Sunday, April 30, 2006

planer boards

I like fishing in the big lake. Early spring planer boards are the way to fish. I found a couple designs on the web for planer boards. They are all basically the same, this is no different, I just made the prints clearer and better material utilization. I am working on a folding design. I suspect that the miter is not required but have not been able to test that yet.

I can tell you these pull heroically in Lake Michigan when we are fishing for salmon.

materials

Most of this stuff is available locally, but I think you'll save time and money ordering from McMaster.

cut some wood


I found cedar to be inexpensive, durable and very light. I have yet to find a home improvement place that doesn't carry it. Pine will work fine also, it just won't float as high.

Don't get too hung up on making the angles perfect. I made a custom jig to use with my table saw because I wanted them to look nice. A bandsaw, reciprocating or even hand saw would work fine. If you are brave, cut the angle and the bevel at one time. Clean up all with sand paper. A handheld belt sander works nice.


make some holes

Drill the holes with a drill press if you can, it will keep the boards lined up better. I used the aerosol KILZ to prime min. Rustoleum makes a dayglo orange designed for marking surveying stakes. I got both a Lowe's.

assembly

Once the paint is dry, use the hardware to assemble. Make sure you knock any sharp edges off the threaded rod so you don't get hurt or wreck your interior. I used some thread locker on the nuts, silicone works well too.

last step

Flag it if you wish. To make the boards collapsible, use the optional wing nuts on the outside so you can easily disassemble. Now go FISHING.