You can buy some real nice ones, made out of fiberglass.
I found a home made one floating with 1 1/2 PVC pipe shot full of
"great stuff" foam but it was still a little bendy for my taste. They
put a "T" fitting on one end with short stubs of pipe and caps on them
for a foot and cap the top end.

The PVC would be enough to see if the idea would work in the weeds before
spending time an $$ making or more $$ buying one. Good idea.