RoomToMove
Are the rod holders you fight the tuna out of mounted the same way?

Uncleboo
Want to do thing about making a bracket similar to the one in the picture. I was thinking of mounting it thru where the cap and liner are joined together under the rub rail.

We don't use support around the lower part of the rod holder in the bow or on the two rod holders aft. In these places we only reinforce with backing plates. Like to fight out of bow makes for great Nantucket sleighride. The reason we use extra support on the mid-ship rod holders is because the cap flexes most there.

10-4 on the Nantucket Sleigh ride. Unfortunately I have the Sceptre haul and have no way to fight the fish from the bow. Maybe I can find a way to mount the rod holder in the back corner.
Thanks

Nothing wrong with that. Not sure how your access is, but do-able on the '98. Just cut off in the picture are port holes on each side that we could reach a hand through. Only down side we didn't think about is water gets into the bilge between the stringers if left uncovered. Needs to be vac'd out once in awhile.

Reinforced with over-sized azek backing plate sandwiched between stock metal backing plate. Little 4200 on topside for cushioning between cap and rod holder. Hope that helps.

I like the back corner area to fight the fish. I will have to take a closure look at that area when we get some warmer weather. I might have to cut a hole in the compartment to get the backing plate which shouldn't be a big deal.
Could you get a radiator hose onto the bottom of your rod holder to direct the water into the bilge?

Thanks for the input. I greatly appreciated.

Just to give you and others an idea, I glassed this in last fall. I have a bigger 3/4" piece of marine grade grabbing as much of the bow as possible, with a smaller piece of 3/4" marine grade under it glassed in place, with the stainless bracket cranked down. To help with the torquing motion of fighting a GBFT, I glassed in a big triangle that the rod holder will slide right into nice and tight, and glass it into the bow locker.

My intent is that a GBFT will rip the bow off before the rod holder rips out of the gunnel now.

Very Nice John3325. I wish I could mount a rod holder in the bow. Maybe I can make something like that work on the gunwales.

John3325 nice setup.

Stiper- radiator hose is not a bad idea i think it could work. Been trying to think of how to down size it to run most of the length lots of rigging in small areas down there so having such large diameter hose gets tough to work with. Water intrusion hasnt been too bad when leaving them capped.