Just wanted to start by saying that it's good to be back on Trapperman again. Nothing happened, life just got busy, and it got pushed to the side. Figured I'd give out some background of my trapping for the year up to this point. I did some rat and k9 trapping this fall, ended up with 39 rats and 2 coyotes, and some mink, coons, etc. This year, I figured that I would try to go big or go home with the rats and go for a goal of 1,000. To do this, I'm building another 100+ floats and realized I didn't have enough of my favorite fiberglass poles for them. So here's where you guys come in. I need help choosing my next float stakes to use for these other 100+ floats I plan to build. Here's the price breakdown of what I've figured out so far. I will be basing it on cost, weight, and life expectancy.

Wood: 1"x2"x8' board divided by 2 stakes is $1.25 a piece, the only concern with this is how long a life can I realistically get out of them, while they're the cheaper option and lighter weight.

Rebar: 1/2" x 20' stick, divided by 3 stakes, is $2.50 per stake. The concern with this is the weight, as rebar is very heavy when you have 100+ stakes of it. The life expectancy on this is years and years, so not much concern.

Fiberglass from the farm store: 3/8" x 6' is $3.20 per piece, and 3/8" x 7' is $3.75 per piece. The concern with this is more or less the price; they're almost identical to the ones I use currently.

Fiberglass from Amazon: 3/8" x 6' is $2.20 a piece. The concern with this is that I've never tried these before, and not sure if they'll give off fiberglass splinters or not, and if they will last.

Driveway markers: 5/16" x 6' are $1.10 a piece. The concern is if they will splinter badly and if they will actually hold up.

1/2" SCH 40 PVC pipe: 1/2" x 20' stick divided by 3 stakes is $2.00 per stake. The concern with this is if it will actually hold up to the wind, sun, etc and if it will actually keep the float staked. As well as the life expectancy, I know that PVC can get brittle in the sun. It will be stored inside, except for a few weeks out of the year when I'm actually using them for float trapping.

I think this list, for the most part, covers my options, but I'm open to any others that you guys may have. I'm leaning more towards either the PVC or the fiberglass poles from Amazon due to their return policies, and if I'm not happy with them, I can get my money back. Time does play a little bit of a factor in this, as I have a couple of weeks. I will more than likely start another post of my progress until then, and then my actual trapping adventures when I start to do so. Thanks in advance to anyone who comments and helps me out with this. I would also not be against buying used, so if you have rebar stakes 6'+ in length or fiberglass, please pm me and we can discuss further. As well as any used floats that may need work or anything like that.

The gray PVC electrical conduit will hold up better to sunlight (UV) than the white stuff.
I would use the 1 inch.

What Mike said.

And get some expandable foam to fill the ends so they don't' fil up with mud.

Did you get the bucket truck?

Yes, I did end up buying it for $4,100 and put about $900 into it. And then paid it off in 3 jobs, so it was a good deal. Now I'm trying to sell it to buy a 55' reach or bigger.

There are some places you can buy 4 foot hardwood lath pieces. They will hold up well, fairly light, they will float if needed and can be dipped in bright paint easily as can most of the others. I picked up several dozen of this type after a large farm show where these were used for marking etc. That was 1997 and I still have almost all of them today.

Bryce