DGagner

That's okay I understand. You're probably right. It must just be me. Sorry you wasted your time by typing up a big response. But I'm gllad you didn't sent it. I'll bet it was really good though. Sometimes just writing a letter and not sending it, but telling the person you gave them a piece of your mind without actually doing it can make you feel better.

Gee, a wisecrack just because I pointed out that 0.1 g/cm3 might affect the result very little and you point out you fudged the formula to take into account if the water is cold or warm. That means that with the formula, when the lure is built, you can be confident that it might float, be neutral, or sink when it's made depending on the time of year you fish it. There are variables that affect the lure, sure. The 0.1 is one of them. But not much more than other things like the temperature or a fudge factor in a calculation.

Is it me but if the density of epoxy is about 1.1 g/cm3 then it seems to have almost neutral buoyancy in water? So one or two or three coats would affect buoyancy a little but it can almost be ignored. Or at least held in the mind as making a slight difference.

I made a bunch of baits in a row. Time for a change of pace. Putting the finishing coats on this and will string it up in the near future. Nice to mix it up for a change.

When I started last year I researched for a long time then dove in. I initially made a six part series of making my first bait. The first video is all the tooling up I did to get started. It's still valid today even though I've deviated on a few things. It's here should you care to watch it.

Far from those places. I'm in the southern tip. A little lake area called Acton. Near Sanford and about 30 miles south of Portland. The area I'm at is a resort area. A string of 22 lakes some small, some big. The one I live on is 4 1/2 miles long. Mousam Lake.

I used to use alumi-uv. Good stuff. They stopped shipping for a long time this winter so I tried the chinese stuff in the black bottle you see on amazon. Recommended in a comparison test by the 'engineered angler' on youtube. It's a lot less on ebay so I got it there. About half the alumi-uv price. I've been using it since. 200g bottles. I make baits one at a time. As far as durability, I can't speak to that too much. They are at least as good as 2 part epoxy as that's all Ive ever used before. I only fish the lake I live at, bass, pickerel, crappie, a trout or two. It holds up good against the pickerel which would be the meanest fish I've encountered. Maybe someone can answer that question who's had that experience.

Well, you got one up (maybe two up ) on me. My boat is powered by trolling motors and the fishing this year was soooo bad. They drained the lake to fix the dam and afterwards the fishing stank. The year before it was so good. Night and day. My boat hits a max 2.5 mph. I usually troll at 1.4-2.0 mph but my two hundred amp batteries go for hours. On a calmer day it's pretty nice. I launch it in May and take it out in October. Maine, so the season ends after awhile. I live on the lake so it's the only place I fish but the lake is 4.5 miles long so lots of space. Glad your actuator worked out.

UV resin. I used to use 2 part epoxy, and it's actually pretty good but I like the UV stuff better. Seems to go on easier, no bubbles, smoother brushing, and it's hard in 30 minutes under lights.

Never tried it. Here in Maine Douglas fir and spruce are only sold and used as framing lumber. It's sort of like pine I guess which I do use so it should be okay. I've never considered it but if it was good it would be great because Home Depot is loaded with it and per board foot it's pretty cheap.

Maybe..... I'll have to give it a try. I don't hold out that it will help much but hey, why not. Easy enough to do with a pair of pliers.

Update: I never did indicate how it went in the water. This summer I fished it a bit, mostly to just see the movement. It has a sort of streamer swim to it. You know, not much movement. The flash just folds back neatly in the hooks and it pulls fairly strait. Not much action at all. One for the storage bin I guess. I was just sitting there in the shop one day not knowing what to make and Stargate jumped into my head. A couple hours later this happened. No biggy.

I'm just in it for the fun of it... a good pandemic hobby for sure. I gave up on the chisels. A good razor knife that I can change the blade in and I whittle it down then sand it smooth.If it's pine or cedar it carves easily and you just end up with a few chips on the floor. It's a small amount of wood. I originally thought that it had to be put in a vise and chiseled after marking contour marks on the thing. Doing it by eye is the easiest for me. They always come out symmetrical. Just eyeballing it along the length. I do manage other woodworking too, furniture, guitars and such so I can say that a jointer, planer, router are stuff that you do need for that stuff and it's pretty nice to have in that case, but for something you can hide in your hand... no necessary.

What you've got is fine. For the size that baits are few boards need straightening for 3-6". For furniture making yes, but the power tools that you've got you're okay. You actually don't need the router btw. I never use one. A razor knife and sandpaper is fine for taking down the edges. You can carve a bait ready to paint with holes and lead in the belly in 30 to 60 minutes. Bandsaw it, carve it, sand it, drill holes. It's a pretty simple process actually for a standard single segment bait.

The link worked. Nice job. I wired mine with just a DPDT switch. The relays weren't necessary for me to make it work. I purchased a linear actuator that is used to move solar arrays. You can order them in many lengths so I got one that was just about the right size to turn the motors. As you can see I ganged two motors together and put a piece of pvc pipe over it for weather. My boat is a converted sailing catamaran, always a work in progress. I just like building things. The steering mechanism has proven to be very good and reliable. Just not super fast but that's okay.