canoe/kayak stabilizer advice

[keeganzpapa]

I have a 14.7 Old Town Guide canoe which I don't feel safe in, however love to bass and crappie fish, and this fits my budget and I can handle it myself to load and unload. I have never stood in the canoe, and would not make it a habit, but I don't even feel safe lipping a fish into the canoe and low crawl forward to check the battery for the TM. Needless to say all my equipment would be swimming with the fishes if it ever rolls but I feel safer the more time I spend in it. I have seen a "bird of prey" stabilizer on youtube which looks real good and think I would like to copy it. I weigh just under 200# and 5'8". 

I have located several bullet nose crab cage buoys, for example eastern marine sells 5 7/8"x13 3/4"  with a 1" hole and an approximate buoyancy rating of 11 lb. I would use two of these on each side, however I would like to know from you if 22# per side is sufficient, and if not, what works for you and where you purchased (website or store name) a better buoy. If posting that here is a problem, please pm me. 

I would also appreciate any pics of your set up that I may have some better ideas to work with. Thanks in advance for your help/advice.

[Goose52]

Sorry for the delayed response - I assumed that some of the folks that had DIY'd some outriggers would chime in.

 

As you know, my outriggers are "store-bought" and you are looking for a DIY solution. About all I can contribute is that my floats are closed-cell foam, 25" long, and 6" in diameter. So, to get the same flotation as my rig, it looks like you would need TWO of those buoys per side (roughly...).

 

Another thing, unless the outriggers are somewhat hydrodynamically optimized like these, the floats will add quite a bit of drag if they touch the water while you are motoring - something to think about as you are designing your rig. In my case, my rig provides for vertical adjustment of the floats and I keep them a couple inches above the water when the boat is trimmed laterally, so I have no drag when motoring (or paddling). This photo shows the floats above the water while I'm under power:

 

[Darren.]

Such a great pic, @Goose52.

 

@keeganzpapa I would think you'd want at least

12 - 16" bouys for your purposes. I made such a

DIY project years ago, don't have any of it laying

around anymore that I could measure for you.

 

I *think* my lobster pot buoys were 14 or 16"...

Don't even remember where I got them. Wish I
could be more help to ya. They were more than 

enough for me and one or two of my kids or me,

my wife, and a kiddo.

 

[keeganzpapa]

Goose52, Thanks for your reply, I was kinda wondering if there was something wrong with my post, with no responses, or if for some reason I was being  "ignored". It is hard to understand why but then again not everyone owns canoes or kayaks or read every post like I do. Thanks for your imput. I had worried about drag myself. I found a company YakGear canoe and kayak outfitters that have 14"x5"x5" bullet buoys that two on each side would give me 50# buoyancy per side, and could DIY a stabilizer for about 1/3 the price of yours, however admittedly not as nice. Not definite with that but meets my budget better. 

Wow, what an awesome Fall picture. It is pictures like that that our wives or girlfriends don't get to see when they can't understand why we keep going back.

Darren, yours is probably what I am going to go with. they would be about 28" to 30" long per side.

 

[MassYak85]

For my kayak, I think I used the exact same buoys as Daren on mine, and I have an extremely similar design to Goose where mine have adjustments pin holes depending on the weight of the gear +person. When in the water they create quite a bit of drag. I'd go as far as to say they slow me down 50% when paddling in my kayak. They work very well though and standing feels very safe. I only really use them on one pond where there are thousands of stumps and every trip I run up on at least one, without the outriggers tipping is a very real possibility. Also if you do end up using a PVC pipe as the main shaft I would recommend sticking a dowel in to provide rigidity like Daren has shown in his setup. 

[keeganzpapa]

Thank you MassYak85, I wondered about the stumps.  One pond my Son fishes in his flat bottom 12' bass boat is loaded with them and we are always hanging up on top of them, always wondered how it would be in a canoe, as we stop pretty abruptly when we go up on them unexpectedly. He is suggesting electrical conduit pipe for its strength but light. I see that Darren filled his with a dowel. I worry about how PVC would hold up in the sun.

[MassYak85]

3 hours ago, keeganzpapa said:

Thank you MassYak85, I wondered about the stumps.  One pond my Son fishes in his flat bottom 12' bass boat is loaded with them and we are always hanging up on top of them, always wondered how it would be in a canoe, as we stop pretty abruptly when we go up on them unexpectedly. He is suggesting electrical conduit pipe for its strength but light. I see that Darren filled his with a dowel. I worry about how PVC would hold up in the sun.

I think mine are two years old now and I don't think the sun has done much to mine. Commercial PVC usually has additives to minimize degradation.  

[webertime]

I've got the same outriggers as Goose and had them on the same canoe as you...   I'm 6'5" and 270 (Higher and larger center of gravity than you...)  No real problems at all, I certainly would not go smaller float wise though.

[keeganzpapa]

Thanks Webertime. It's a big help, are you saying not to go smaller than Goose52's floats or the ones I found that would give me 50# buoyancy per side like Darren? It seems like Him and his Wife and a Kiddo would be an adequate comparison of me going alone standing, or don't you think so? Glad to talk to someone with the same canoe.  

[AJ Brown]

I prefer the Nielsen Outriggers. 

www.nielsensoutriggercompany.com