Seat box

Made some other form of traditional fishing tackle.
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MGs
Pike
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Location: Cornwall

Seat box

Post by MGs »

One of my first memories is being sat on a small camping stool, fishing for minnows beside my dad. He was sat on a home made seat box. A pine frame, covered in hardboard, painted black and fitted with a webbing strap. When I was old enough, about 14, I built my own of similar design. I have the feeling that this was a fairly common thing once upon a time. Did anyone else do this?
Old car owners never die....they just rust away

Weyfarer

Re: Seat box

Post by Weyfarer »

I did too. Once I'd tacked ply sheets over the frame work, I then glued on some thin green leatherette fabric. It looked the bees knees and lasted me a long time until I eventually replaced it with and Efgeeco Major seatbox. Quite of few of my elders, who possibly were carpenters, made some very impressive wooden boxes with drawers and lift out segments. That's what is missing these days isn't it - no need to even tie on a hook or dig for worms.

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MGs
Pike
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Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 2:24 pm
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Location: Cornwall

Re: Seat box

Post by MGs »

Sounds like a nice project. I too had mine for years, until the amount of tackle I took with me outgrew the box. Now that I save reverted to a simpler method of fishing, I may make another. At least my carpentry skills have improved a bit over the years
Old car owners never die....they just rust away

Tony1964

Re: Seat box

Post by Tony1964 »

I remember making one from plywood when I was a young lad. I thought I made a good job of it too until I put my kit in it and could hardly lift it let alone carry it :hahaha:

Flightliner

Re: Seat box

Post by Flightliner »

Back in the mid seventies when the old wicker baskets were going out of fashion ,anglers were taking up with the new plastic jobs that were little more than a water tank what you find in the loft,
Many were then forced into carrying extra's in a hand bag, nets and the like.
I made a very simple box of pine frame with very thin plywood that carried all my gear leaving me hands free. This paid many dividends over the years, particularly on the Trent where there are many clapper gates to negotiate, or more often a stile that meant dropping a bag /box - or both. Vey time consuming and energy sapping.
Recantly after many a ribbing from my angling friends I looked at one of these new metal boxes with all the fancy trays that are held in by magnets, so, (being a bit flush ) I went out and bought one.
BIG MISTAKE!!!! :oops:
On my first trip out (with a handbag for nets and the like) I was climbing over a style with the box still on my shoulder --- it was sliding off because the straps are fixed in the centre not the back which makes them hang at an angle causing them the slide off the shoulder more easily-- the box bumped into the stile post so a tray of floats slid out into the mud --GRRRRR :twisted: - On packing up a packet of hooks had somehow slid over the back of the same drawer making the magnet inoperable so on the way back to the car it slid out again but this time it was hooks, shot ,odds n ends all over the place.
Back home I took the gear out and put it all back in my old plywood box but not before I weighed them both-- my ply box was four pounds lighter yet holds almost twice as much equipment!.
I will never listen to anyone ever telling me that the new jobs are better than the one I made all those years ago for the princely sum of thirty pence (for the hinges).Only last week I was in my tackle shop and the owner was selling an angler a "fishing station "for five hundred pounds, I wanted to ask him why but refrained.
Very shortly I will endeaver to sell my all singing all dancing item and will be happy to take a BIG loss for the sake of gaining some floor space in the garage.
Beware!

Frankelson

Re: Seat box

Post by Frankelson »

I made the box, as did all my friends. As we were stuck with whatever paint our parents would let us have some of them were strange colours :-) Mine was a deep red.
I used it for five years or so until, in the 1960s, my grandmother bought me a fishing basket as a birthday present.
I still have it today but, unfortunately, the tackle I now use has outgrown it so I have a modern bag.

Bay Leaf

Re: Seat box

Post by Bay Leaf »

My Dad made boxes for each of us out of soft wood and hardboard well painter in black. The tops were padded as seats and on the sides were attachments to take a rod rest and a (cotton) brollie. Inside the lid were elastic straps, Woolworth knicker elastic if I remember, that held painted baccy tins for odds and ends. The best bit was the wheels, he took a set of wheels from a pushchair and mounted a pair on each box with a retractable handle.

With these we would catch the train from Luton to Bedford and often walk all the way to what we called Cardington Mill for a day's fishing or sometimes just as far as the boating lake where I lost the first carp I ever hooked. Makes me quite sad to remember these far off days that were usually finished with a half-hour bleak match. I can't remember the last time I caught a bleak! Does anyone else remember Birds Silver Cloud Groundbait bought in a cotton bag?

GloucesterOldSpot

Re: Seat box

Post by GloucesterOldSpot »

Bay Leaf wrote:My Dad made boxes for each of us out of soft wood and hardboard well painter in black. The tops were padded as seats and on the sides were attachments to take a rod rest and a (cotton) brollie. Inside the lid were elastic straps, Woolworth knicker elastic if I remember, that held painted baccy tins for odds and ends. The best bit was the wheels, he took a set of wheels from a pushchair and mounted a pair on each box with a retractable handle.

With these we would catch the train from Luton to Bedford and often walk all the way to what we called Cardington Mill for a day's fishing or sometimes just as far as the boating lake where I lost the first carp I ever hooked. Makes me quite sad to remember these far off days that were usually finished with a half-hour bleak match. I can't remember the last time I caught a bleak! Does anyone else remember Birds Silver Cloud Groundbait bought in a cotton bag?
About fifteen or twenty years back I fished for pike a few times at Cardington - in and around the weirpool. And I do recall Silver Cloud, which seemed to be a mix of breadrumb and fine sand, with something shiny and metallic in it - ground up fish scales maybe? I don't remember it being branded as Birds though - Spratts comes to mind.

Bay Leaf

Re: Seat box

Post by Bay Leaf »

You're right GOS it was Spratts. The weir at Cardington was quite a draw then, although now there is a canoe slalom course there where the backwater used to be.

Caught my first chub there, about 1lb.

GloucesterOldSpot

Re: Seat box

Post by GloucesterOldSpot »

Bay Leaf wrote:You're right GOS it was Spratts. The weir at Cardington was quite a draw then, although now there is a canoe slalom course there where the backwater used to be.

Caught my first chub there, about 1lb.
That's a shame - the backwater was always the best bet for catching something. We used to get our livebaits from there.

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