steel-beam-clamp-with-u-bolt-1-piece/p-1628649-c-12477.htm So far I have $42.00 invested and about 2 hours of construction, sure beats buying the ones they sell for $250.00 or more.... If mine works lol -Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefMick Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Awesome job man I love DIY posts, I say go for the pop bottles, secure them with ratchet ties....it's not like you're white water rafting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordanl Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 well done! i gotta ask though, is 1 inch pvc going to be strong enough as a stabilizer? and as for floats, anything from pool noodles to pop bottles, even the big blue water jugs for water dispensers, looking forward to the end result Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 I would have a look at the larger noodles , about 3" diam. with a 1" (approx) hole through them for the floats . If you are fastening the main bar to the yoke , cheap "C" clamps will fit around the pipe at the top & use a small piece of flat rubber for the threaded side of the clamp to tighten against the yoke underneath to avoid marking it up . Nice idea , hope it works good . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Looks great....some Styrofoam blocks would work. Plastic bottles would be good, but the pop bottles are too small I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefMick Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Dave if he's got two 2ltr. Bottles on each end if the 2"t"'s that should be enough buoyancy no? Just weld 'em shut with PL premium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Im sure if he used 2 on each side that would work. Will you bend the pvc though? Probably would have went with 2" pvc myself as the cross piece. Do let us know how it works out. Great idea for sure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadadude Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Perhaps Muffler clamps would work in your application, try out a Automotive parts distributor or go see a Muffler shop, by the way looks like cool rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickyy33 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Could have helped you out with materials if you went with 2" PVC.... didn't see any bumpers floating around last night, but will still keep an eye peeled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Could have helped you out with materials if you went with 2" PVC.... didn't see any bumpers floating around last night, but will still keep an eye peeled. Yeh, good idea.....boat fenders would work perfect. The cheap plastic ones would do well....light and fairly inexpensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogliq2 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Try to put some hardwood doweling inside the PVC, then drill thru the bottle caps and into the dowels, and attach them with stainless screws and washers .... then you can silicone the bottles to the caps .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank81 Posted June 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 You guys are awesome! Thanks for all the tips, all of the ideas you guys mentioned are all possibilities, I am sure I will end up trying them all out to see what is the best setup. I called Midas today and they gave me two different sets of Muffler Claps for free after I told them what I needed them for, with the promise to return the two unused ones that don't fit, and my buddy Slava donated a 10ft piece of PVC, which is great, considering he will be using it with me all the time, now if I can just get my buddy Steve to pitch in with some floats i'll be done haha. I hope the 1" PVC horizontal cross member of the stabilizer will be strong enough, I have yet to glue the vertical portion for the floats to the horizontal cross member because I would like to take it out to the rec canal to try it out first, think that's a good idea before we load'er with gear and try fishing out of it. I hope to get it done over the weekend, I will post an update with pictures if it gets done. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 Like perchfry mentioned you could do the same with that one inch cross piece by inserting a broom handle or dowel to stiffen it up a bit. I suspect it to bend way too much under weight of the boat and passengers. 2" would have been a lot better i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 A bunch of wacky ideas here lol https://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENCA299&q=canoe+stabilizer+homemade&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=EFbGUdCmNZKn4APD5IGYBg&biw=1104&bih=535&sei=y1bGUfyFIffl4AOD8IHIDQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron4blues Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 Foam swim noodles. Buy them cheap at dollar stores, tie 3 or 4 together with zip ties and cut them to length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob29 Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 I was looking into a similar project for a kayak but was thinking of also adding strips of closed cell foam to add to the stabilization and would make the kayak practically unsinkable if the right foam was used. For the floats I considered the plastic bumpers or floats used on docks. Highly durable and should give quite a bit of displacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 I was looking into a similar project for a kayak but was thinking of also adding strips of closed cell foam to add to the stabilization and would make the kayak practically unsinkable if the right foam was used. For the floats I considered the plastic bumpers or floats used on docks. Highly durable and should give quite a bit of displacement. Have you priced those plastic bumpers , large ones are $40 !! The dollar tree at 4th Ave had a bunch of the foam noodle sticks outside in a barrel ....real cheap and they are very buoyant . They can be easily shaped with a hack saw and coarse sand paper . The guy next door uses them for his boat trailer bumper guides & they work great . