Have seen videos of deer feeders in action in ponds. Looks like it will be the simplest and least expensive way for me. How are you keeping them from falling over. I wont be able to go to the bottom of the pond to drive stakes like I had it on shore. Are they pretty stable in water standing alone. I do not have creeks or running water in my 2 acre pond. Any advise other than spend $700 on a new feeder? I already own several solar charged deer feeders.
The only suggestion that I have for you is to make sure the tripod is wide enough and tall enough so it doesn't sink into the pond bottom and submerge the feeder. If the tripod on land is wide enough to keep it from tipping over (without staking the legs in place) then it will be wide enough in the pond.
Personally? I used a 360° feeder on a post in a lake years ago. I used a 5 gallon bucket to hold the feed (aka deer feeder). It was a real PITA to fill from a boat by myself. The boat kept on wanting to move away from the feeder when I was filling it, and even with tying the boat to the post it still moved around on me.
Once going to a directional feeder on shore, I'd never go back to a feeder out in the water. The hassle of filling it doesn't outweigh the $$ difference for me.
Flame,
I personally have not had a problem with mine ever falling over. With a fair amount of feed as weight, the tripod legs sunk a few inches when it was set out. If the tripod legs are in segments, drill and bolt them together (as a one piece leg). I put out my feeder in August when the weather was hot. It will be easier to set up by getting in the water with it. The only problem that I have had was with moisture (maybe twice). Periodically, the feed will moisten up, dry, then bridge over in the cone of the feeder. It is easy to unclog with a pole, but not something that you would want to do on a regular basis. I will continue to use this feeder until I build a dock, then I will spring for a dock feeder. Good luck!
I put mine on floats and pull it back to the shore to fill.
Great idea of placing Feeder on a floating moveable base. What did you use for floatation to keep the fully loaded feeder floating? We need a topic in the Archives about fish feeders.
That is just 4" pvc with test caps. I only put 30lbs of feed at a time, if you wanted more, you would need to use 6". I have a 50lb anchor with an eyebolt with rope ran through it. One side tied to one side of feeder. The other side is ran to the bank and tied to the other side of feeder. Pull one side and you pull feeder to bank. Pull other side and pull feeder over anchor. 4" inch will float 5 lbs per ft. 6" will float 11 lbs per ft. Ive got 15ft so around 70lbs of floatation as is. I already had the 4", but if buying i would go with the 6"
CJ, how does (do) the feeder legs fasten to the top of the PVC? Do you puncture with a screw and hope water never gets that high and start to fill the pvc?
Do the 3 sides or ends of the PVC triangle fasten to each other somehow or does the feeder legs hold them in place?
The legs have a taper and i drilled a tad bit smaller, They are wedged and i did put a bead of silicon around, but dont think they will leak. The ends are not attached, they are fine once in the water, but would be better hooked together, especially if trying to deploy the first time solo.
I love this idea
Will start gathering materials
I wonder if someone makes 6" 90s to make a floating square platform.
That would make me feel better about stability
The search is on!
Edit: They do!
Have seen videos of deer feeders in action in ponds. Looks like it will be the simplest and least expensive way for me. How are you keeping them from falling over. I wont be able to go to the bottom of the pond to drive stakes like I had it on shore. Are they pretty stable in water standing alone. I do not have creeks or running water in my 2 acre pond. Any advise other than spend $700 on a new feeder? I already own several solar charged deer feeders.
The wading deer might keep the bottom of the pond stirred up. hehehe Don't ya just hate a SA
Tracy
Pretty neat idea for a crazy guy.
I'm having some problem wrapping my mind around uncapped PVC carrying that much weight but I know very little, actually nothing, about that.
Just thinking about a modification or 2. If you went with 6 inch PVC pipe, you could probably stuff some appropriately sized cylindrical pool noodles inside those PVC tubes. Since I'm not sure what would or wouldn't work, I would probably cap the ends. That way, with more flotation, you could increase the amount of food. The legs would maybe have to be shortened so it wouldn't become top heavy.
Dang neat idea Ju.
They are capped. I dont think they would even float uncapped.
I couldn't see them so I just showed some more of my boundless ignorance.