New Rod Holders (No more rods in cabin!)

[timo14]

After breaking a tip off of one of my favorite rods (6'-6" Ugly Stik with a Penn 321LH), I decided to do something about my rod storage problem. I always keep them in the cabin when the boat is in the driveway with the cover on it, and when I trailer. The biggest problem was that I always end up throwing a bunch of junk on them when we load up to go, or my little boy ends up playing in the cabin with rods rigged with treble hooked plugs. Its always been a bad situatuion & an accident waiting to happen. My boat's a little older and doesnt' have the rod storage in the gunwales like the new ones do. So, after some thought, I came up with these...

They're made out of a wood called Paulope... which is similar to teak, but way more dense. I had a little leftover from a recent work project.

I made them so that they fold flat to the wall's of the cabin so you can still walk past them when they're not in use. The wood is dense enough that i was able to tap it just like it was metal.

I might make another set this winter for the opposite side of the boat. If I do, I think I'll make them out of Corian just so they blend in a little better. The wood ones were really just a test run... so far, so good.

Tim

 

[BobP]

Nice set of racks!

Don't you have the vertical holders next to the fish wells?

 

[NOTHING ELSE MATTERS]

Timo, nice work there.

 

[timo14]

Don't you have the vertical holders next to the fish wells?

Yeah... I've got those, but I have to take the rods out to put the cover on and to trailer. I live in the woods... until i get out to the main road, the rods would hit tree branches (the windshield barely makes it).

 

[cdwood]

BIMINI TOPS

TIMO, how many bimini's you got there, any pics of them both in use?

 

[timo14]

cd... 2 bimini's. The blue thing in the background is the cover. I dont have any pix here at work, I'll try to remember to get some from home tonight. I've got the typical factory bimini, then I have a 2nd that folds down and stores right in front of the factory top. When it's up, it has two locations where it attaches to the top of the gunwales via a couple of quick-connects. You can see in the one pic where the top attaches. There is a 2nd attachment point further back so when the top is up it covers the entire deck. The forward mounting position is there really just for storage of the top... otherwise, the top would fold down and rest right on top of the windshield. The system works pretty well. The whole deck is covered from the sun. The only real downfalls are that you have to step over the top to get to the bow when the top is stored, and also the typical downfalls of a bimini... straps and pipes in the way of the fishing rods. We typically only have it up when we're just hanging out in the bay when its roaring hot outside... in which case there usually aren't any fish anyway. I've got a 2 year old and like to keep him out of the sun as much as possible. During the spring and fall fishing seasons, the top goes in the garage! :wink: