Despite the abundance of floats in fishing stores, amateur fishing masters continue to make homemade models. They differ in appearance, material and load capacity. Making a sensitive float with your own hands is not difficult. It is enough to decide on the type of product, select suitable materials and consistently perform all operations.

A DIY float can be used in different conditions catching Depending on the scope of use, appropriate materials should be selected.

• You can fish in the coastal zone with the lightest models weighing 0.2-0.8 g. Thanks to the low weight, it is possible to hunt fish species such as roach, rudd and crucian carp.
• For fishing in the current, a medium-weight float (0.8-2.5 g) is required. Equipment with such a signaling device can easily be cast to 20-30 m, where large fish such as bream, ide, and chub live.
• A heavy float weighing from 3 to 10 g allows you to perform ultra-long casting. Such models have a voluminous body, and flight characteristics reach 50 m. The antenna will be clearly visible from afar due to its large size. Such large representatives of the ichthyofauna as carp, grass carp and silver carp will be interested in the bait.

Materials for manufacturing

If earlier fishermen were limited in materials, today the choice is quite large. Some of the materials are suitable for making a body, while others are better used as an antenna.

1. You can create a floating body using:

• polystyrene foam;
• wine or cognac corks;
• medical syringe;
• balsa;
• wood

1. The following may be suitable for the role of an antenna:

• waterfowl feather (from geese or ducks);
• cane;
• plastic tube.

To create a bite alarm, you may need various household materials:

• waterproof glue will help hold the individual elements together;
• wire 0.5-1.0 mm thick is needed for making rings and loops;
• acrylic paints will give the float individuality and good visibility;
• toothpicks will help process the body of the float.

For comfortable and fast work, you should have some tools on hand.

• The easiest way to make precise and even holes is to use electric drill and a set of drills. In some cases it is more convenient to work with an awl.
• A chisel and a sharp knife will allow you to remove excess pieces of material when creating a fishing masterpiece.
• Using a file or sandpaper, you can give the float precise shapes and perfect smoothness.
• The easiest way to hold the material or tool being processed is in a vice.
• A ruler or caliper will help control the accuracy of production.

Technology for making a float from wine cork or polystyrene foam

To make a float with increased load capacity, it is necessary to shape the body. It can be shaped like a ball, an olive, or a drop.

Minimal modification is needed when making a wine cork float. It has a cylindrical body, which remains to be slightly modified and polished.

1. A carabiner with a swivel or a wire loop is attached to the bottom of the antenna. All that remains is to decorate the body and antenna with paint or nail polish.

Photo 3. Cut off the rod tube. it turned out to be a sliding float.

Photo 4. Color the product.

Making a goose feather float

Every fishing enthusiast has several goose floats in his box. They often help out when fish bites are cautious and unnoticeable. Before making a goose feather float, you should properly prepare the material.

1. To collect feathers, it is better to go to a pond that is favored by geese or ducks. You can take 5-10 feathers with you, different in color and length. You should not start any processing on the shore. It's better to do everything at home.
2. Using a stationery knife, cut off the fluff on both sides.

Attention! The sharp blade of the knife should be guided in the direction of the fibers. This way you will be able to get rid of fluff without breaking the seal of the feather.

1. The remaining fluff can be removed using fire. To do this, it’s easier to use a lighter and walk the flame along the body several times. Fire will also help straighten a crooked feather.
2. Next, you need to coat the attachment points of the fibers with colorless varnish to seal microscopic holes and cracks.
3. The upper part of the feather is painted red or orange.
4. Knowing how to make a feather float, it is important to securely attach it to the fishing line. To do this, two cambrics from a tube from a dropper are attached to the feather. Alternatively, a thin wire loop can be made at the bottom end of the float.
5. Increasing the weight and carrying capacity of a goose float is quite simple. It is necessary to make a body from polystyrene foam, balsa or cork. Then measure the thickness of the feather with a caliper and make through hole using a drill. Its diameter should be 0.1-1.0 mm thinner than the thickness of the pen. The antenna is inserted inside and fixed with glue.

Making a long-range float

For ultra-long casting of equipment, you can create a float with a weight.

