Share Your Innovations

[surfrider]

After almost losing my YT to a Hammer, while on a fish clip a couple weeks back, I decided to get an insulated fish bag to accommodate my long paddles in hot temps and sharky waters. Found a nice product on Amazon for $120, but procrastinated too long before ordering and wanted to fish last weekend. So, I went to Lowes and bought some reflective insulation material, Silicone caulk, Velcro pads, and foil tape. $35 and an hour later, I had a Redneck fish bag to fit perfectly in the rear and under the bungies of my Stealth-14! I took (2) 7lb bags of ice; which I kept below in a collapsible cooler in the front hatch, until needed. After picking up a small YT and a Bonito, I emptied one bag of ice in the foil bag along with the bled fishes. 2 nice 15-16lb YT tail and a Bonito later, I added the second bag of ice. Caught a 3rd respectable yellowtail on the paddle in, which I slid under the bag, being it was already bulging! I did roll it in the surf, not surprising with my heavily loaded yak plus the added 80lbs of fish in the trunk. BUT, surprising the bag held up nicely, and was floating alongside and easy to retrieve. Had to look around for a minute to find the "loose" YT being tossed in the surf; which a nice gal retrieved for me, during this sharky "closed-beach" day in LaJolla! After a 10 hour day on the water, I still had a 3/4 bag of un-melted ice, and the fish were nice and cool. The only difficulty was cleaning the bag.... which I expected would be a one-time disposable and shreaded from fins anyhow? I simply opened up one long seam to wash thoroughly which I will later need to retape. Caulk did not do much for adding strength, but did keep the blood and fish juices from draining through the scupper! Also on a bad fish day, it could double as a tanning reflector..... or on a real bad day, a good way to signal aircraft or give a shark something to chew on (maybe they love popping bubbles too?)!

P.S. cooler in the pic is Mega-size with a 39" I.D.

[Cbad Mike]

Originally Posted by surfrider

After almost losing my YT to a Hammer, while on a fish clip a couple weeks back, I decided to get an insulated fish bag to accommodate my long paddles in hot temps and sharky waters. Found a nice product on Amazon for $120, but procrastinated too long before ordering and wanted to fish last weekend. So, I went to Lowes and bought some reflective insulation material, Silicone caulk, Velcro pads, and foil tape. $35 and an hour later, I had a Redneck fish bag to fit perfectly in the rear and under the bungies of my Stealth-14! I took (2) 7lb bags of ice; which I kept below in a collapsible cooler in the front hatch, until needed. After picking up a small YT and a Bonito, I emptied one bag of ice in the foil bag along with the bled fishes. 2 nice 15-16lb YT tail and a Bonito later, I added the second bag of ice. Caught a 3rd respectable yellowtail on the paddle in, which I slid under the bag, being it was already bulging! I did roll it in the surf, not surprising with my heavily loaded yak plus the added 80lbs of fish in the trunk. BUT, surprising the bag held up nicely, and was floating alongside and easy to retrieve. Had to look around for a minute to find the "loose" YT being tossed in the surf; which a nice gal retrieved for me, during this sharky "closed-beach" day in LaJolla! After a 10 hour day on the water, I still had a 3/4 bag of un-melted ice, and the fish were nice and cool. The only difficulty was cleaning the bag.... which I expected would be a one-time disposable and shreaded from fins anyhow? I simply opened up one long seam to wash thoroughly which I will later need to retape. Caulk did not do much for adding strength, but did keep the blood and fish juices from draining through the scupper! Also on a bad fish day, it could double as a tanning reflector..... or on a real bad day, a good way to signal aircraft or give a shark something to chew on (maybe they love popping bubbles too?)!

P.S. cooler in the pic is Mega-size with a 39" I.D.

I like it.
Good job and thanks for sharing.

[ctfphoto]

Cost: Free with a rock and I guess the forfeit of the CRV.

[Deez Knots!]

Hey guys. I saw a guy with one of these but i couldn't find any DIY's so i decided to make one:

Need a place to store your irons?

What you need:
Bucket
Bucket Lid
Utility Knife
Dremel tool
Drill Bit
Drill (You can use dremel tool as well)
IRONS!

Cut the inner circle off and the outer lip off with the utility knife!


The outer lip wraps around the outside of the bucket (this is the part that has to go) and the inner lip stays inside the bucket (do not cut this off)


Smooth out lid with dremel


Slide lid down halfway and drill out holes


Now add your irons in and voila! You have a safe way of transporting and storing your irons. The lid sits tightly inside and does not require glue; you can remove the lid and use the bucket when needed.



I drilled my holes out with my dremel tool so it came out looking pretty rough; I also did not bother smoothing out the inner circle. If you want yours looking better than mine, use a drill for the holes and smooth out the inner circle with dremel

[kayachapi]

I did this to get my wife out with me. She does not have the confidence in her vision and balance to go it alone. It sails pretty well, surprisingly well. I have not had another person on it yet, and don't know how it will act, but expect it to be fine. No Hobies were harmed in this mod. Everything is removable. I know, I'm a Kook.

