Homemade Planer Boards & Mast

[711skwerlz]

To make those a electric reels a little cheaper check out used window motors from a junk yard. Pretty sure their close to the same thing. Ford motors are good but the switches suck. Still reversible. My buddies home made mast rest in the front seat base also. We ran small ratchet straps to the front cleats for extra support. His is a 2x2 with an adapter ti fit the base.

[lake patrol]

I also made a homemade mast and I used large line spools obtained at local baitshop for the reels. put metal plates on ends mast was a metal pipe.

[bobmsr]

i made mine out of an old aluminum guard rail from a color printing press, i even used the mounting brackets from it to use as the mounting for the mast onmyboat , the reels i made out of pvc pipe and aluminumstock scraps from our fab shop whereI work, cost was only for the planer board line and the shock pulleys which were for clothes lines, real inexpensive, i even made a brake system out of the leather from my old steel toed boot, the boards i made myself waterproofedthem and covered them with polyurethane to seal them, everything sits in my cellar now collecting dust, i sold my boat no place to keep it, plusmy crazy work schedule over the years just can't spendthe time i want

[rolmops]

How high off the water should the planer mast be?

[kliph]

High enough so the line doesn't drag in the water.

I think mine were about 6 ft off the water.

The mast is about five feet tall on the casting platform

in the bow of the boat, maybe 6 ft total.

[scobar]

I've used homemade boards for over 25 years and stilll work great. What does help is to drill holes from the bottom up and add lead to make the board ride lower in the water. It keeps the jumping way down when the waves start growing. I think I have 4 holes about 3" deep in each board. Then I just slide pencil lead in with epoxy, still there today

[lakebound88]

just an idea, if anyones familiar with tractor trailers, on the rear of a tractor we have whats called a "pogo stick" that has a spring in the lower end. Could be used for a mast, without needing the springs at the top, and you wont get the clanging of the pulleys either..

[Gray Fox]

Cant beleive I hadn't seen this before, took one look and went right to the garage and made one. Luckily I had a peice of galvanized post, some eyebolts, and pulleys. Now I just need to build the reels and get out there chasin browns with the small boat. Thanks for the idea musky

[larry]

Hey Bob, could you post the "planner mast" - "stripper pole" plans that Ray has on his boat. Buffy days won't be the same.

[muskybob]

I got "plans" for that one on MY boat

[rolmops]

Here are a few pictures of my planer mast.I made it using 3/4 inch galvanized tubing from home depot and the reels are from some very old riviera down riggers.The overall cost was roughly $35.The reason why I made the base the way I did is because the tower will sit on the bow and the base will be attached to some metal there.I will have to screw it into the base every time I use it.

[LongLine]

Rolmpos - looks good. Think a union about 4" up from the base might make removal/install a little easier?

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[Gray Fox]

Wondering if anyone else has pics of their bases? I would like to mount in the front further than the seat mount. I made the mast from 1.5" galvanized pipe.

[rolmops]

Rolmpos - looks good. Think a union about 4" up from the base might make removal/install a little easier?

Tom B.

(LongLine)

It probably would,but it would also have the potential of damaging my cover canvas.

I am considering using the same base plate but, instead of a bushing, just screw in a 3 or 4 inch long 1 or 1 1/4 diameter pipe that sticks about 2 inches out above the base with a hole drilled through the pipe about 1/2 an inch below the top and also drilling a hole through the mast base so I can just drop the mast in the larger pipe and shove a pin through the holes thereby preventing it from turning and /or falling out.I would put a cap at the bottom of the larger diameter pipe.

I would of course have to thread at least 3 inches of pipe to make that one work.

It is a process in motion and it will probably see some more changes.

[rolmops]

It turned out to be quite simple.

By using a 4 inch long 1 1/4 inch nipple,a 4 inch long 1 inch nipple,a 1 1/4 inch flange and a 1 inch to 3/4 inch reducer coupling.

It is really nice that the reducer coupling sits right on top of the 1 1/4 nipple.That makes things a lot easier.

The pictures speak for themselves.

[Waltzin Sue]

You did a great job. It looks like the one I made this winter. I havn't tried mine out yet. I have a question. How do you keep the spools tight or stopped so that you don't have more line going out that you don't want?

I slide a bolt from the inside of one spool to the other. The bolt hits the mast & stops the spools from turning.

I made my homemade reels out of wood. I took a 2x6 and cut it in a 5.5" circle then cut 2 - 12" circles out of plywood. I sandwiched the 2x6 between the 2 pieces of plywood to make a reel. I drilled a hole through the center. I screwed a piece of dowell to the outer edge of the plywood for a crank handle. I made 2 of these. I put threaded rod through my home made mast and put a nut & lock washer each side of the mast. Then put on a flat washer then the reel, another flat washer and a wingnut. When I wound the cord on the spool I did it in a direction that as it unwinds, it tightens the wingnut. This works well. If it tries to pull more line out, it self tightens the wingnut.

[stoutner]

Man,

You know your a plumber when you use teflon tape on everything

[Patriot]

Nice plans Bob. But you should give credit where credit is due. You copied those plans from my website, Triflash. How do I know that? There a mistake in one of the measurements.

I'll forgive you this one time though

[muskybob]

Nice plans Bob. But you should give credit where credit is due. You copied those plans from my website, Triflash. How do I know that? There a mistake in one of the measurements.

I'll forgive you this one time though

BWAAAHAHAHA, I copied those about 5-6 yrs. ago & couldn't remember where I got them. I copied them from google images. I thank you and everyone else thanks you too. Nice job What's your site so we can steal more of your secret stuff? Triflash doesn't work.

PS: I'm a Patriot too.

[Patriot]

here's something you might be able to use

http://myplace.frontier.com/~sderose/fishinglog.doc

[Patriot]

Not sure if this is going to work but here's a copy of the corrected plans and actually there were two mistakes in the original plans.

http://myplace.frontier.com/~sderose/planner.doc

[ryanrobb52]

I'm so glad I checked out this part of the website! I was planning on spending the money on a planner mast system but was hesitant because I also want to purchase a set of electric downriggers. Now that I can make my own planner system I can have my cake and eat it too.

Thanks Guys and nice job. Those things look better than any store bought systems I have seen on the market and you get the satisfaction of knowing you made it yourself.

[fish]

jim,

i bought the planer reels. i have them installed, but i think i m missing a critical piece. i assume you had a pully located above the reels. how did you affix those?

[ReelSilver]

Nice to see some homemade ones. I run some old ones that a buddys dad made me 25 years ago and they work perfect. They plain way out to the side and never dive. I've seen them jump 3-4 feet in the air off some big waves. no problems. The Key is the 6 inch eye bolt for the plainer line.

Capt. Dave

[TrophySeeker]

Hey Jeff,

At the top of the pipe in the picture I mounted a pulley. See the link below. Gander Mountain carried them at the time.

http://www.fortune3.com/BigJonSports201 ... oduct=1052