1. You can make an antenna from two plastic tubes. A tube 1.5 mm thick should be installed on top, suitable for the bottom plastic product with a diameter of 3 mm. Alternatively, bamboo or reed can be used.
2. The body is made of polystyrene foam. Body height is 40-70 mm, diameter at the top is 15 mm, at the bottom it narrows to 10 mm.
3. A hole 4-6 mm deep and 2.5 mm thick is made in the lower part of the body. A lead load is mounted in the hole, which is fixed with glue. It can be cast to the appropriate thickness by first installing a wire loop.
4. A wire ring for fishing line is attached to the upper part of the body.
5. The antenna is assembled with the body using waterproof glue. The final step will be to paint the float.

A fan of float fishing should have a rich set of bite alarms. Some floats are convenient to use when fishing short in calm weather. Other models will help deliver bait to long distance, allowing you to catch trophy fish.

In the summer they gave me a piece of hard foam from an old life jacket. Well, since in the summer I lose up to a dozen floats, I decided to try to make them myself. I don’t go fishing in winter, I have a lot of time.

We cut it into pieces. We choose the size at our discretion, but since I’m happy with small ones, I cut this piece into 4 parts.

I bought bamboo skewers for shish kebabs at the market, they cost a pretty penny, and I selected a drill of such a diameter that the skewer would fit closely into the hole that we were drilling in the workpiece.

Now let's add approximate form float with a utility knife.

Insert skewers into the pieces.

Place a drop of Chinese super glue between the skewer and the foam. This is done so that when we grind the foam, it does not scroll.

The glue dries instantly, and after 5-10 minutes you can grind it down. Here I had to call my wife for help to hold the drill and regulate the speed. There is a simple way out of this situation: hold the drill in a vise and adjust the speed using the speed control pedal from sewing machine. But for this you need a drill without electronic speed control, otherwise it doesn’t work, the drill immediately takes up more than half the speed. You can also adapt the dimmer for a chandelier.
Next, we attach our float to the drill so as not to crush the skewer. Just press it a little with your hand and that's it - it will hold on.
Yes, I forgot to write that we choose the skewers as evenly as possible! But they will still hit, so you need to lightly hold the antenna with your left hand.
Since we did the initial processing with a knife, the float will wobble. To avoid this, you need to take something hard and put sandpaper on it. I came across a flat file, so I took it. The lower end of the file needs to be rested against the table or, like mine, against cutting board. Spin the drill to medium speed and smoothly bring the file and sandpaper to the float. We start with coarse sandpaper, remove all the beating and gradually shape the future float.

When the beating is gone, you can remove the file, and then work using the hardness of the sandpaper, moving on to finer sandpaper.

This is what happens when you are in a hurry. I pressed the file a little harder and the keel broke!

Before completing the processing, we change the direction of rotation of the drill and lightly sand it with very fine sandpaper. This is done so that the fibers of the foam plastic, which were licked during the rotation of the drill, are ground off and the pores open.
Now we dilute the PVA glue to a milky state and coat the foam with a brush. Let's dry it. Now our float has become like a hedgehog! It was all the fibers that rose and hardened from the glue. We again clamp the float into the drill and remove these fluffs with sandpaper, preferably a new sandpaper.
Then pour some baby powder into a plate and pour regular emulsion into a jar. Dilute it with water until it becomes cream. The emulsion should be the simplest, which is not advisable to wash and wipe.

Now rub the powder into the foam.

Dip into emulsion.

Sprinkle with a little more powder.

Let's start rubbing this paste in. Well, the main thing here is not to overdo it with powder, otherwise everything will quickly thicken and smear poorly. Here you need to watch how the slurry falls on the foam. It is advisable to achieve fewer open pores the first time.

Level the slurry evenly over the float, wait until the slurry begins to keep the pores closed (this is about 30-40 seconds), and again dip the float into the emulsion. I’ll say right away for the future: there should be no air bubbles (foam) in the jar, as they will stick to the float. The float must be raised slowly! So that, due to surface tension, the excess emulsion, and then the varnish, flows into the jar immediately, and does not form streaks during drying.

Then we dry it again. Flint from the foam plastic may appear again, remove it as before. Again we lower and pull out the float into the emulsion and see how many unsealed pores remain. If they are, and they will be 100%, then rub in the powder and repeat everything. And so on three times until you achieve that when the float was lifted from the emulsion there was not a single open pore on it.
All this is dried until completely dry each time. After drying, the surface should be smooth, without pores or irregularities. Now let’s take a waterproof and super-white emulsion. We dilute it with water in the same way as cream, and without any powder we simply dip it in and slowly pull out our float. Let's dry it. Dip again and dry again. After drying, use a brush to paint the antenna with this super-white paint.

