Below are some pictures of a casting platform that I built for my skiff using 1 inch pvc, 1×2 pieces of wood, and 1/4″ plywood. I was so busy building it that I forgot to take pictures of every step. Basically I started by attaching small pegs to the plywood that would be the actual platform. I did this by cutting down small pieces of 1×2. I then attached them to the plywood with wood glue and strengthened the bond my drilling into the pieces with stainless steel screws. I then cut the pvc pipe to the length I wanted for the legs and heated the ends over the stove. I heated the pipe so they wouldn’t crack when I slid them over the small pieces of wood underneath the casting deck. I forget to mention that a bit of fiberglass was also used towards the end of the project. fiberglassed the deck of the casting platform to protect it from the sun and the rain. I then sprinkled some non-skid on top and painted over it with about 6 coats of marine topcoat (the same paint I used on my skiff). All in all it works pretty well now. At first it was very unstable so I had to add a bunch of extra stabilization pieces that I hadn’t planned on adding when I started the project. If you are considering building something like this I would certainly lend a helping hand and give you some friendly advice as this was not an easy thing to build and it took a lot more time than I had originally planned. In total I probably spend about 12-15 hours on this platform. Cost to build is hard to determine considering most of the stuff that I used was scrap laying around my house. If I were to go out and buy all the supplies I’d say it would run about $30-$40. Well worth the investment though, I am very pleased at how it turned out.
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