down rigger

[suzy81]

hello all.....

just wondering if anyone has made a downrigger themselves......i cant afford to buy a real one,so if there is any hint that you could give me ie.materials and where to get them ,i would be greatly appreciative.

ps....a picture would be great to.....thanks.jez

[charleville]

Jez - it might be profitable to do a search on this site - this topic has been covered before with pics etc. Also, Webby wrote an article in a B&B a couple of years ago about such but I am not sure when it was nor, of course, whether you have been a subscriber and would have the old copies.

However, it may be worthwhile costing out what a home made one might set you back and then have a look at whether your finances might stretch to importing one instead.

There are some things that you will necessarily want on a downrigger such as a clutch/drag of some sort so that if the bottom gear catches on something on the sea floor when you are trolling, it does not pull the back of the boat under water. A lot of people use old Alvey snapper reels for this purpose but when I looked at buying such on ebay or anywhere else, the overall cost of building a downrigger was approaching the cost of importing one. I also had n mind that it would not be hard to sell a brand name downrigger second hand later if I needed to whereas a home made one might just become scrap.

The fact is that you can import a downrigger from the USA and have it delivered to your doorstep for about 40% of the cost of buying one locally.

For example, if you go into a BCF or other Aussie tackle store, you will find that a downrigger like that shown below will cost you $499 or therabouts. You can see from the price below that the price from Cabelas' is USD $130. To ship to Australia to your doorstep will add a flat 20% to the Cabelas' price which takes it to USD $156. At the current exchange rate that equates to AUD$202.87. Your bank will add probably another 50 cents to the credit card transaction because it is an international transaction. (Any excuse will do, me thinks. ;D )

Note that that price includes a free 8lb weight also.

Cabelas are not the cheapest supplier but they have a good reputation. You should be able to shave another USD $10 of that if you bought somewhere else online. However, I bought mine from Cabelas a couple of years ago and was absolutely delighted with their packing and service. You will have to wait a few weeks for it to arrive but the wait is worthwhile.

So, there is something for you to think about versus buying a snapper winch or rigging old pulleys plus buying the lead weight, the wire, the release clip, a pulley for the end of the boom, making up some sorty of depth counter etc and at the end of it all having something that is obviously home made and of no resale value.

Anyway, good luck to you if you make one. :) Hopefully you won't mind that I have suggested a different alternative. ;)

[StevenM]

Not a bad buy above if you consider they are throwing in the bomb as well

but jez as Bruce said do a search in tackle and accessories chat using the words downrigger and you will come up with a few hits that show some drawings etc from Webby

cheers
Steven

[suzy81]

thanks for that....i think that is how i will go.....otherwise i will end up with a wheelbarrow and a shark rod atached to the back of my boat...... ;)