From: Tom Schneeman...
I made the buoys myself using approximately 15" of the 48" long foam pool toys you can probably get at X-Mart and a piece of 3\4" copper tubing about 12" long glued to the inside of the foam piece with about 8" of the tubing sticking out the bottom.
If you are interested I can send you more detailed plans. We don't have a committee boat so we rigged up these buoys so they can be thrown into place from shore. Once you get the hang of it setting up the course takes about 15 minutes or so. I am still working on a method which would enable us to move the marks more easily in a wind shift. If you have anymore questions please let me know.
Tom
I made the buoys myself using approximately 15" of the 48" long foam pool toys you can probably get at X-Mart and a piece of 3\4" copper tubing about 12" long glued to the inside of the foam piece with about 8" of the tubing sticking out the bottom.
If you are interested I can send you more detailed plans. We don't have a committee boat so we rigged up these buoys so they can be thrown into place from shore. Once you get the hang of it setting up the course takes about 15 minutes or so. I am still working on a method which would enable us to move the marks more easily in a wind shift. If you have anymore questions please let me know.
Tom
From: Tom Causin
Major outdoor Sport stores sell Slalom buoys in several different colors for ~$5 each. They can be found at most major outdoor sport stores. These are nice, 10" round or so, heavy weight buoys with a tie point on the bottom. A simple vertical band of black waterproof tape can provide stripes to see if the buoy was touched.
{Ed Note: I took the buoys and marked the molded in recessed grooves with a Sharpie permanent marker to see the mark touches}
{Webmaster's note: a 10 inch sphere can hide several Footys. It does not take much air to completely fill the shape. The smaller, the better the view of the boats rounding the mark.
Yellow appears best as many men are color blind (Reds and Greens can appear brown}
Major outdoor Sport stores sell Slalom buoys in several different colors for ~$5 each. They can be found at most major outdoor sport stores. These are nice, 10" round or so, heavy weight buoys with a tie point on the bottom. A simple vertical band of black waterproof tape can provide stripes to see if the buoy was touched.
{Ed Note: I took the buoys and marked the molded in recessed grooves with a Sharpie permanent marker to see the mark touches}
{Webmaster's note: a 10 inch sphere can hide several Footys. It does not take much air to completely fill the shape. The smaller, the better the view of the boats rounding the mark.
Yellow appears best as many men are color blind (Reds and Greens can appear brown}
I also got a mesh laundry bag to carry and store them in
From: David Goebel former V32 Class Secretary
Before seeing Tom's suggestion I made my own buoys out of pool floats and galvanized pipe and pipe caps. Using a pool rope float I purchased 18" long galvanized pipe (pre-threaded, both ends) that just fits in the pool float center hole. I used the end caps for that same pipe which keeps the pipe from slipping out of the pool float. In one end cap I drilled a small hole for a threaded eyebolt to pass thru and fastened the eye bolt to the cap with the appropriate nut and lock nut. From this eye bolt I run regular old heavy duty kite line to a home made spool. I run that line thru a large split ring that I've attached four 4oz sinkers to. Here's a crude drawing.
Before seeing Tom's suggestion I made my own buoys out of pool floats and galvanized pipe and pipe caps. Using a pool rope float I purchased 18" long galvanized pipe (pre-threaded, both ends) that just fits in the pool float center hole. I used the end caps for that same pipe which keeps the pipe from slipping out of the pool float. In one end cap I drilled a small hole for a threaded eyebolt to pass thru and fastened the eye bolt to the cap with the appropriate nut and lock nut. From this eye bolt I run regular old heavy duty kite line to a home made spool. I run that line thru a large split ring that I've attached four 4oz sinkers to. Here's a crude drawing.
I pay out all the line on the shore sliding the sinkers on the ring up to the eye bolt on the buoy, wind up and toss it out. Be Sure to keep the spool end of the line secured to something on the shore....The sinkers travel with the buoy until they hit the water and the sinkers sink to the bottom. I reel in the excess line and the buoy is suspended above the sinkers. Here's another crude drawing.
From: Sam Wilfond
The attached photos show a way of making Markers buoys. I do not take credit for this idea way of making the buoys from a toilet float. I found the photo on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RCTugboat . I followed the suggestion from the photos and found it was a quick and easy way of making buoys. You might wish to add these photos to the page on how to make marker buoys.
Thanks and good sailing
Sam
The attached photos show a way of making Markers buoys. I do not take credit for this idea way of making the buoys from a toilet float. I found the photo on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RCTugboat . I followed the suggestion from the photos and found it was a quick and easy way of making buoys. You might wish to add these photos to the page on how to make marker buoys.
Thanks and good sailing
Sam
