Float storage?

[binka]

For regular (non-pole) floats I’m currently using float tubes which I find far from ideal as you have to tip the lot out to get to what you want and they can clank around.

My ideal would be something along the lines of the old, slim wooden float boxes of which some were a thing of beauty but the downside was their weight…



Maybe the way forward would be something along the lines of the old wooden boxes but in plastic (urgh!)… Does anyone know of such a thing in a similar size to what the wooden ones were made to instead of the long slim ones I’ve come across occasionally?

It would be nice to have a specific box for bodied wagglers, straight peacocks, sticks, Avons etc so that just the desired ones could be grabbed for a particular session.

What does everyone else do for their float storage?

I reckon this will almost certainly end up as a “shed job”… I wonder if balsa would harden enough if used for the outer framework after a coat or two of tough varnish and some thin ply for the top and bottom with a nice coat of stain prior to varnishing, it might just be the best of both worlds?

 

[chefster]

To be honest Steve,i keep all my loaded pellet wags in one tube,unloaded in another,all straight in another etc,just have to tip them out as you say,keep them all in my carryall...all pole floats needed are on winders,dont know what to suggest mate..Gazza

 

[maggot_dangler]

Not exactly very nice to look at but sheets of plastic thick enough to be semi rigid with strips of dense foam glued on with slots for the floats you could even make them double sided with a few blocks of foam to seperate them ..

PG

 

[nicepix]

I have the same dilema. The box is currently 'resting' after failing to impress and the tube is only marginally better. While it is easier to transport it is, as Binka describes, a pain to use.

The answer lies in the past; A roll up wallet with elasticated loops to hold the floats. Something like this, but three or four time the size and made out of canvas so it is rolled up. Haven't seen one for ages.

 

[greenie62]

Not exactly very nice to look at but sheets of plastic thick enough to be semi rigid with strips of dense foam glued on with slots for the floats you could even make them double sided with a few blocks of foam to seperate them ...

Alan Tyler had a similar pattern for 'filing' his floats using a plastic A4 binder from the £1 shop with strips of dense foam and slots - if he's looking in he may well point you in the right direction.

 

[sumtime]

The last couple or so years I've been using a Starplast organiser box, brilliant! big enough to take the largest float you will need and it takes some goose quills I made up.
Doesn't bog me down but takes enough terminal tackle for my needs, the bigger the container, the more yer carry, with this box I can just slip it in a small backpack too.

 

[bracket]

I don't bother too much about storage. I have a plastic box for stick floats and a similar box, plus tubes, for wagglers, dependent on the length. Pole floats are easy, on to a winder and to in trays in my On Box. This might sound somewhat laid back but I tend to make nearly all my own floats and will modify them on the bank if needs be. I regularly chop the stick off a stick float to use it as a small balsa in shallow water or cut a peacock waggler in half. I see it as a normal practice and can always make more to replace those I have "mackled" up. It gives you something to do on a dull winters day. Pete.

 

[rubio]

I seem to have a lot of 'mackled up' floats but rarely to improve them just cackhanded is all.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

I use tubes for my wagglers, with a piece of foam stuck in each end of the cap, this stops them from getting damaged either end.

For my stick floats I use a plastic pencil box. They do come in a few sizes, and the inside slides out so you don't have to tip the lot out. Plus when you slide the inside back in, there is a tag that folds over with a push fixing that locks it in place.

One of my son's got it for me from an arts shop

 

[sam vimes]

I don't recall seeing a similar flat float box in plastic for sale in a tackle shop for quite a few years. The last I recall was a Seymo one, like the one linked here.

The best bet might be to find a suitable non-fishing box then fit the adhesive split foam strips yourself.

 

[greenie62]

I don't recall seeing a similar flat float box in plastic for sale in a tackle shop for quite a few years. The last I recall was a Seymo one, like the one linked here.
The best bet might be to find a suitable non-fishing box then fit the adhesive split foam strips yourself.

Totally agree Sam,
There are some quite good strong plastic boxes in the likes of Wickes, Wilkos, and B&Ms, which have a DIY partitioning system.
Ironically the Seymo box illustration shows that half the floats are too long for the box and project above the lip!

 

[Alan Tyler]

This is the sort of thing I use When I need to take a fair few floats : Plastic Box File A4.

For big, expensive and loaded floats, I'll use Middy slotted foam, but for most, I just partition the box, using a sheet of A4 craft foam as a base, and strips cut from a camping mat to make the walls. The result weighs little, and holds a lot - and the more floats you put in, the less they can rattle about and damage each other.

