gotta love them free sticks..

a neighbor that works at a mill got me some sitcks... http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e5...04-07_1903.jpg for a few slabs of course..i picked through and used the wider ones for the banding,,and the rest for the stakes..took 30 min. to build one..on average..all hand nailing..framed the up-rights first... http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e5...15-07_1533.jpg then used the wider stuff to band them togather... http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e5...15-07_1602.jpg ended up with 5 stake mats.. http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e5...15-07_1848.jpg ran out of nails..5 lb box...used almost half the bundle..so far got $1.12 in each of them..they are 4x4x4..you reckon 80lbs will hold them down? not sure how much weight to use for the wood...any suggestions?

I work for the Texas Dept. of Transportation.... we pour concrete test beams at each concrete pour....we pour extra beams each pour... there are beams that are not breaken and the contractor has to haul them off.... they will give you all they got just for the asking.... Cheap enough ;)
They are 6"x6"x20" and weigh 55# each....one on each end of your beds should sink it no problem.....:)
Hope this helps.... wish you had them beds down here... they sure would come in handy....
Good fishing.........

crappie texan...you reckon the DOT here in tennessee does the same thing...i got a ole buddy that is a supervisor at TDOT..bet he could get me some..thanks for the tip....

Man that is some good looking beds. How deep do you plan to put them? How many in each spot? Good luck

Hey pappiecrappie how does a guy get his hands on some of those stakes? I had a place where I could get them for $5.00 a truck load at a saw mill. But the guy burnt all the scrap stakes now I have to wait until he gets enough scraps again to get any.
Oh those look great by the way.

Crappie X.

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Originally Posted by krappiekrazy

Man that is some good looking beds. How deep do you plan to put them? How many in each spot? Good luck

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some i'm gonna put in 13' ..that will be 8' at winter pool..and some at 15'...10' at winter pool..then i'm gonna put some along some ledges in 18'...13' at winter pool...should be se pretty good...3-5 in each spot...depending on the area...

crappie extream...i know a few people in each of the mills...only one has been able to get them for me..seems they have a market for them..but around here..a few messes of crappie or cat will get you bout anything..

i like the cost control. keeping track of your costs is important, IMO. I would put as much cement on/in them as you're willing to spend (unless you get it free), unless you place them in an area with no current. I think 80 pounds of cement only weighs about 50 pounds in the water? Or something like that. Someone on here knows.

if that wood is dry it will prolly take 80-100lbs to sink em. we made some similar only smaller and it took 2 of them big blocks you build retaining walls with to take em down.
a pain in the rear to try and get over the side of the boat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pappacrappie

crappie extream...i know a few people in each of the mills...only one has been able to get them for me..seems they have a market for them..but around here..a few messes of crappie or cat will get you bout anything..

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http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showthread.php?t=37857

try reading this link

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bullsprig

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/showthread.php?t=37857

try reading this link

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to start with..i dont buy,sell, or trade fish of any kind..and i dont eat them either...but i dont hold it against those of you who do...i have friends and neighbors that do eat them..i catch alot of fish..and what i dont want to keep for my wife..i give to them...it is a neighborly thing to do where i come from...and it gets me out of cleaning a bunch of fish...i GIVE alot of fish away..people like fresh fish..so much they return the favor..sticks..places to hunt..a good goat to bar-b-que on the forth..we all just live togather and get along round here man...we aint breakin no laws..ease up...i'll catch you a mess of fish too..there are plenty to go around..:D

Wow, I wonder just how many of us could have been in the same cell as that guy! I might have to keep all my fish now since the law might be setting me up. Come to think about it there was one guy that I gave a fish to that acted kinda funny, he might have been under cover. Good thing it was a bass I gave him and not a crappie cause I could have gone to jail. hahaha

One day a lawyer acquaintence and a federal prosecutor were hunting at Henry gray. as they were leaving they passed a fellow. He said" I had a bad day would you give me a couple of ducks? I'll evem pay you for them. Friend said nope you're the game warden. No he says That's the game warden there. Another man-the warden- stepped up and checked their stuff. He left and the guy said. Now that he's gone how about a couple of ducks? No you're the warden friend said.The fed prosecutor was going"Just give him one and let's go." Nope- he's a warden. Went on and finally the guy said yep-0I'm the warden. Let's take a look in your truck." The fed guy went ballistic and said"No you're not. Almost went past the point of each drawing down. Head warden came out and worked it out. But the moral is they will try to trick you into breaking the law. In this case a kind giving fellow would be screwed.

with putting in stake beds since i was 9 years old with my dad and im now 26. I have seen people build frames but never understood why. Unless you have a hard bottom lake it is much simpler and must faster to load up as many stakes as you want in your boat or your boat will hold and drive them straight into the lake bed. That way your design can vary to add increased numbers. Best bed i have built to date is is 23 ft long 7 feet wide in 5 ft of water spreadon the stakes was 5-7 inches apart.

On an average day that bed would yield approximately 30-40 slabs.

we have plans to build one though that is long enough to get 3 boats on it so that some friends of ours can partake on the action.

i have some old drawing plans to give you guys a rough estimate of what they look like if i can find them.

i've tried driving them...here we have a 5 foot draw down in the winter...gets hard to keep a pattern 10 ft deep...