old wood gun remodeling project

Sweet! John thanks for the blow by blow. Learned enough to peak my interest. Thanks and nice work.

Sweet! John thanks for the blow by blow. Learned enough to peak my interest. Thanks and nice work.

thanks randall, i ended up drilling it myself with the lathe. it was ok but made me nervous. i need a better setup. definitely adding length to an already existing gun was not all that hard but drilling was. The gun is now 56 " long not including shaft. i wanted a low overhanging shaft to save shaft weight and get more power from the bands to the shaft.

now i will add ballast to the back and wood stock of the gun with teak wood this week. and then a little sanding and marine spar varnish. probably wont need much but a little ballast would help the tracking of the gun when underwater. since the handles at the rear and not in the middle there is more gun to swing around and adding ballast behind the handle may help with this.

i'll post more pics when i get the teak and varnish done this week.

i wonder how it will shoot. should be interesting: )

john

 John,
Your gun looks good!
 Watch out with the 5 minute epoxy.Most of that type is not truly waterproof.I've had it soften up to a rubbery texture and then let loose.I usally have good luck with 2 hour cure or boatbuilding formulations.

John,
Your gun looks good!
 Watch out with the 5 minute epoxy.Most of that type is not truly waterproof.I've had it soften up to a rubbery texture and then let loose.I usally have good luck with 2 hour cure or boatbuilding formulations.

i agree, i have had bad results. this is west systems boat epoxy: ) here is tonight's work, adding ballast, teak pieces. thanks for the reminder too!

Looking good dude!How could that not fly straight and stone a seabass or a yellowtail?

Looking good dude!How could that not fly straight and stone a seabass or a yellowtail?

man, if the gun could do that, i think the user would be the one who could not: ) i have seen wsb but never got a shot on one. the only large ones i saw were at cortes bank and they went right by me when i had the gun pointed the opposite way. just my luck: ) also at san clemente they scooted just below me and i was chatting away with a friend: )

john

looks messy now but the sides are on, epoxy and stainless screws buried in more epoxy. tomorrow i apply the spar varnish to wrap it up.

talk about polishing a turd.

will post more manana.

alrighty then, the spar varnish is on and its hung up drying. i think that about wraps it up. i am taking the gun to the boat harbor in rwc near where i live to do ballast with shaft in just slightly negative.

i'll be using fishing weights to hang on the gun and then will do a melt and pour in the wood , then seal it all up with more epoxy. i think thats it for now.

Now the handle just needs a paint job to go with the shiny new spar varnish. 

That last photo needs the caption "Dance, Ab, Dance..."

too cool John. what did the final length end up at. I can't wait to see it locked and loaded. It will be interesting to see how much lead it takes. Thats a pretty good chunk of wood, I bet it will be suprising. wheres rwc boat harbor?

too cool John. what did the final length end up at. I can't wait to see it locked and loaded. It will be interesting to see how much lead it takes. Thats a pretty good chunk of wood, I bet it will be suprising. wheres rwc boat harbor?

it sure will be interesting to see how much weight this will take: )

the rwc boat hoarbor is off seaport and left on a street, i think called chesapeke?

real easy access of  and maybe a good way to paddle out on a kayak. its right next to the marine discovery center thing there.

i have only launched there once even though its minutes from my ghetto, i just wanted to test my ff. there was a shady person in a truck watching me the whole time and i didnt want to stay out long.

john

Yep, the kayak put-in/boat ramp at RWC harbor is at the end of Chesapeake. I used to work in the buildings right there. I could walk my kayak to the put-in and paddle for hours after work. This was in my pre-kayakfishing days. I did witness a fantastic grass shrimp event though. The water was churning with fish activity. I wound up with a 24" striper, caught on a 5'6" ultralight rod using 2 lb test and a size 14 egg hook. I lost 4 fish prior though, so I wouldn't recommend that tackle for stripers in general. I went back the next night armed with more information on minimum size, edibility, and heavier tackle. But there were no grass shrimp or fish to be found...

Regards,
Scott

Yep, the kayak put-in/boat ramp at RWC harbor is at the end of Chesapeake. I used to work in the buildings right there. I could walk my kayak to the put-in and paddle for hours after work. This was in my pre-kayakfishing days. I did witness a fantastic grass shrimp event though. The water was churning with fish activity. I wound up with a 24" striper, caught on a 5'6" ultralight rod using 2 lb test and a size 14 egg hook. I lost 4 fish prior though, so I wouldn't recommend that tackle for stripers in general. I went back the next night armed with more information on minimum size, edibility, and heavier tackle. But there were no grass shrimp or fish to be found...

Regards,
Scott

wow Scott, i did not know fish would be ther at all. it looks so stagnant sometimes there. say, how did you manage with 2lb test line? thats amazing considering the type of fighter a striper is as well.

i think i would like to go paddle there sometime. someone said to mark the outgoing and incoming tide as once you get towards the bay the curent can pick up and it can be a real bear coming back in. i hear there are seals there as well to see so i think it would be a neat paddle area.

john

I never felt that the current was an issue, and I paddled every sort of tide and wind condition possible. I even lead a WSK full moon trip out to the sunken ship one Halloween. Wind chop in the Bay proper, especially in the afternoons is a point of concern. I've seen it better than 3', and it feels like the wave period is just about the length of the kayak. Though in reality, it's more like 30' or so.

If you really want to check out the area, I suggest starting out about 2-3 hours before the high tide point, and really spending some time in the itty bitty channels in the Bair Island area. If you do go in here, again, current isn't a problem, but minus tides are. Don't get stuck out there for hours.

Regards,
Scott

I just got back from belize, where the locals dive rivers for big tilapia.  for basic materials, they use a steel shaft, surgical tubing and they scrounge the rest- it was quite a sight to see!