Just wondering if anyone out there has made thier own float, i already have a pelaj bullet float, but i just want something cheap and easy to take off the rocks and also for a mate to use if he comes out with me. Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers Daniel Barrah

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If fish dont want to be speared, then they shouldn't have made themselves so delicious!

I just use a boat fender, (actually found a cheap one at K-Mart) a bit of polly pipe for the flag and a couple of steel rods for weight to keep her upright...

Bit of rope netting made to hook my clips then catch bag etc off of . . .

Pic is of before i finished it off but u get the idea...

Haven't seen this before, great idea mate.

Thankyou Hey random you up for a dive Saturday?

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Due to rising costs and dumb questions;
Answers will now be $1.00
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LOL

Yeah Tvolke sent me in the right direction on making the float ... Cheers.

Working this weekend but we will have to head out soon.

thanks random and tvolke, that looks sweet. how much did it end up costing you for materials?

cheers Daniel Barrah

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If fish dont want to be speared, then they shouldn't have made themselves so delicious!

Ah dunno not much, i think a fender is about $20 but someone may be able to clarify that for me. I think the flag was about $10 or $15 (could prolly make 1 if your keen) bit of polly from plumbing place $2 (took fender in to get right size to fit through hole in fender), a few zippy ties i had laying around and a couple of $2.50 clips . . . I just use telecom style rope to pull it and have rescently made my own line winder ...

thanks mate sounds like a pretty cost effective way to make a good looking float. Hopefully my own will turn out ok.
Cheers Daniel

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If fish dont want to be speared, then they shouldn't have made themselves so delicious!

any float i've owned i've made myself. i mad a new one noy long ago with foat that i layered up stuck together then shaped it, added lead to the bottom for stability, colored it with spray paint,, mad a flag and then added clips and stuff it really good a made one for paddy too. id put a picture up if i new how to upload a photo lol

For the ultra cheap float i recommend cutting a pool noodle in three and tying them firmly together in a pyramid shape with rope or something (ive used thick elastic) and attach a clip while ur at it so you can easily take it on and off your float line. Other than a pool noodle generally costing less than $10 each you can get fluro colours for visibility and pool noodles are also designed to be able to support the weight of an adult in water if you ever happen to get into trouble.

peace out xo

I recommend that if your going to make your own float that you have a "Flag" on it. I realise that not every boat owner knows their flags etc but at least he wont just think that its a bottle or something floating in the water. . .

Here's a float i made with the help of chameleon. Mostly the same as his design except I just got a foam float that allowed me to wind my rope around. Thats led flashing to weight the bottom and i have been trying to use that cleat thingy from a yacht to try and allow me to adjust the amount of float line i have out. But i havn't got it to work for me yet. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated. The led flashing was the only expensive thing to buy as i had to buy a sheet of it. It fits 13.5 meters on it and is good for when you've got along walk back to the car, no tangles!

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Do you know what really makes me smile? Facial muscles.

Hey mate good work with that...

Should have given me a yell for the lead, I could have probably molded up something for you really cheap . . .

Curses - wish I'd seen this thread a couple of months ago before I blew $60 on an Picasso float (although, I shouldn't really complain too much - it's been good so far & got me in the water with a minimum of fuss or delay).

Like the simplicity of blinky's one (although I'm afraid I don't think that yacht cleat is designed to do the kind of job you're after; i.e. hold the rope in place despite pulling from any and all directions -> yacht cleats are designed to hold a rope in place, in spite of a pull along it against the cleats, but very easily release the rope in response to a pull at a right angle and up, out of the cleats).

For me though, the pool-noodle suggestion takes the cake in terms of cheap, easy & effective - what makes it worse is I've seen these in Clark's a while ago, but when wracking my brain for how to DIY a float, it just never occurred to me.

Ah well, c'est la vie.

hi roamin, thats exactly the problem i was trying to sort out. I had tried a flat piece of metal on top of each side to stop the rope pulling out but i can't find a method to open and close it without any hassles. It simply needs to work like a latch but can't figure it out yet...... had a thought of using a wingnut to unscrew one side to let it open but seemed dodgy idea when put in practice in the water..
then there's also the problem of how to stop the rope around the spool from unfurling once it has been locked in the cleat. my idea to counter that problem is to put some kind of pin directly in line with the cleat on th lower edge of the spool. so the roap would come off the spool around the pin and straight down nice and tight to the cleat to keep the tention on it from unwinding off the spool..
Trust me it all makes sense upstairs but all seemed too much fking aroung when u can buy a line winder pretty cheap.

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Do you know what really makes me smile? Facial muscles.