Tube for longer floats than will fit; various smaller boxes for small numbers.

If going down the wallet or tool-roll routes, make sure they have flaps to fold over the free ends of the floats, or you'll be forever losing them. You sense my pain? M&S made a wallet for anglers; lovely, it looked; different sizes of pockets for hooks, bits-boxes and floats - most of which fell out unless you wedged it in the box with paranoid zeal.

 

[chub_on_the_block]

I still use a very heavy wooden box to store all my floats, which is great for short walks etc. I have had it since i was 15, about 35 years now, so i am loath to move on to anything else - see pic below.

I am though putting together a lightweight tackle box for roving and to keep in the car to catch the odd hour here or there when i can. I would go with Sam or Alan's ideas above, with perhaps a couple of dozen floats at most. I also have a "Carp system" plastic tackle box for the rest of the terminal tackle.

 

[bennygesserit]

I have the same dilema. The box is currently 'resting' after failing to impress and the tube is only marginally better. While it is easier to transport it is, as Binka describes, a pain to use.

The answer lies in the past; A roll up wallet with elasticated loops to hold the floats. Something like this, but three or four time the size and made out of canvas so it is rolled up. Haven't seen one for ages.

Wow that wallet takes me back a few years

 

[vort]

Click-lock bacon box for me. Long enough for any of my floats and shallow enough that you can see them all when the lid is off. The pound shop version is good enough.

 

[binka]

Thanks for the replies fellas, i'll have a good think on everything.

I followed the link from an image search on Goggle and found the perfect thing except that it was from a medical supplies company in California, I followed another link on their website back to the UK distributor but they didn't list it and I don't reckon they'll be interested in flogging me half a dozen all the way from the States.

Might be worth asking for half a dozen samples for this multi-million pound deal I'm putting together for the right supplier :wh

I've got four packs of unopened float box foam in one of the drawers in the garage although I can't remember buying 'em and I'm baffled as to what I was thinking when I did with so much of the stuff

 

[flightliner]

For regular (non-pole) floats I’m currently using float tubes which I find far from ideal as you have to tip the lot out to get to what you want and they can clank around.

My ideal would be something along the lines of the old, slim wooden float boxes of which some were a thing of beauty but the downside was their weight…



Maybe the way forward would be something along the lines of the old wooden boxes but in plastic (urgh!)… Does anyone know of such a thing in a similar size to what the wooden ones were made to instead of the long slim ones I’ve come across occasionally?

It would be nice to have a specific box for bodied wagglers, straight peacocks, sticks, Avons etc so that just the desired ones could be grabbed for a particular session.

What does everyone else do for their float storage?

I reckon this will almost certainly end up as a “shed job”… I wonder if balsa would harden enough if used for the outer framework after a coat or two of tough varnish and some thin ply for the top and bottom with a nice coat of stain prior to varnishing, it might just be the best of both worlds?

Steve, stay away from balsa, I, worked with timber most of my life( when I worked in Mansfield it was woodenheads lol)
No- the timber you want is Jellatong, its the very tree they tap rubber from, when its seasoned and dry you often find tiny slivers of latax in it.
That aside its really really light but has all the strength and durability needed for a float box.
Made mine over thirty years ago and its still as good as the day it was done.
Any timber merchant selling exotic hardwoods should have some in stock.
I, ll let you off with butt joints , leave the dovetailing to the pro's.

 

[lutra]

I hope my wife don't see this thread or she might stop buying loads of pringles for christmas.

I can get a couple of dozen floats in a fox box with all the other end tackle I need for a fishing trip. The rest of the vast and growing hoard can stay in the pringle tubes at home.

 

[chub_on_the_block]

If i had those floats i would house them in a display cabinet. Works of art. The cabinet would look a bit weird on the river bank though.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

The traditional wooden box are fine but I think they are too bulky and heavy, so I only use those for display purposes

So, I tend to use those flat plastic bacon boxes with a little loose foam and store my floats by type.

In this way I can pick a ready-to-go box of wagglers and stick floats for a day on the river, or add in a box of still water floats for a day on a lake.

If you know where you are gonig and what the conditions are likely to be then it is a simple matter of picking a few (light) boxes to put in your ruckbag . . . . . . I mean, how many floats does one person need for a day? (even a self-confessed tackle tart like me )

All of my pole floats and pellet wagglers remain in my Preston seat box either loose or on winders but i might still add a box of wagglers to the seat box if thought necessary for certain commercial lakes