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Picture Taking from your Kayak
by Olli Rita

I'm not sure if on this web site there has been extensive conversation about picture taking, usual picture includes one hand, two feet and sometimes a fish, well here's my solution to the problem.

Materials needed
Stainless Steel or aluminum pipe 7/8" i.d.
Couple of SS screws
An old tripod camera stand, I used the one with quick connect base
Scotty Mount.

Tools Needed
Angle Grinder, Power drill, screw-driver (not the drink), 400 grit sanding
paper and steel wool for polishing. The time I spent was about 1.5 hours,
most of it trying to figure out how to take the tripod apart without a
sledge hammer and a screw-driver (the drink).

1.     Cut the SS pipe to length, I used 9 1/2", de-bur the ends and
polish.
2.     Drill holes in both ends at 2" for the SS screws
3.     Disassemble the tripod, leave the inner tube intact but cut it to
about 3-4 inches long.
4.     Insert the Scotty mount and align the groove with the hole and
fasten the screw, do the same thing with the tripod and you're done.

 

Parts

In this pic you can see how I cut the
camera mount shaft.

 

Assembled

 

 

On my P-13, looking forward.

Looking towards the paddler,


 

I put the big camera on the stand just to make sure it is as sturdy as it looks, I usually carry a digital camera with me and figured if it is on this contraption I'll just use a draw-string plastic bag over it when not in use.

Here's a picture taken with it


I put my digi-cam on it, didn't do any aiming or zooming and snapped a pic. Gives you an idea what kind of an area you can use.  The rod butts are laying on top of the seat back so I think it will work (or not) pretty good even without a wide angle lens or any expensive cameras.

This project was made possible and thanks go to:
*     Dangrusdave - who found a source for the parts
*     CapDick (Stan) - who is the source for the parts
*     Palm Beach County building inspectors - who are providing plenty of
spare time to go fishing and these, not always so practical (bait well),
projects.
*     You guys for coming up with great ideas that I'm dump enough to try
and put together
*     and the last, my wife, who only looks at me understandingly and with
out comments walks away (shaking her head).


Olli Rita
561-433-9025
561-329-9235
o_rita@bellsouth.net

 

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