Well, all that remains is to paint our floats. Yes, I forgot to write that I dry the floats using clothespins. I hang it either by the keel or by the antenna. Nowadays there are many different dyes; you need acrylic ones, which are diluted with water.

We can talk a lot about the color of the floats. There are no problems with floats that are not afraid of nitro paints, and these are mainly made of wood. Everything is simple there - sand it thoroughly with fine sandpaper, dip it straight into nitro varnish (it will reshape and fill all the unevenness and pores), and then paint it with any dyes. It is best to use automotive enamels, nitro paints, and are also sold in stores for those who like to collect various models very bright nitro paints in small bottles. But all this requires costs, and you won’t buy several multi-colored cans of expensive car enamels in order to use a few grams from each can. The main thing here is to carve the body of the float out of wood, which is quite problematic using a drill.
Well, this is all speculation, and we will proceed from what we have. Now our float (foam) is also protected and can be painted with nitro paints. But I will tell you how I did it and about my mistakes that appeared after a while.
We take a jar and pour super-white waterproof enamel into it (it was above in the photo) and add dye to the shade we need. Don't forget to dilute everything with water. We will paint the bottom of the float with this composition.
The color itself plays a role here. If you fish at depth, then you don’t have to bother and paint it any beautiful color. But if in shallow water, then it is advisable to choose the color of some driftwood, a leaf that has fallen into the water, etc. You know that big fish She is very careful and avoids coming close to bright objects.
We immerse the float in our paint and slowly raise it. The paint should flow evenly and easily. I raise it for about 10-15 seconds so that the excess glass is immediately released and there are no smudges later.

Of course we dry it. One dip is enough.
Next, make the next color in another jar. You only need a little bit of it, and you can apply it directly with a brush, but only 2 times. The brush should be very soft, because we will then apply the varnish to it. I bought several of these, they cost about 17 rubles. Don’t forget to rinse the brush well immediately. Yes, I just added a little PVA glue to the yellow dye, because if you add dye to the enamel, the color becomes pale.

From the keel of the float, we use a knife to clean all our previously applied layers of putty and paint down to the skewer. I thought for a long time about what to paint next. I tried to spread all sorts of colors and, while slowly rotating the drill, draw rings with the thinnest brush, but since the skewers were still crooked and beat a little, the width of the lines was different with the brush and I decided to continue painting with markers. The drill operates at low speed, we bring the marker, the ring is ready. First we draw light and then dark tones. We wait until the marker dries.

Well, now comes the crucial moment. We will coat our float with colorless nitro varnish for wood. The fact is that the varnish dissolves the marker! Therefore, we do this: turn on the drill at the slowest speed, dip the brush in the varnish and literally just touch our coloring. In one motion, for one second, we cover thin layer varnish blue rings and nearby black ones. Right in the jar of varnish, we rinse the brush from marker residues that have stained the bristles. Again we dip it in varnish and with the same quick movement we cover the bottom of the float, and then the black rings on the antenna. Dries very well. And we do this 2 times. The third time, you can cover the body of the float with a brush, but you need to ensure that there is not too little varnish on the brush. I swiped it a little, dipped it, then again... The third time you can go through the entire antenna, almost to the very tip. If only you could then take the float and not get your hands dirty. We will paint the very tip with a brush last.

Had a little snack :)

Well, now you can apply two final coats of varnish by immersion. Only, of course, after each layer I dried it for 12 hours, and after the second layer - for a couple of days. We lower the float into the jar of varnish so that the varnish covers the first black ring, and gently raise it - 10-15 seconds. We hang it in the same vertical position to dry.

Then we varnish the antenna with a brush. That's all!
This applies to those who attach the float to a bicycle nipple. But, since I use sliding floats, we continue further.
We buy a 2 kW nichrome spiral from the store and unwind it onto a reel from an old fishing line. Carefully cut off the tip of the keel and peel off the varnish down to the skewer.