[Hammerhead_77]

I broke the plastic Hobie wheels bouncing my fully loaded yak off a curb on the way back to the truck... I wanted something, wider, stronger and less expensive than the nice fat Hobie sand wheels.

HFT had a sale: $5 each. Axle cost $9. Bolts, washers, nuts, cotter pins, $5. total rated capacity for this should be over 600 lbs...more than needed for a 180 lb PA14!


The hubs on these bolt in, so I replaced the bolts with longer ones to create dualies and threaded the end of the axle for a nut with a cotter pin to keep it from walking.

[battleborn]

Originally Posted by Deez Knots!

Hey guys. I saw a guy with one of these but i couldn't find any DIY's so i decided to make one:

Need a place to store your irons?

What you need:
Bucket
Bucket Lid
Utility Knife
Dremel tool
Drill Bit
Drill (You can use dremel tool as well)
IRONS!

Cut the inner circle off and the outer lip off with the utility knife!


The outer lip wraps around the outside of the bucket (this is the part that has to go) and the inner lip stays inside the bucket (do not cut this off)


Smooth out lid with dremel


Slide lid down halfway and drill out holes


Now add your irons in and voila! You have a safe way of transporting and storing your irons. The lid sits tightly inside and does not require glue; you can remove the lid and use the bucket when needed.



I drilled my holes out with my dremel tool so it came out looking pretty rough; I also did not bother smoothing out the inner circle. If you want yours looking better than mine, use a drill for the holes and smooth out the inner circle with dremel

Awesome Jig buckets rule...been trying to find a commercial product now I can just DIY. Thanks for the post.

[JohnMckroidJr]

PA14 with oversized ruddar, and ruddar protector for transport

[JohnMckroidJr]

Downrigger Mounted

[rampage559]

I just got my first Hobie Outback this last sat and my first mod was done that Sunday. I will be doing mostly bass fishing and trout fishing while camping, so two of the most important things to me was an ice chest and tackle storage.

Locally in Fresno it can reach 105 degrees in the summer, no shortage of cold beverage is acceptable on this days lol. Up in the mountains while camping a nice craft beer while trolling makes the day since I wont be driving.

Initially I was looking for a basket the size of a milk crate but that I can enclose easily, so I do not loose my gear. After an hour in lowes of not finding anything that satisfied my itch. I ran across a ice chest and thought to my self, this could work. I had to get two scrape pieces and silicon them in to cover the entire length of the chest.

I decided to partition the chest with plexiglass from lowes scrap pile (1$ per scrap) with some silicon it made for a nice permanent solution. I may add foam though for better insulation between partitions and to keep my tackle from making racket.

I ran into an issue with my rode holders and luckily I mocked it up and realized I could not open the chest unless they were on the front. So I attached the front of the chest and got it in the Yak. I tested this out and did not like it at all. So i started to brain storm and took off the hinges and said well I can just make it so the top completely comes off from any side.

I then noticed if i flipped the hinges they would make great tie down points to anchor the cooler. Turns out little tie that I used to keep the front of the cooler shut makes a good hinge and allows me to open the cooler with no issue. You might be confused here with what I did, so its a good thing I have some pics.

I also made two rode leashes out of old cell phone chargers.

Total cost was 85$ at lowes, however this expense also covered a bucket of bungees, 15$ worth of ties for my house pole storage and the stuff to make the rod leashes minus the cell chargers (carabiner and ties)

[Chuck D]

So, I got my new sweet Limited Edition from Andy, would never get a yak from anyone else Decided that I would like to add some rails because I was sure they would be useful for many purposes (even if not for what I originally intended). So I ordered 2 small rails 9" I think. At first I thought for sure to hold my FF Head unit and then a couple rod holders would be nice (I always add scottys and they work) got a couple railblazas I can add to the mix from my adventure. Installed on the left, fits perfect over the cup holder. On the right it just does't match up with the Outback design so machined an inch or so off and fit like a charm. Once I drilled the 4 holes, gooped it up, added the washers and clamped down. Here are some pros and cons that I found after a month of use, overall I love the addition to the yak!

Pros:
hold to control yak when launching/landing in surf
use to help lift yak over stairs at LJ Launch
holds my FF solid with a ram ball/hrail attachment and lets me adjust at many levels
can attach you pliers or any gear to it that you do not want floating/sinking away
squid lights tie off to it
hold my beer can in more solid then before
many h-rail attachments, want to attach go pro in the future...
can hold for stability
can use to help tie knots and get good tension
fits on my jrack the same as before
place to wrap a lock around
watertight

Cons
wanted rod holders and H-Rail attachment would move under pull of trolling baits and did not feel comfortable if hit with a bit strike (therefore, no rod holders for me, ended up adding scotties in the front like I always have)
Beer bottles don't fit too well anymore on the L side