BobP

To further hijack the thread, I've had best luck with prop spin by friction fitting a buzzbait rivet in the prop's hole and then using a hollow metal bead for a bearing. The rivet stops the prop from wiggling around while it rotates. I think one of the musky guys here on TU suggested it. TC, I think home made may be the best solution. The chrome plated props from stamina and others are not very amenable to reverse bending.

Diemai, size 4 1/2 props are only 1 1/4" long. TC, I've never found any counter-rotating style prop blades. There seem to be only a few prop styles sold by the on-line retailers I've found. Sorry.

Benton, I also use denatured alcohol to thin Devcon when I undercoat. Don't know why but D2T cured with DA cures faster than with lacquer thinner or acetone. I've also used DA to thin D2T clearcoat and had good results. It extends the work time of the epoxy but the time to cure hard is about the same as unthinned D2T in my experience.

rclark12 - I use Devcon 2 Ton 50/50 with denatured alcohol. Etex already contains solvent so I'd just try diluting it less or using it full strength. One reason I like the Devcon is it cures much quicker.

Use acetone or lacquer thinner - just 3-4 drops after you mix the epoxy, enough to make the epoxy smooth on a little easier - and only if you really need it. I plan doing 2 baits with each batch of epoxy, and I only use one coat of D2T on a bass bait.

I pack the lip slot with epoxy by pushing it in with a piece of ss wire. You can fill the entire slot like this if you want to. Wipe any stray epoxy off the body with a dry piece of paper towel. Then just push in the lip (dry, no epoxy on it) and the excess will squeeze out the rear corners of the slot. That may leave a small void at the front of the slot but it will prevent epoxy from squeezing out on the lip. You can fill any void at the front of the slot with epoxy when you clearcoat it. If you get a smear of epoxy on the lip's surface, dampen a Qtip in denatured alcohol and remove it before it begins to cure. Denatured alcohol or naphta will not cloud plastic or Lexan. I cut a paper towel into small squares to use as swabs before installing lips. You may use several on each bait. Use them for one wipe and throw it away. And clean your hands with solvent between each bait if you feel any epoxy on them.

I occasionally build rods so also started out with Flexcoat. I found that it yellowed more and faster than others, including Devcon Two Ton epoxy. Since the Devcon costs $2 at Walmart, it's a good cheap alternative. And it cures faster too so you only have to spin it for 45-60 mins. I always epoxy over the eyes. For bass baits, one coat of Devcon or Flexcoat is all you need. If you opt for a "table top epoxy" like Envirotex Lite, 2 coats are better because it goes on thinner.

One neat way to keep track of photos, tweak and resize them to max 400 KB (the max size allowed in the TU gallery) is to download Picasa free from Google.com. It's a slick full featured pic album program that makes it easy to tweak and resize photos while exporting them out of Picasa into to a separate file on your computer. I usually resize to 800 pixels, which is around 50 KB and shows up well on TU galleries. When you want to upload a pic to TU, just follow the prompts you get after selecting "upload" on the gallery menu, then enter the lure info and hit the browse button, which pops up a window of your computer where you can search for and click on the resized photo to upload. There are lots of ways to get it done, this is just the one I use.

I think building a lipped crankbait to your performance specs would be very difficult, especially reaching 16 ft exactly with a 2" bait. I suggest using a fish head spin jig like the Sworming Hornet Fish Head Spin or the Buckeye Lures Su-Spin Blade dressed with a fluke type trailer. A heavy sinking plastic swimbait is also an option. They look like prey fish and allow you to follow the contours of dropoffs closely, which is what you need. They're a readily available option if the fish aren't biting crawfish imitations like a standard skirted jig.

Finlander, I get soft temper ss wire from McMaster-Carr They also sell 1/8 temper ss wire but I haven't tried that. You can compare tensile strengths to get an idea of the relative softness of the 2 types. I use .032 and .040" wire for bass baits and assume a musky bait would require considerably thicker stuff, in the .050 - .064" range.

Createx is good and is the brand most often carried by hobby stores. I also like Smith Wildlife colors, which I order on the internet. Google the brand for sources. The color basecoat I use is simply white acrylic airbrush paint, sprayed over the waterproofing coat. The brand is no big deal to me - I just use a white that is described as "highly pigmented" and may have a name like "Cover White" or "Superhide". You can also use Apple Barrel flat white thinned with water and shot through your brush if you have a large size tip available. It's cheap hobby acrylic paint you can buy at most hobby stores. Hobby acrylics can be used in an airbrush if they are thinned with water to the consistency of milk and if your airbrush has a tip big enough to handle them. Their pigment particles are larger than airbrush paint and they don't contain flow enhancers but they come in a wide range of colors. Airbrush paint is easier to use, runs through an airbrush with fewer clogs but is also more expensive. After painting baits awhile, most guys move toward using airbrush paint only. A bottle of airbrush paint lasts a long time since you use tiny amounts of it at a time, so buying the best isn't actually very expensive. After applying the waterproofing coat (aka primer, undercoating, etc), everything I do is with an airbrush until I brush on the epoxy clearcoat.