Next, we are looking for something like a mandrel for winding a spiral from purchased nichrome. It should be literally a little thinner than the keel of the float. We clamp the mandrel into the drill, secure the beginning of the wire and wind the spiral onto the mandrel. Then we bend a couple of turns of our spiral with a knife, insert the tip of the pliers into the resulting ring and bend the ring so that the beginning of the wire is almost hidden under the main spiral. It is clearly visible in the photo. This is so that the fishing line or carabiner does not cling to the beginning of the turn. You can, of course, pick up a ready-made spring from oil seals for cars, they are stronger, but this requires hanging around a car service center and rummaging through the trash.

All that remains is to paint and varnish. That's all the technology is. It may have turned out a little dreary, but I think everything is clear.

Well, now about what should not have been done...
It turns out that the varnish discolors the marker! After two months after making the floats, blue became completely pale, and even the black one turned pale! But the yellow, which was diluted with PVA glue, remained bright, and the body of the float itself did not turn pale! The conclusion suggests itself: it was necessary to dilute the paint with PVA glue or waterproof enamel! But then you would have to apply it with a brush.
Let me remind you once again that the floats have not yet been tested in the field, and we will only know how they will perform in the spring. If I could help someone, or was just interested, I would be glad.

Here's the end result:

Homemade floats, made by a fisherman to suit his own needs, which are the result of experience gained through the practice of fishing, are distinguished not only by their originality and uniqueness, but also bring indescribable pleasure to its owner through the direct manufacturing process. After all, the soul invested in this production subsequently brings a lot of unforgettable and vivid impressions from the fishing session, in which homemade fishing floats play a primary role, bringing the mystery of the biting process into a visual show.

Making floats with your own hands, knowing the essence of how the accessory works and imagining the conditions that will exist on a pond in reality is not so difficult and expensive. Fortunately today in our everyday life There are many materials suitable for making a high-quality product, and you don’t need a specific tool for this job. Suitable arsenal technical means found in every household.

About the processes of manufacturing bite alarms for various fishing conditions from all kinds of available means, information will be presented to the fisherman, which will help solve the problem of obtaining an effective fishing accessory and will give pleasure to the fisherman when using it. rational decision.

Looking around, the inquisitive mind of the fisherman will immediately identify a lot of materials suitable for performing work on making a float at home. For those just starting their steps into fishing skills, it will also be no secret that the properties suitable options for production they must have high buoyancy qualities, low density of the substance and relatively low, preferably its complete absence, water absorption.

Important! The main float materials include foam blanks, a feather from the wing of any waterfowl, reed and wood, including one of its varieties, balsa, which is most suitable for the role of an alarm.

From products used in household needs All kinds of plastic tubes can be used for floats, for example, an empty rod ballpoint pen or a candy holder such as a lollipop, a medical disposable syringe, wine cork and even a container for used plastic shoe covers.

To give the blanks an attractive look, you need to stock up acrylic paints in bright colors, sometimes instead of paint, nail polish can be used. Have steel wire available, preferably alloyed stainless steel with a diameter of no more than 1.5 mm, and quick-setting waterproof glue. Toothpicks or thin bamboo sticks, which can be obtained from a discarded kitchen table napkin or rug, would be useful.

Most of the above options for blanks do not even require a special purchase from the fisherman, because they are either a by-product when consuming the main product or container packaging and a banal bottle cap. Therefore, making floats at home will not require large material costs, but will only require free time, imagination and the desire of the fisherman to engage in this exciting and interesting activity.

How to make a float

Having decided on the material component of the work, the fisherman must prepare some simple tools. To complete the work you will need:

• electric drill or screwdriver;
• a set of small diameter drills ranging from 1 to 3 mm;
• sharpened stationery and pocket knives;
• pliers;
• needle file set;
• fine sandpaper;
• hacksaw for metal;
• vice;
• awl;
• measuring tool, preferably a caliper;
• small chisels;
• scriber, which can replace a pencil.

It would also be useful, before planning to make a homemade float, to have a model, sample or sketch in the form of a sketch of the final product. After all, knowing a clearly defined end goal, it is easier to achieve the required parameters and performance characteristics of the simulated alarm and obtain exactly the product that can cover the required fishing conditions. Further on in our article, we will talk in more detail about the most popular types of floats that you can make yourself at home.

