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, 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 in this paste. 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, at the expense of surface tension, the excess emulsion, and then the varnish, flowed into the jar immediately, and did 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 immediately 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 some time.
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 one. 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 yourself know that large fish are very careful and are careful not to come 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 we do it in another jar. next color. 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 with the brush was different 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 ones, and then dark colors. 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 the blue rings and the black ones nearby with a thin layer of varnish. 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 round-nose 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 you need to hang around near a car service center and rummage 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 testing floats in field conditions have not yet been carried out, and we will find out how they will show themselves only in the spring. If I could help someone, or was just interested, I would be glad.

Here's the end result:

Feeder fishing is considered a very difficult type of fishing. And you can’t do without indicating the fishing spot here. Only one tool can cope with this task - a marker float. After installing the float at a certain fishing point, you can repeat casting there.

Often a marker float acts as a symbol of a baited area or bottom anomaly. After all, throwing gear into a pre-marked place significantly increases the chances of catching a large specimen. After all, from the choice right place fishing directly depends on the success of fishing.

The primary task that the marker float allows you to cope with is determine the depth at the fishing spot. Also this device allows you to determine the nature of the soil at the bottom of the reservoir and you can easily distinguish a sandy bottom from a muddy one.

The most interesting thing is that it is not necessary to buy this product. Every fisherman can easily make a marker float with his own hands from available materials.

Particular difficulties with self-production marker float, as a rule, does not occur. Any material with positive buoyancy is suitable as a basis for a float.

As a basis for the float you can use:

• Any plastic medicine bottles.
• Classic float, only large in size.
• A piece of wood shaped into a float.
• Syringe.
• Any object that has positive buoyancy.

A sinker for a marker float can be purchased at the store. Or you can make it yourself. Attach a regular sinker to the leash and attach a small winding ring to its other end.

You should carefully choose the ring so that it does not interfere with the passage of the fishing line.

The best option is to make a marker float with your own hands from a syringe. The use of such an element, taken as the basis of the float, can significantly simplify the manufacturing process.

For manufacturing you will need to stock up on the following components:

• Medical syringe with a volume of 20 cubes.
• Scissors.
• Awl.
• Lighter.
• Tweezers.
• Wire cutters.
• A piece of wire (for making a bracket).
• Glue.
• Pliers.
• Bright colored nail polish.
• Swivel.

Once you have collected all the components, you can begin the manufacturing process.. It looks like this:

1. It is necessary to make a cylinder out of the syringe. To do this, cut off the ears and the place where the needle is attached.
2. Now you need to align the cut edges.
3. Using an awl, we make 2 holes in the syringe for the loop. To do this, you can heat the edges with a lighter and align them with your fingers.
4. Twist a small wire staple.
5. Now you need to put the swivel on the bracket. It is necessary to insert the staple into the prepared holes in the syringe and bend its edges, as shown in the figure.
6. After this, you need to pour a little glue inside the syringe so that it spreads over it to about 5 millimeters in height and leave it all to dry.
7. It is best to seal the hole in the syringe with tape to prevent glue from leaking out.
8. Then you need to cut the syringe plunger into two even parts and paint it with bright varnish.
9. Insert the piston inside the cylinder.
10. It is necessary to additionally paint the cylinder itself. This is done to increase the visibility of the marker float.
11. Cover the joint with glue to ensure a tight seal.

Everything, as you can see, making a marker float with your own hands is very simple and requires a minimum amount of materials and knowledge. Any fisherman can make this device in a minimum amount of time.

None permanent pool cannot do without the use of 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 exclusively for ph adjustment.

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 what 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 - coloring the antenna in 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 for 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.