I have a listing of nominal densities for various species that says red cedar is 23.7 lb/cu ft and white cedar is 20.0 lbs/cu ft. It doesn't list "eastern red cedar" or "Spanish cedar". If the Spanish is a white cedar type, it might on average be slightly more buoyant. In reality, nominal densities can be misleading. What counts is the actual hunk of wood in your hand - what part of the tree it was cut from, the moisture content, and environmental conditions where the wood was grown. Maybe a TU woodworker knows why Spanish cedar is sought after and costs more than domestic species. My guess it that the reason will not have anything to do with the buoyancy of crankbaits:)

I think deeper diving baits (longer lip at shallow angle) will not work with the line tie on the nose. On lips with the line tie on the lip surface, the closer you move the tie to the nose of the bait, the tighter the action becomes until the bait stops swimming and starts spinning. Having the line tie on the nose is sort of an extreme case of this. I use use ss wire with softer temper, like "safety wire". If you use slightly larger diameter wire, it is still strong but much easier to twist and bend accurately. I twist the wire into a screw eye, bend the eye 90 deg, force the tail through the lip hole and wrap the end back over the top of the lip where I have cut a small slot. Trim and crimp down the end of the twisted wire. Added advantage - it makes the bait easier to tune.

I'm always concerned about mixing epoxy thoroughly and a toothpick seems marginal to me. I save old credit and gift cards and cut them into strips to use for mixing. The plastic dividers you get with bait storage boxes are also good. I get better agitation with a flat plastic stick. I've used acetone, lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol to thin epoxy. They all work and I can't tell any difference in the hardness of the end product. A very few drops are all you need. You just need to thin the epoxy down enough so that it will smooth on a little easier in cool conditions. Too much and you'll have a drippy mess.

If you start sanding off finish and get down to bare wood, you've gone too far! It's very difficult to fix a spot of soft balsa wood when there is hard undercoating or finish around it. I suggest you hand sand the existing finish with 400 grit paper. No need to get too harsh with it - the DT's are buoyant and can easily carry the little bit of finish and clearcoat you'll be adding, so you really only need to scuff up the existing finish to promote adhesion. Wipe it down with some denatured alcohol to remove any particles. Tape off the lip with painter's tape. Shoot a basecoat of white acrylic latex, then the new colors you want. Dry them with a hair dryer as you go. A few hours later, brush on a coat of Devcon Two Ton epoxy, rotate the bait for 30-45 mins until it begins to harden, then hang it for 24 hrs to finish curing the epoxy - and go fishing. Make sure the epoxy is mixed in equal measures and is mixed thoroughly.

Hmm, turning a buoyant topwater into a sinking glider bait is sort of a worst case scenario for tinkering. IMO, you would not want the extra weight in the nose but somewhere near the natural balance point of the bait for best action. You'll need to do some float testing with weight attached temporarily to the outside of the lure until you get the sink rate and action you want. Suspend Strips or stick-on golf club or tennis racket lead tape are what I'd use. When you get the weight right you can smooth the edges of the lead tape and repaint the lure to hide the modifications. You could drill a hole in the top of the bait and drop in lead shot BUT that weight will move around inside the bait - maybe where you don't want it to be.

DT, I sometimes undercoat with DN poly and have had no issues with it. I guess the choice depends on whether you're a guy who wears just a belt or a belt AND suspenders. Some guys just want surface waterproofing and to prevent the wood grain from rising when painted. That's OK for most bass lures. Some need to reinforce and waterproof to maximum depth to harden soft balsa or armor against toothy critters.

Dave, I think you got what you need if you include the pressure regulator and the moisture trap. The regulators usually come with a dial pressure gauge on top. Don't forget the correct size fittings to plumb all the pieces together in series, and use teflon plumbers tape to insure air tightness.

Diemai, PVC, aka polyvinyl chloride, is used here for the same things you describe: an expanded foam to make durable exterior and interior moldings for houses. If yours is a styrene and not vinyl, it's different stuff but may be functionally similar. Maybe a TU Foam Expert can confirm.

Do yourself a favor - get some good split ring pliers to go along with the rings, if you don't already have one. The Texas Tackle pliers have the reputation as the best - around $15.