Transom Mounted Chum Churn

[longfisher]

Those of you who own and use chum churns are going to appreciate this thread.

If you do own and use one, as great as they are, they have some short-comings.

Firstly, they're a true mess when you bring them aboard to move from spot to spot. All the loaded chum and bits and pieces spill onto the deck when it's laid inside the gunwale. It's a mess to clean up and a danger to the crew given how slick it can be.

Secondly, I'm on my second chum churn because they're so easy to lose over the side if someone doesn't take care hanging them on the gunwale or carefully placing the end of the handle in a rod holder. It's a constant worry for me when I take along those who aren't used to it.

Thirdly, feeding the thing at sea requires you to raise it mostly out of the water with one hand and stuff the chum bits with the other. It invariably bangs the gunwale and scuffs the gelcoat and both of your hands are busy without one on the boat in a rough sea.

Answer, mount the darned thing on the transom. We had to modify it a bit but not much, as follows:

1) Eliminate the protruding pole and spring on the bottom so it would not extend beyond the bottom of the churn (spring is inside).

2) Extend the in-feed chute so that it's at a convenient level to easily feed chunks from the cutting board.

3) Cut off that ridiculously long Little Bo Peep handle and install a simple bike handle on the end of the resulting shorter handle.

Now, not all the churn's business end is in the water all the time. But with my waterline and where it's mounted on my boat about a third of it is when the sea is calm.

But who's lucky enough to go fishing all the time when the sea is calm. I'm usually dealing with at least 2 ft. seas and often 3 - 4's when we fish offshore. That sort of rise and fall of the boat coupled with the passing wave crest rinses the whole length of the perforated chamber containing the chum...no problem. Even 2 ft. seas do a remarkably good job.

Oh, the straps holding the churn are called Quick Fists and a goodle search will allow you to find numerous suppliers. They come in various sizes. The one we used was recommended to hold large cylinder-type fire extinguishers on firetrucks.

The hanging ends can be cut of, if desired. But we've just left them hanging as they don't cause any problems and it's simpler to use the hanging end to close the clamp as it gives you more leverage.

We were careful to mount the thing in such a position that it didn't interfere with the operation of the outboard and so that it was well above the bottom of the transom, in this installation about 5 - 6 inches. This so as to avoid any chance that the slip stream from the boat while underway would tend to rip the churn from the transom.

I guess I shouldn't have been so worried about this as my transponer sits in the slip stream at all speeds and at all sea states without any problem. But better safe than....

If anyone wants more details on the installation or has questions feel free to either PM or phone my cell at (deleted due to too many wierdos on this board to be open about things like that).

I'm not sure if the pics attached. Maybe I need a tutorial.


LongFisher

[lilharcher]

very cool idea and execution....

[34SILVERTON]

looks cool. nice post

[24/7 BAIT CO.]

nice clean job, looks great

[longfisher]

Hmmmm,

Sent a copy of the pics to a pal and he said when he first saw the churn affixed to the boat he thought the in-fead chute must contain a grinder or something that would chop up the raw chum and then feed it into the chum churn. Well, it doesn't but what a great idea, huh?

If it were 12 volt it could be just used to run off the two deep cycle batteries I keep aboard. That'd make it incredibly simple to prepare chum on site, provided the amps drawn weren't too high. Preparing the chum on site would also reduce the amount of time required to prepare for an offshore trip and would eliminate all the chum I currently store in the freezer (leaving more room for fillets).

So, I've been looking at 12 volt macerators and have even considered looking into 120 volt garbage disposals which could be rewired to 12 volt. Not much luck so far as the macerators appear to be principly for bathroom waste (no bones there I hope) and for cleaning out fish box residue via the box drain, I can't find any 12 volt garbage disposals and I really don't know how to rewire a 120 volt appliance to run on 12 volt.

Anybody know how to do this or have any other suggestions?

LongFisher

[neilinov]

you can install a power inverter and then plug directly into it with the 120v disposal.