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron4blues Posted June 23, 2013 Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 Saw some small foam swimming pool flutter-boards at the dollar store. Shaped like a surfboard but about 12" x 18" and a couple of inches thick. As soon as I saw them I thought of this thread. Angled up slightly so they plane and they'd be ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank81 Posted June 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2013 Finally an update! Was at wal mart the other day and noctied they sold some pretty big pool noodles, even though I really didn't want to use them and was considering the pop bottles or looking for those flutter boards that coachman mentioned, the pool noodles just looked to good to pass up, so bought two of them then went to Rona to buy some PVC caps to cap off the PVC pipe where the noodles will attach. So next day, I cut some more PVC that my buddy bought for the project, cut 4 pieces into 16 inch lengths, shot blow foam into the pipe then sealed the caps on, not I got about 40 inches on each side of the canoe to add my floats, let the glue and blow foam sit for the night and then yesterday after work me and my two buddys I fish with most of the time went to put the noodles on and of course the holes that are in the noodles are smaller than one inch and wont slide on, but that's okay, a knife and nylon ziptys is all we need. I also ended up getting those UBolt Strut Beam Clamps ordered from Brofasco, seeing as they were the last ones I called and the ONLY people that new what the heck I was talking about haha. Loaded the canoe, and headed down the road to the rec canal to test it out, and of course we brought fishing poles and some lures., why not right? lol This was first launch with our new Canoe "Training Wheels" lmao! AND IT WORKS GREAT!!! I was able to stand in the canoe and cast some lures, my balance isn't that good in it so I won't be doing it all the time LOL The 1" PVC horizontal cross beam works fine, it does not bend much and the only reason it don't bend much is because my vertical floats are adjustable so there is not a lot of stress on it even when we tried to tip it, I also think the Ubolt beam clamps help with proper attachment to the canoe and helps the 1" from flexing too much, if it does manage to eventually not work out, I will for sure be getting some 2" PVC to replace it with, as it honestly just makes more sense but I had already bought and cut the 1" before I posted it here, live and learn through trial and error lol. Now onto fishing, between the three of us we landed 3 Large Mouth and 4 Smallies, plus we lost at least 4 fish, and we hooked about 4 trees lol, the bass we caught were not monsters but we had a great time catching some fish and testing out the outriggers. Thanks again to everyone who commented and gave ideas, I am sure as I take it out more, I will be revisiting this thread to read you're posts again for ideas if things start to fail. lol -Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChefMick Posted June 27, 2013 Report Share Posted June 27, 2013 Looks awesome, so glad to see it working for you. Next project? rockets thrusters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank81 Posted June 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2013 Lol nope, not rocket thrusters but a trolling motor is a possibility, plus I have to weld up some square tubing to make a T bar so I can mount my canoe on my truck and go giver a shot on some of the lakes in the Burk's Falls area. Wouldn't mind trying to get over to goat island on the upper Niagara, camping trip possibly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishfight Posted June 27, 2013 Report Share Posted June 27, 2013 Have you priced those plastic bumpers , large ones are $40 !! The dollar tree at 4th Ave had a bunch of the foam noodle sticks outside in a barrel ....real cheap and they are very buoyant . They can be easily shaped with a hack saw and coarse sand paper . The guy next door uses them for his boat trailer bumper guides & they work great . boat bumper $10 http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-boats-watercraft-parts-trailers-accessories-10-Boat-Bumpers-for-Sale-W0QQAdIdZ488031565 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank81 Posted June 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 boat bumper $10 http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-boats-watercraft-parts-trailers-accessories-10-Boat-Bumpers-for-Sale-W0QQAdIdZ488031565 Thanks you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveC Posted June 30, 2013 Report Share Posted June 30, 2013 Great report, thanks for giving everyone an update on your project...looks like its working out for ya, so alls good !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob29 Posted July 1, 2013 Report Share Posted July 1, 2013 I thought I posted up a few days ago but I dont see the post. I saw the boat bumpers at Canadian tire, 4 for 30$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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