Looking for rod holder advice

[freddie]

Well, I want to come up with custom rod holders for a buddy's boat.

It's a Regal Sebring. The space on the gunnels is VERY limited, almost non-existent. There just doesn't seem to be another location option. There are no rails or anything to mount to either. Here is a picture of a Sebring from the internet, and the red arrows show the only flat surface available to put rod holders.


The rod holders will also have to be easily removable as they would interfere with the cover on the boat.

Here is a picture of the model I came up with. The vertical rod would be towards the bow


This would give him the ability to run 6. Could even mount 2 behind the motor box to make it 8.


4 people on the boat would be very crowded, and 8 rods would be crowded also. But it'd allow some versatility as far as maybe spreading them out when running 4 or 6.

Anyone have any thoughts or anything to add?

[Eyezcrazy]

Check out the post I made on the western fishing reports about a DIY rod holder I made for my pleasure boat. I had the same dilemma and what I came up with works great and is super easy to remove.

[freddie]

Hey thanks! I like that! May consider something like that. What did the black rod holders themselves cost?

http://community.walleye.com/showthread.php?t=7943

Only concern would be the cost of buying the rod holders. I think I may already have the stainless tubing and plate to make up my version. Will have to send your idea to my buddy and see what he thinks..

[Eyezcrazy]

I think I paid around $25 each for those holders. The beauty is how adjustable they are, up and down, side to side and they each have a twist lock so they can't slip out.

If you don't want the expense of the fancy holders you could still use my cross member idea and secure your tube idea to it. By using the angle across the full width of the stern you could probably add 8 holders. If your buddy doesn't have a deck mount in the area you want to mount it all he has to do is buy a quality stainless steel deck hinge mount and put one on each side where it will best work to secure the "rod rack" and you're in business.

It is super easy to put on and off and like I said, when you remove it, you never knew it was there.

[Eyezcrazy]

I just checked and I paid 22.50 each for the holders with free shipping on eBay. Worth every penny!

[OffShore24]

With limited gunwale space you should use vertical trees for board rods. This way you can put 2, 3, or 4 rods vertically in the same space that 1 rod holder takes up. For multiply dipsys you want the rods lined up horizontally.. You could mount a track in that space. Your tree mount will mount to the track and so will your dipsy cradles.

I would NEVER use a system that runs the rods across the transom wall. How would set lines off the back of the boat? You would have to reach over and around etc to net a fish. The back of the boat needs to be open to let lines out and bring fish in. Look at the way a charter boat is set up. Rod holders down the side walls and the transom area open to work lines and bring in fish.

[freddie]

The more I thought about the transom mounting rail like you have, Eyezcrazy, the more I was worried bout the space it would take up when not in use.

I thought about trees but they just look so different to me.. Lol.

[Eyezcrazy]

To each his own, I think the tree system doesn't allow a good separation between the lines when running inline boards, with big boards it wouldn't matter. As far as netting goes, you will notice that my holders are mounted 3 and 3 with a gap in the center for access to the back of the boat, however most of the time we net the fish on the whatever side the fish is hooked on because the access is better.

I can not run my lines like a charter because I have a small 21 ft pleasure boat with a fairly large swim platform on the back. When the waves are calm, it is fairly easy to step out on the platform to net fish but we have mastered the steering to where it is just as easy to net from the side.

Just passing along my idea and it works fantastic for me in my situation. It stays in my boat most of the time but if we are skiing I just pop it off in about 30 seconds and store it in the garage.

[freddie]

We also net alongside the boat, as it is quite a reach over the engine cover and back seats, it's just easier to pull/move lines out of the way to net fish alongside.

I think we're going to try the original design and make any necessary adaptations..

[OffShore24]

i guess the biggest difference is my advice and set up is on a fishing boat. You guys are working around fancy padded seats and an engine box etc. I have a high transom wall with an outboard main and a kicker. We having a "netting zone" on my boat. that area is beside the main outboard in the back opposite side of the kicker. As the fish is coming in we make adjustments to get the fish in that netting zone to be netted with no interference or any issues. if it is a big fish that is swimming deep we also control the boat to get the fish to rise up in the water column.