Russ and Jennifer
Member
Hello. my name is Russ, and I'm a tightwad.
Wile I'm sure the Baby Bob is a fine piece of craftsmanship and does what it's intended to do admirably, I just couldn't seem to, in good conscience, pay $90.00 for a chunk of foam with a bracket attached that needs modifying anyway. After some hours of searching, I located what I feel is a suitable floaty thing, and purchased it online for $8.65 + shipping. Now that seemed a fair price to me.
For an attachment devise I dug through my scrap heap and found a piece of 20 gauge stainless to make the mounting base, and 6" of 1 1/4" stainless tubing. a slot was cut in the top of the tubing at an angle, and a small piece of stainless welded into it to form a "thread" to screw the foam float over, thus holding it on the tube. Photos show it all better than I can explain:
The foam lobster float I got from Hamilton Marine. it's # HML-buoy-7x15 . as the part # indicates, it's 7" x 15", weighs just over one pound (Baby Bob is 2.5 lb. I believe) with a buoyancy of 16 1/2 pounds (Bob is 32 lb). there was a larger 8x15 buoy also. it's a bit heavier, but of course has more buoyancy as well. I figure if my 16.5 lb isn't enough I can always "upgrade" for about $10.25 . I resealed the mast head wile I was there also.
BTW: the tang on the back of my mounting bracket is to attach a topping lift for the boom.
Cheers,
Russ
Wile I'm sure the Baby Bob is a fine piece of craftsmanship and does what it's intended to do admirably, I just couldn't seem to, in good conscience, pay $90.00 for a chunk of foam with a bracket attached that needs modifying anyway. After some hours of searching, I located what I feel is a suitable floaty thing, and purchased it online for $8.65 + shipping. Now that seemed a fair price to me.
For an attachment devise I dug through my scrap heap and found a piece of 20 gauge stainless to make the mounting base, and 6" of 1 1/4" stainless tubing. a slot was cut in the top of the tubing at an angle, and a small piece of stainless welded into it to form a "thread" to screw the foam float over, thus holding it on the tube. Photos show it all better than I can explain:
The foam lobster float I got from Hamilton Marine. it's # HML-buoy-7x15 . as the part # indicates, it's 7" x 15", weighs just over one pound (Baby Bob is 2.5 lb. I believe) with a buoyancy of 16 1/2 pounds (Bob is 32 lb). there was a larger 8x15 buoy also. it's a bit heavier, but of course has more buoyancy as well. I figure if my 16.5 lb isn't enough I can always "upgrade" for about $10.25 . I resealed the mast head wile I was there also.
BTW: the tang on the back of my mounting bracket is to attach a topping lift for the boom.
Cheers,
Russ