Anybody make thier own FAD's?

[XpatBubba]

I was thinking about setting a couple out in 2,500 foot of water. Prob going to use concrete filled drum for anchor and a mess of palm fronds up top. Anyone try this before? Results?

[tetepare]

I have done abit of reading into this just by googling on the net etc.

A single drum can and will roll on the sea floor. Better to use 2 or 3 together. Dont have any sharp objects on your drums where the rope may snag on and wear. Dont use palm fronds. Use round bouys or a 3-4 meter pvc pipe 1 foot in diameter filled with foam and one end with some cement for balance. Dont use shackles, swivels or chain. Dont skimp on the quality and strength of the rope. Using 2 much rope can result in tangles when the current stops running.

[didier]

Use engine block the concrete can when to explode

here exemple FAD
http://madarevues.recherches.gov.mg/...s/Cnro7(9).pdf

[Andaman Andy]

Check out the attached PDF it contains just about everything you need to know about FADS and how to make them.

[Capt Lindsay]

We have had luck making 3' cubes out of 1" PVC pipe. We make multiple cubes and tie a couple of hard net floats in the top cube.

They were set so the top of the top cube was about 50' under the surface. Never had any trouble finding them once they were set. They did seem to get a little deeper each year.

We put them in about 260' of water using 1/4" Poly rope and concrete blocks, old propellers, etc. and they worked well for several years until the growth on them dragged them down.

The idea of putting palm frond like material in the strands of the rope is one we need to try.

[Free_Jumper]

Personally never saw it, but had heard several stories of Hatteras Capt's laying out an artificial weed line on slick calm days.

The approach was to lay out sheets of newspaper in a line. Told these floated and lasted some amount of time.
Go off and return later.

My historical time frame for this is Loran A/ C so I don't know how credible. Regardless I always wanted to try it sometime and never did.

Would love to know if this is an edge myth.

[Ace1st]

Yes it works, as a small boy I watched my Dad do this many times. Problem we had was finding it later as the currents moved the paper. Caught many fish this way though.