How to make a feather float

The pen version of the fishing alarm is one of the most ancient ways providing the rod with a float. For the product you need to get feathers from the wings of a large waterfowl. Most often, domestic geese and ducks become reliable suppliers these preparations, but the wild ones will not be an exception.

You can make a float from a goose feather, taking into account the painting operation, in about one hour. A large fly feather of a goose is cleared of the fan and side fluff, leaving only the shaft and quill for use, which will be the body of the future signaling device.

Important! The fan is in no way torn off by hand, but is cut with a razor or a sharp knife against its direction of growth. Otherwise, the hole in the hollow eye will fill with water, and the product will completely lose its buoyancy.

After trimming the fluff, its smallest fibers are removed with fire by running a lit match or lighter along the length of the feather. Next, the workpiece is painted from the thick end with bright paint, which will clearly stand out in the water; scarlet and light green colors best satisfy this requirement. As a rule, the product itself, the length of which usually remains in sizes from 12 to 15 cm, is painted exactly in half, leaving bottom part in natural white color scheme.

Now it's almost finished product, all that remains is to equip it with two nipple rubber rings for fastening to the fishing line, weigh it to determine the exact weight in order to mark it by placing a number on the body of the accessory, which will help you navigate easier when making further loading during installation.

Plastic tube float

A homemade float from a plastic tube can be constructed in literally twenty minutes. The easiest way to use the blank is to take a cocktail drinking straw with a diameter of about 5 mm. To make a simple but effective stick-type float, you will need a piece of tube 15 cm long. The main design operation is soldering the ends of the tube, which is done in several stages by heating, melting and then compressing the fused plastic with pliers.

The tube is sealed at both ends, one of which is cut off, making the end even, like a cylinder; this part will be the top of the accessory. The other end of the tube is made flat and a hole is pierced in the center to thread it onto the fishing line from the equipment; this will be the lower part of the alarm. If necessary, the tube is painted in a color that is attractive to the eye and is equipped, as in the case of a goose feather, with a rubber fastening ring.

How to make a float from foam plastic

This type of manufacturing is more labor-intensive and requires skill in handling and compliance with safety precautions when working with an electric drill. Before you start making a foam plastic float, a rectangular blank is cut out of a piece of material using a knife, which is threaded along the central axis onto a wooden toothpick and attached to the chuck of an electric drill. Next, the drill is used as a lathe, clamping its body in a vice and turning on the chuck in automatic mode. Using tape from sanding paper, attached to a rotating piece of foam, form the desired shape of the alarm body in terms of diameter and configuration. Grinding of the foam blank material occurs due to an increase in the pressing force of the abrasive material or a change in the number of the stone fraction on the sandpaper.

Important! For final polishing, use paper with as little abrasive as possible, bringing the foam planes to a smooth, pore-free surface.

Having turned the required shape, the workpiece is removed from the mounting wooden axis and, using waterproof glue, an antenna and keel are glued from pre-selected material options, which can be either wood or plastic tubes of various diameters. In particular, using a plastic tube as an antenna, you can make a luminous float by inserting a chemical firefly into the hole of the tube from above, which helps to control the equipment in dark time days.

All that remains is to reduce the diameters of the tube and the firefly into a suitable backlash-free interface. The foam body of the alarm itself is painted in different colors, exactly along the border of the maximum diameter, top part, covering it with catchy paint, and painting the lower part in colors that do not arouse the suspicion of fish. You can use either nipple rings to match the diameters of the antenna and keel of the alarm, or by placing a special wire fastening loop in the body of the accessory.

To do this, a thin wire, 0.5 mm in diameter, is twisted, leaving a ring at one end, and at the other end of the wire, the ends twisted into a braid over a length of at least 5 mm. The twist is glued into foam plastic into the upper part of the alarm, impregnating everything with the same moisture-resistant glue.

Homemade fishing float from a wine cork

A cork float is made using a technique similar to processing foam blanks, using an electric drill or screwdriver as the main device for grinding the configuration required for the float. The only difference is in the composition of the material itself, where cork is a more capricious substance in its structure.

Important! It is more difficult to form holes in cork due to its increased fragility, and also to bring the surface to a perfectly smooth state, since the material has high porosity compared to foam plastic.

