# Homemade Outriggers?



## T Man (Jul 26, 2013)

Anyone built a set of outriggers at home? I want to be able to run a wide spread while drift fishing for cats, walleye, and wipers. I had originally thought about a 10' stick of 3/4" conduit sleved 2' into a 10' 1" stick of conduit giving me a total of 18' off each side of my boat. My other option would be a set of extendable painters poles. Anyone built anything like this? They will not be used for trolling, only drift fishing.


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## Jonboat Jerry (Jul 28, 2013)

Conduit is seriously heavy, if one side was extended without the other side extended
the weight offset would tip the boat over. Try holding a 18' piece of conduit by one end
and you will get the idea. How big is your boat?
I would recommend aluminum, either the painters poles or a telescoping pool/floor squeegee.
They could be mounted in the oar locks and locked down when extended as well....Jerry


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## sams (Jul 28, 2013)

Look into the extendable paint poles. I am not sure how long they get, but I have seen them used for that purpose.

Sam


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## GTS225 (Jul 29, 2013)

I disagree about the weight of conduit. If one uses EMT thinwall, in the size(s) he's suggesting, there really isn't that much weight to it. I might suggest you wrap that 3/4" EMT with a pool noodle. Not excessive weight, and the noodle will give you a reasonable amount of flotation to your outriggers.

Roger


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## Inkd (Jul 30, 2013)

I built a set out of 4" pvc as the actual outrigger and connected to 1 1/2 and 1 sleeves of pvc and using a reducer on one side then drilled holes into the pcs so it was adjustable. I used this system on a canoe for a few years.


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## Captain Ahab (Jul 30, 2013)

Rod Riggers!


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## surfman (Jul 30, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=324222#p324222 said:


> Inkd » Today, 11:03[/url]"]I built a set out of 4" pvc as the actual outrigger and connected to 1 1/2 and 1 sleeves of pvc and using a reducer on one side then drilled holes into the pcs so it was adjustable. I used this system on a canoe for a few years.


I want to see a picture of this.


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## Inkd (Jul 31, 2013)

Maybe I have it wrong but this is what I thought outriggers where. Ive heard of down riggers as well, am I mistaken?


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## T Man (Aug 3, 2013)

Jonboat Jerry said:


> Conduit is seriously heavy, if one side was extended without the other side extended
> the weight offset would tip the boat over. Try holding a 18' piece of conduit by one end
> and you will get the idea. How big is your boat?
> I would recommend aluminum, either the painters poles or a telescoping pool/floor squeegee.
> They could be mounted in the oar locks and locked down when extended as well....Jerry



Ridgid conduit is heavy, however, EMT is not. The boat is a 1652 john. I can bass fish 2 guys off one side with very little list to the boat. I understand the weight would be further out acting more efficiently as a lever, but overall weight would be less than >10lb per side. 



GTS225 said:


> I disagree about the weight of conduit. If one uses EMT thinwall, in the size(s) he's suggesting, there really isn't that much weight to it. I might suggest you wrap that 3/4" EMT with a pool noodle. Not excessive weight, and the noodle will give you a reasonable amount of flotation to your outriggers.
> 
> Roger





Inkd said:


> I built a set out of 4" pvc as the actual outrigger and connected to 1 1/2 and 1 sleeves of pvc and using a reducer on one side then drilled holes into the pcs so it was adjustable. I used this system on a canoe for a few years.



Wrong kind of outriggers fellas. What I am talking about holds lines out away from the boat, not something to add any stability.


Captain Ahab said:


> Rod Riggers!



I do like the rod riggers, but there are 2 problems. 1) I have nowhere to mount the rocket launcher style holders that rod riggers need. 2) I have 7' rods that I can position almost anywhere anyway I want, as I already have 6 of these style rod holders mounted (2 on the bow deck, 2 midship, and 2 on transom gusset). 






What I am looking for would be something that mounts in the oarlocks with a simple release at the ends so my midship lines can be run wide, covering the most "ground" possible. 

I am leaving mid next week for a vacation of wiper and river cat fishing, but I will put something together when I get back and get a picture or two thrown up.


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## GTS225 (Aug 3, 2013)

WHOOPS! Color most of us em-bare-assed. Looks like Capt. Ahab is the only one with the correct thought process.
Sorry for the confusion.

Roger


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## T Man (Aug 3, 2013)

GTS225 said:


> WHOOPS! Color most of us em-bare-assed. Looks like Capt. Ahab is the only one with the correct thought process.
> Sorry for the confusion.
> 
> Roger



No worries, I should have been a little more specific. Obviously scaled down, but here is what I am looking for:






I do like the PVC outriggers though. I remember canoeing the boundry waters in Canada in high school with the Boy Scouts, we were in the middle of a huge lake when a heck of a storm blew up. We ended up tying canoes together to act as each others outriggers to add some stability until we could get into calmer water. Those would have been pretty handy


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## earl60446 (Aug 3, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=323793#p323793 said:


> T Man » 26 Jul 2013, 19:39[/url]"]Anyone built a set of outriggers at home? I want to be able to run a wide spread while drift fishing for cats, walleye, and wipers. I had originally thought about a 10' stick of 3/4" conduit sleved 2' into a 10' 1" stick of conduit giving me a total of 18' off each side of my boat. My other option would be a set of extendable painters poles. Anyone built anything like this? They will not be used for trolling, only drift fishing.



Some 15ft outriggers can be had for $128 here, probably not worth the trouble of making your own.
https://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=237128&catalogId=&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50842&subdeptNum=50901&classNum=50902#.Uf0jQKymSCg

Whats a wiper?

Tim


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## T Man (Aug 3, 2013)

earl60446 said:


> [url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=323793#p323793 said:
> 
> 
> > T Man » 26 Jul 2013, 19:39[/url]"]Anyone built a set of outriggers at home? I want to be able to run a wide spread while drift fishing for cats, walleye, and wipers. I had originally thought about a 10' stick of 3/4" conduit sleved 2' into a 10' 1" stick of conduit giving me a total of 18' off each side of my boat. My other option would be a set of extendable painters poles. Anyone built anything like this? They will not be used for trolling, only drift fishing.
> ...



Thanks for the link, I will check it out. 

A wiper is a sterile hybrid of a white and striped bass. They are very agressive and a TON of fun to catch. In the mid to late summer they will herd gizzard shad into a tight ball and run them to the surface similar to the way tuna feed. We watch for the shad breaking the surface or gulls circling one specific place and run over to the frenzy. Dump anything that looks like a shad into the mess and hold on.


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## earl60446 (Aug 4, 2013)

Here are some used ones
https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/boa/3954469230.html

Tim


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