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Cabin Fever Project Part 2 - The "Pucker Pole"

Well, my previous attempt at making a GoPro kayak stand ended up becoming a colossal epic fail. The stand was too heavy, too high, two bulky, and seriously affected the way my boat performed. All the things I was trying to avoid (cut me some slack, it was my first kick at the cat!). Needless to say I scrapped the idea, and have since created a great alternative. I have since called it the the "Pucker Pole!"

The idea really came from Eric Jackson's newest concept the Levator GoPro Mount which is a great concept and it planted a seed in my mind. Check out the Eric's video to get an idea of the mount concept.

There are a few things I wanted to ensure I kept in mind in building this new kayak stand.

Firstly, it had to be simple in concept, and with the ability to remove the mount easily for when I stack the boat on top of others.

Secondly, I wanted this to be a cheap project, preferably under $20. Aside from the actual pole mount for the GoPro, the materials came out to be around $20...objective accomplished!   

Lastly, I wanted to create something that gave decent stability while creating a 'give' if the pole hit the shallows without it breaking into pieces. Let's face it, it's gonna happen. It's a fine line to draw in giving a good image on the camera without it flexing all over the place. I think I found the solution in this design.

Now, this is a disclaimer. My embarking on this project and modifying your boat, you are now affecting the overall safety of your boat, and the ability to perform rescues. By embarking on this project, you will assume any risk, loss, or potential death in your whitewater activities as a result of this modification. It goes without saying folks, but you will be changing the safety features of the boat from it's original intended purpose. This is your choice.

K, now that that's out of the way, lets get started. 

First of all, you will need a few supplies:

• 2 1/4 inch X 2 inch eye bolts
• 1 1/4 inch  X 2.5 or 3 inch eye bolt
• 2 1/4 inch X 1.5 inch bolt & nuts
• 1 1/4 inch wingnut 
• Small aluminum pole (broom pole works the best)
• Toilet flange
• Toilet plunger  
• GoPro Pole Mount
• Ethafoam shim   

And tools:

• Drill
• Hacksaw
• File
• 1/4 drill bit
• 1/2 drill bit
• 1 and 1 1/8 inch wood drill bit 

Alright, so here's where you modify your boat! The first step is to remove the back grab handle from your Jackson Kayak. The reason I say Jackson Kayak, is that I know it works on JK boats, and I'm not so sure how this process will work on any other boat manufacturer, but it's worth some trial and error.

Again, to reiterate, you are modifying the safety aspects of your boat now, so please be sure you are good with doing this.

Don't throw the handle or bolts away, you will want it to put the handle back on when you go to sell the boat one day.

Now that the handle is gone, go ahead and line up the toilet flange to the holes created from the grab handle. You will see that they line up quite nicely, but you will also see that the toilet flange overlaps the drain plug, which is not good.

So take the toilet flange and your hacksaw, and cut the small tab of plastic covering over the drain hole. be sure that once you have cut the tab off to file down the sharp edges so as not to cut gear or yourself when toting the boat around at the river.

The flange is used to provide the necessary rigidity for the mount and to keep the base secure and in place. It is just very convenient that the base lines up perfectly to the pre drilled holes of the Jackson boats.

However you will see, when placing the flange on the boat, that the contours of the boat do not mesh very nicely to the rigid flat base of the toilet flange. Also, it's plastic on plastic, which is never really stable. 

So the next step is to get your piece of Ethafoam, likely just a spare hip pad shim, and place it between the two bolt holes in the boat. No need to glue the shim in place as the compression created from bolting the flange down will keep it adequately stable.

Go ahead now and line up the toilet flange back in place with the small shim between the flange and the boat. 

You can now take the two 1/4" X 2" eye bolts and thread them through the flange holes into the screw holes of the kayak and hand thighten them into place. Once hand tight, go ahead and carefully trim the excess Ethafoam around the flange and take care as not to score your boat with the knife.

You will notice, that even with just a good hand tightening, that the base is super secure, and is easy to remove if you so require.

So, now onto the plunger. Take you clean, brand new, never been used plunger, and remove the wood handle. Now we will be boring a hole in the plunger for the pole. I firstly used a 1" wood bit, and then a 1 1/8" wood bit to bore the hole out, however the diameter you require will be dependent on the diameter of your pole. Do what suits your needs, but in essence what you are trying to achieve is a snug, but not too super tight fit for the pole to go into. It shouldn't be too loose, but not so tight that you need two people to place it in there. Best bet is to increase your increments from a 1/8" inch each time until you find the best diameter for your pole.

Now go ahead and place the plunger directly on the flange. The plunger will create a nice seal on the flange, creating a very tight rubber / ABS connection. Seat the plunger as far down as possible, and you may need to just turn the flange eye bolts to get it down even further.

Being that it has creates a nice seal even on its own, we want to be sure the plunger will not come free from the flange in the throws of the whitewater excitement.

So in order to do this, take a 1/4 drill bit, and drill a pilot hole through the rubber part of the plunger (outer and inner layers) and the ABS of the toilet flange. Do this fore and aft (front and back) on the mount.

We are doing this for two reasons, one is to ensure that the plunger part does not become separated from the base toilet flange and two, to ensure that the plunger does not rotate, taking your camera out of alignment. 

Once the pilot holes have been drilled, remove the flange and the plunger from the boat. Take your 1/4" X 1.5" bolts and thread them through the outer and inner holes of the plunger rubber and the pilot hole you created in the ABS. It is best to then secure the bolt in place with a locking nut from the inside of the flange. It does not need to be super tight, just secure so that there is no inadvertent separation from the two pieces.

Once in place and secured, go ahead and place it back on your kayak, and once again hand tighten your eyebolts. You might need to squeeze the side of the plunger to turn the eyebolts, which I guess is another good way to know that the eyebolts won't rotate on you while your padding.

The last step is now securing the pole. Take your aluminum pole and cut it to about a 2 foot section. Place the pole into the plunger hole, and push down just until you meet slight resistance at the bottom (the pole is now hitting the Ethafoam), and just pull back about a 1/2 inch on the pole. 

Take your drill and drill a 1/4" pilot hole at the neck of the plunger through the aluminum pole, and through the other side of the neck of the plunger. It's OK to bore this out a bit more if need be if you find it too tight.

Next take your last 1/4" X 2.5 or 3" eye bolt and thread it through the rubber, the pole, and through to the other side of the plunger neck. I use a 1/4" wing nut now to tighten the pole in place. You can really tighten this up if you want. 

Using an eye bolt here will provide a good attachment point for tethering the GoPro in the event the camera comes separated from its factory mount. Using a simple bungie or cord can be wound around the pole and clipped into the eyelet with a small carabiner. Using a wingnut here will allow you to remove the pole quickly if you are portaging, lowering over cliffs, or mounting the boat to the roof rack. 

Lastly is to secure your GoPro Pole mount to the top of the pole. My pole had a nice rubberized handle on it to really tighten the mount, but you can achieve this by putting some hockey tape on the top of the handle as well. It works. 

I typically will leave the plunger and the flange in place permanently unless it is necessary for me to remove it, and just remove the pole with the eyebolt and wingnut.

Even though the pole is straight up vertical, it still gives a great shot. It is also the most stable while in a vertical position as well. This pole will now have a bit of give, about 15-20 degrees of give, but it's enough to create the give needed, to absorb the impact, and hopefully clear the obstruction. The rigidity of the plunger / flange combination also provides adequate stability without too much wobble. 

Well, that's it, I hope your project goes well for you! In all this took about 30 minutes of my time, and I got all the supplies from my local hardware store...for under 20 bucks! 

Happy yakin all! Eric