The final finishing is carried out manually, scrupulously monitoring the grinding of each deep pore and subsequently, before final painting, covering the body of the accessory with special varnishes that hide microcracks and pores, preventing further penetration of water into the body of the alarm.

When preparing holes for the keel and antenna, it is recommended to pierce them step by step with a thin awl, drilling them together to the required diameter. This is especially true for the option of working when forming a float from a champagne cork, which is characterized by the high fragility of the material structure. A cork float, as well as a polystyrene foam version of the alarm, can be easily made to fit all possible luminous floats for night fishing by inserting a fluorescent element into the antenna.

DIY wooden float

A float made of feathers and wood is considered one of the most environmentally friendly and natural options for alarms. But working with wood to form the body of any float will require a significant investment of time and certain carpentry skills from the fisherman.

Important! Hardwoods and, in particular, oak and larch are selected for wooden floats.

The first stage of production includes cutting using a hacksaw wooden blank in the form of a parallelepiped of a certain size. Next, the parallelepiped is drilled through along the central axis and placed on a metal rod, the ends of which are secured in two oppositely located and rigidly fixed drill bodies. One drill is placed in the neutral position of rotating the chuck without turning on the electricity, and the second should become a drive for rotating the workpiece.

After launching this impromptu lathe Float bodies of any configuration are formed from a piece of wood using a file or sandpaper. Last operation There will be a final polishing of the surface with the finest sandpaper. After polishing the sample, to avoid water absorption, it is coated with a waterproof varnish and allowed to dry completely at room temperature. The formed body is equipped with an antenna made of plastic or thin wire, gluing into the hole from which the metal pin originally inserted for operation in the machine is removed.

A wire keel is glued into the lower part of the float body, or a wire ring is mounted to make a sliding float. Now you can proceed to painting the alarm and marking the accessory after control weighing.

Homemade reed float

This technique is suitable for making an extraordinary float right in the field fishing conditions. After all, it’s rare that a body of water is not the place where reeds grow.

Important! For work, select a smooth and dense reed stem without burrs or cracks and cut it so that the length of the future float is approximately 15 cm.

The lower part of the workpiece is ground into a cone, which reduces bite resistance, and a seven-centimeter metal antenna can be inserted into the upper part. The homemade product is painted from the top in a color that is noticeable to the fisherman and is equipped with two nipple rubber bands for attaching to the fishing line.

Match float

The match float must have a certain mass and have high aerodynamic properties. For its production, a main body made from foam plastic or a wooden blank is selected and equipped with a massive antenna and a weight with a ring. The easiest way to assemble the antenna is from four cotton sticks, freed from cotton wool and tied with a polyurethane cambric, which, when heated with a hairdryer, tightly compresses the plastic sticks into a rigid structure.

The top of the antenna is equipped with a foam or cork boss, connecting them to each other using waterproof glue. The antenna itself is glued into the hole in the housing. A weight with a fastening ring is mounted on the lower part of the body. The easiest way is to make a load from a tin cone with a pin for fastening in its blunt part and a soldered fastening ring at the sharp end of the figure. After assembling the structure together, the accessory is covered with bright paint or nail polish.

Homemade water-filling float from a container for shoe covers

A fairly sensitive float with the ability to change its mass can be made from a container for shoe covers, having previously selected a twist-up box of the desired color in order to subsequently eliminate the operation of painting the product. A winding ring is mounted at the bottom of the container to secure the structure to the fishing line. This can be done either with an awl or with a small-diameter drill. A hole is drilled in the upper part of the container to match the diameter of the antenna.

Important! After installing the fastening ring and antenna, the holes are hermetically sealed with glue or silicone, preventing spontaneous accumulation of water inside the container.

All that remains is to paint the antenna bright color and directly on the reservoir, by collecting water or installing a lead weight, achieve the alarm load required for fishing conditions.

Homemade float for long casting

A heavy and long-range float for fishing in currents is constructed on the basis of an elongated cone-shaped body, which is made of dense extruded polystyrene foam. A long, up to 20 cm, antenna made of bamboo cane is glued into the upper part of the workpiece, equipping the top with a bright foam boss in the form of a ball, strung with glue, on the tip of the element’s axis. The lower part of the cone is cut off to make it possible to drill a hole into the depth of the material for subsequent installation of the load. The load is prepared from a lead stick. Solder a winding ring to its lower part to attach the accessory to the cord of the tackle. Depending on the thickness and length of the load, the required mass is selected, which will form the main performance characteristics of the finished accessory. The weight is mounted into the foam body using moisture-resistant glue. After the glued elements of the product have dried, it is painted and tested, testing for range and strength in real conditions of a reservoir.

