Been tinkering in the shop past couple mornings...I need some take-apart beaver rods so I can carry several in the sled and SxS.

Saw Seldom's YT video of a sectional beaver drowning rod. I used his as a starting point, but changed many features....a) used the 1/2" conduit as the connector instead of the actual rod, b) welded some metal flanges on the rebar to attach slide cable to instead of using cable pigtails, c) shortened the top end rebar section about 2" so I can attach quick links then pull rebar back towards top to tighten slide cable then drop in pin to hold in place with tight slide cable.

I used the flat stake swivel with big nail and welded. Same setup for staking that I have on other drowning rods.

Can also make an extension or 3 for deeper depths.

I have some minor changes in nut-bolt-pin hardware I'm gonna change, but the prototype is mostly satisfactory. Gonna build about 6 total and test next week.



I'm holding it from the bottom end...

Very nice!

I've kicked around an idea similar to that but couldn't figure out the lock issue going over the joints. Never thought about adding an attachment point for adding a separate cable.

Not half bad for an old guy!

That idea came from Ol'Seldom!!

Too much time on my retired hands....lol

I think keeping that 1/8" cable tight is the key to it staying kink free longer amd working correctly. But, new cable slides are easy to make.

Has anyone ever made a drowner rod with a cable attached top and bottom so you could set two traps on separate slides?

The prototype is a little over 8' long....100".

The 2 rebar sections are 50" each. The conduit was a 10' section cut in 3 equal sections of 40" each. The rebar is inserted 20" into the conduit until the ends touch. I did this for ultimate strength, but not sure that much is needed.

I had already made that slide cable and didn't want to make another until I liked how it was going. Initially, the cable ends, with quick links, would not reach to attach. To shorten the attachment locations meant the cable would be too slack for my liking. So, with the fixed cable attachments ends welded, I decided to shorten the top end rebar 2". Then I could attach the quick link. Then, pull top section back out some to tighten cable. I drilled a hole and pinned it with the cable tight. This worked perfectly! To loosen cable and dismantle the rod...pull pin 1st. The 2" "slack" enables easy dismantling. Keep the coiled slide cable attached to the bottom section of the rod.

Tip: attach the conduit to the bottom section of rebar...not the top. When assembling you'll be glad you did....lol.

Nice rigging

Any of y'all industrious folks ever tried to develop a threaded sectional drowning rod? Connected together like a rod for a gun cleaning kit.

Simple. Weld a piece of threaded rod to each length of rebar. Then purchase some rod couplings and screw It together.

Never tried to build one that threads together, but the components are available to do so. It is cost prohibitive for me.

Threaded rod and rod couplings are CHEAP

With the rod couplings could the lock slide down the rod itself or would that require drilling and threading one end(female end) and threading the other end(male end)?

I must have looked at something different than you.

What I looked at was not threaded and it was $$.

Just looked at the cheap threaded stuff...

Could take a sort section of threaded rod and weld on end of rebar as you say. Then weld threaded coupler on other section of rebar to make a drowner with the slide cable, but the coupler wouldn't allow a lock to slide on the rebar.

Cheaper to use the conduit. And it makes a stronger rig...if you're welding skills are as bad as mine...lol

Update: 2 Beavers on the break-down drowner rods this morning. Cable slides performed well. Both were at the bottom of rod...lights out. But, the big female found the weak part of the rod (where the two sections meet in the middle of the conduit. She was able to bend it slightly (about 4 inches). I straightened it easily. I hadn't considered that was bendable, but if a beaver gets the lower end of rod up from the bottom, I think the rod could be bent badly by a larger beaver.

Gonna have to re-engineer some rigidity in that section of the rod. 1/2" steel pipe may be better than conduit. Heavier but much stronger. Can still take apart, which is the main feature.

Good job swampy.

Trial and error. Better to find out now where as you can fix it before it becomes a major issue.