Well, my previous attempt at making a GoPro kayak stand ended up becoming a colossal epic fail. The stand was too heavy, too high, two bulky, and seriously affected the way my boat performed. All the things I was trying to avoid (cut me some slack, it was my first kick at the cat!). Needless to say I scrapped the idea, and have since created a great alternative. I have since called it the the "Pucker Pole!"
The idea really came from Eric Jackson's newest concept the Levator GoPro Mount which is a great concept and it planted a seed in my mind. Check out the Eric's video to get an idea of the mount concept.
There are a few things I wanted to ensure I kept in mind in building this new kayak stand.
Firstly, it had to be simple in concept, and with the ability to remove the mount easily for when I stack the boat on top of others.
Secondly, I wanted this to be a cheap project, preferably under $20. Aside from the actual pole mount for the GoPro, the materials came out to be around $20...objective accomplished!
Lastly, I wanted to create something that gave decent stability while creating a 'give' if the pole hit the shallows without it breaking into pieces. Let's face it, it's gonna happen. It's a fine line to draw in giving a good image on the camera without it flexing all over the place. I think I found the solution in this design.
Now, this is a disclaimer. My embarking on this project and modifying your boat, you are now affecting the overall safety of your boat, and the ability to perform rescues. By embarking on this project, you will assume any risk, loss, or potential death in your whitewater activities as a result of this modification. It goes without saying folks, but you will be changing the safety features of the boat from it's original intended purpose. This is your choice.
K, now that that's out of the way, lets get started.
First of all, you will need a few supplies:
- 2 1/4 inch X 2 inch eye bolts
- 1 1/4 inch X 2.5 or 3 inch eye bolt
- 2 1/4 inch X 1.5 inch bolt & nuts
- 1 1/4 inch wingnut
- Small aluminum pole (broom pole works the best)
- Toilet flange
- Toilet plunger
- GoPro Pole Mount
- Ethafoam shim
- Drill
- Hacksaw
- File
- 1/4 drill bit
- 1/2 drill bit
- 1 and 1 1/8 inch wood drill bit
Again, to reiterate, you are modifying the safety aspects of your boat now, so please be sure you are good with doing this.
Now that the handle is gone, go ahead and line up the toilet flange to the holes created from the grab handle. You will see that they line up quite nicely, but you will also see that the toilet flange overlaps the drain plug, which is not good.
The flange is used to provide the necessary rigidity for the mount and to keep the base secure and in place. It is just very convenient that the base lines up perfectly to the pre drilled holes of the Jackson boats.
So the next step is to get your piece of Ethafoam, likely just a spare hip pad shim, and place it between the two bolt holes in the boat. No need to glue the shim in place as the compression created from bolting the flange down will keep it adequately stable.
Go ahead now and line up the toilet flange back in place with the small shim between the flange and the boat.
You will notice, that even with just a good hand tightening, that the base is super secure, and is easy to remove if you so require.
Being that it has creates a nice seal even on its own, we want to be sure the plunger will not come free from the flange in the throws of the whitewater excitement.
We are doing this for two reasons, one is to ensure that the plunger part does not become separated from the base toilet flange and two, to ensure that the plunger does not rotate, taking your camera out of alignment.
The last step is now securing the pole. Take your aluminum pole and cut it to about a 2 foot section. Place the pole into the plunger hole, and push down just until you meet slight resistance at the bottom (the pole is now hitting the Ethafoam), and just pull back about a 1/2 inch on the pole.
Next take your last 1/4" X 2.5 or 3" eye bolt and thread it through the rubber, the pole, and through to the other side of the plunger neck. I use a 1/4" wing nut now to tighten the pole in place. You can really tighten this up if you want.
I typically will leave the plunger and the flange in place permanently unless it is necessary for me to remove it, and just remove the pole with the eyebolt and wingnut.
Even though the pole is straight up vertical, it still gives a great shot. It is also the most stable while in a vertical position as well. This pole will now have a bit of give, about 15-20 degrees of give, but it's enough to create the give needed, to absorb the impact, and hopefully clear the obstruction. The rigidity of the plunger / flange combination also provides adequate stability without too much wobble.
Well, that's it, I hope your project goes well for you! In all this took about 30 minutes of my time, and I got all the supplies from my local hardware store...for under 20 bucks!
Happy yakin all! Eric