How to make an underwater float

This type of signaling device, which is radically different in operating principle, is most easily made from extruded foam plastic, turning the workpiece into a ball or oval shape. An important production criterion is polishing the surface of the product, which is done manually using the finest type of sandpaper.

The polished form is drilled through with a millimeter drill along the entire body, shifting from the central axis to one of the edges of the workpiece.

Important! A rubber or polyurethane nipple is glued into the hole exits onto the surface of the foam mold, which will prevent the hard nylon line from cutting through the soft foam.

Underwater floats made using this method are painted scarlet with acrylic paint.

How to make a sports float

A float for current and standing water in a sports design will require a more careful approach to production. To do this, the fisherman will have to acquire expensive material for blanks and the highest quality paints for painting already finished product. Every little detail in sport fishing affects the final result, so the elements to be glued are additionally checked for strength and visible glue deposits are sanded with a file and sandpaper. Surface polishing is carried out to perfect condition and when painting, do not allow smudges and uneven application of paint layers. In terms of their design and production principle, sports versions of float alarms do not differ from amateur homemade ones.

Making a tube for floats

You can make a tube for floats with your own hands from polyethylene pipes and, in particular, a sewer pipe with a diameter of 50 or 100 mm. Before manufacturing the container, the dimensions of the floats for which it will be stored are determined. According to the number of accessory units and the longest length of one of them, with a margin of one and a half, two centimeters, a piece of tube is cut. One of its parts must have a factory socket, which is plugged with a shaped part in the form of a plug, placed on glue for immobility. The tube cover is made of a coupling with a plug glued into it. To make opening the tube easier, remove the sealing rubber from the coupling. For massive float collections, a 100 mm pipe is used; for smaller floats, a diameter of 50 mm is suitable.

Important! sewer pipe It is lightweight and does not undergo compression, which guarantees complete safety of the float collection and ease of movement.

For single options for storing floats or protecting delicate models from breakage, you can use cases for drills, in which they are sold in hardware stores. The cases are made of lightweight and often transparent plastic, which allows you to decide on the type of accessory you need at the moment without opening the container. Tight fitting of the two parts of the case guarantees both water resistance and spontaneous opening of the tube.

No permanent pool is complete without using chemicals. If you forget or add an insufficient amount of products, the water will immediately begin to become cloudy, clogged and populated with microorganisms.

A pool chemical dispenser will simplify pool maintenance using various additives.

Why are automatic dispensers needed?

When adding manually, you may make a mistake by incorrectly calculating required quantity means. You should also keep a chart or calendar where you note what was added to your tank water and when.

Dispensers for chlorine and other chemicals will completely or partially save you from all these worries. They are provided quite widely on the market, so everyone can choose something for themselves.

What types of pool dispensers are there?

Like any other devices, dispensers differ from each other in price, design and purpose.

Designs are divided into two categories:

• Float dispenser
• Electric models

All dispensers have the same task, but the device is fundamentally different. You place tablets in the float, which gradually dissolve with water and are washed out of the device body.

Electrical devices operate on a completely different principle. They are built into the circulating circuit in front of the heating element. Such systems independently measure the concentration of chemical additives and the composition of water and, based on these data, dispense a larger or smaller dose of the product.

The cost of dispensers also differs significantly. The cost of float devices ranges from 1-2 thousand rubles. The minimum price for automatic systems is 20 thousand rubles.

Float dispenser

Let's first look at the simplest and most accessible device - a float-type dispenser.

With such a simple device, the work is as simple as possible - open the lid, put in the required number of tablets, close the lid, open the dosing holes and lower the float into the water.

Each float is designed for a certain volume of the pool. Check these indicators with the seller or read the instructions.

Please note that in this case you need to independently monitor the concentration of chemical additives in the water and the ph level.

Electronic chemical dosing systems

Automatic electronic systems have a more complex operating principle and expanded functionality. There are dispensers for chlorine and other disinfectants for the pool; other models are designed solely for adjusting the pH.

