How to Make Ankle Floats for the Water

Making your own ankle floats is a great way to save money and enjoy the water. Ankle floats help give you buoyancy by providing additional lift when immersed under water. The process of making a float is relatively simple as all it requires is that you displace water with something that is lighter than the amount of water displaced; Styrofoam will aptly fulfill this requirement. Anchoring the Styrofoam to your ankle will be a pair of nylon shoe strings that can resist water corrosion.

Things You'll Need

  • Power drill
  • Shoe strings
  • Styrofoam
  • Measuring tape
  • Knife
  • Marker
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut out a six-by-four-by-two inch rectangle of Styrofoam out of a Styrofoam block. Use a measuring tape and a marker to mark the lines to be cut on the Styrofoam block. You can use the measuring tape as a straight edge to ensure the lines are true. Use a sharp knife to cut into the Styrofoam block and to remove the rectangle from the block, do not pry the rectangle out or you will crack the ankle floats. Repeat this process again as you will need an ankle float for each ankle (right and left).

    • 2

      Mark with a marker two drill holes on the long, thin side of the Styrofoam rectangles. The holes should be one inch from either end of the rectangle. Hold a Styrofoam rectangle in your hand while drilling with the power drill. Use as slow speed as it is possible to burn Styrofoam with excessive speed and the smell is unforgettable to say the least. Drill both holes all the way through and then repeat the process on the other Styrofoam rectangle. They do not need to be perfect mirrors so do not throw out a float if you mess up the hole.

    • 3

      Slide nylon shoe strings through each of the holes and out through to the other side. Knot the shoe strings so that they stay in place and do not fall out of the holes. The knots need to be too big to pass through the lace holes. Tie the laces to your ankles, not so tight as to be painful. Take a dip in a pool and make sure that the ankle floats do not slip off. If they do then tie the ankle floats tighter next time.