Such devices will independently measure the composition of the water and take appropriate measures. Some models are equipped with a screen that will show you the state of the water and the concentration of substances in it.

Which pool chemical dispenser should you choose?

It is clear that not everyone can afford an automatic pool dispenser. And in fairness, it should be noted that not everyone needs it. Many people can get by with a float-type device, and if the pool is very small, then everything can be done manually.

If you are going to purchase a float dispenser, first of all pay attention to the following indicators:

• The volume of the tank for which the dispenser is intended;
• The diameter of the tablet that fits in the body;
• Possibility of adjusting the supply of chemical additives;
• Additional features. For example, some models are equipped with a thermometer.

The choice of an automatic system needs to be approached more thoroughly, as this is a serious and expensive purchase. Also, such devices have a wide range of functionality that you have to understand. We recommend that you get advice from an experienced person before purchasing and pay attention to the following points:

• Purpose of the device. Some dispensers work with chlorine, while others regulate the pH level;
• Number of water composition sensors. The ph level sensor is a huge plus for the model;
• Maximum operating pressure. Your pump should not produce more pressure than the electric dispenser can handle;
• Other functions. It all depends on your personal preferences and requirements.

Thematic videos

We have selected short but informative and useful videos for you. They will show you how they look and work automatic systems dosages

But with the latter, not everything is so simple. For a sports fisherman, the correct position is a barely noticeable, up to 5 mm, tip of the antenna above the water. Among amateurs, some surround the float before the antenna begins, others leave a third of the body of the float. The “industrialists” have their own fishing technology. Sometimes it happens that you hang a pellet with a weight corresponding to what is written, and the float completely goes under the water. Usually the float is loaded at home in a jar of water, but when you throw the equipment into the reservoir, it turns out that the loading was incorrect, and you have to bring it to fruition on the shore.

This problem can be avoided if floats are made not with a constant, but with a variable load capacity.

To do this, you will need plastic syringes with a volume of 2 to 10 ml, depending on what fishing rods you will place them on (photo 1). For catching bleak, small ones are suitable, but for pike, naturally, larger ones are needed.

We take the rod out of the cylinder, cut off the round pressure stop, and carefully cut off the tetrahedral reinforcement on the piston. We wrap a small wire loop on the lower part with electrical tape to pass the fishing line through. We also cut off the rim of the cylinder.

Instead of a syringe needle, insert an antenna. Suitable material for her - cocktail straws, used gel and regular pen refills, etc. plastic tubes of suitable diameters. You can attach the tube by cutting the needle, onto its base, or simply onto the needle without cutting. To prevent the tube from slipping off the base of the needle and not allowing water to pass through, I fix it with a piece of heat-shrinkable tubing: I heat it over a candle flame, holding it with both hands, and for even shrinkage I constantly scroll over the fire.

Two important points
FIRST. The antenna should be sealed and adhere well to the base of the needle. To do this, seal the opposite end liquid nails pressing the tip into the glue. An easier way is to melt it over a fire.
SECOND. Sitting tightly on the syringe, the antenna should be removable.

Otherwise, you will not be able to press the rod in or out: the air inside will not allow this to happen. And you will again have a float with a constant load capacity. But the goal was to make a float with variable load capacity.

If the conversion technology is followed, a 3 ml syringe turns into a float with a variable load capacity from 1 to 3.5 g.

The final touch is painting the antenna in the desired color. As a result, you get excellent equipment almost free of charge (photo 2).

Seasonal menu
October is a paradise for spinners. Accordingly, from this perspective we will consider the prospects for fishing in mid-autumn.

Pike. It leaves the coastal zone and hunts at depth, in holes. It will covet a “big piece”, so try to present it with large spoons or voluminous wobblers.

Perch. Very active. It even attacks large pike baits that it cannot swallow. Preferences are wobblers from 5 to 7 cm, the same spinners and spinners with petals No. 2-4.

Zander. It is excellently caught both with spinning rods and bottom tackle. It moves in a flock, and if you fish with a spinning rod, use light-colored twisters: from white to light green.

GREAT DIGNITY float with variable load capacity - no need to select a sinker under the float. It is enough to move the piston inside the cylinder in one direction or another and adjust the volume of the float to the weight of the load. Even when replacing the float, there is no need to pick up lead pellets again; just move the piston.