horizontal rod racks
 

Would like to know if/how anyone has rigged their 18' under the gunnel rod racks to accomodate 9' fly rods.

Is it possible that all Seacraft owners are bait fishermen ?

Give it time Sidelock, give it time.

These guys will chime in with suggestions and cautions you may never have thought of before the fact and likely everything between functional but ugly to the truely elegant but expensive! Give it some time!

BTW, do you have 9' of open area under the gunnel of an 18? I don't believe I have ever seen one up close myself. I would also be happy to get a tracing of the under-gunnel rod racks I have on my 23', if you think they could be modified for your situation.

BigLew, any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Yes there is ample room for 9' flyrods to fit however the original teak rod racks where designed for spinning rods & they are too close to each other to support & balance the long flyrods. They are simply a piece of 4" x 3/4" teak with large holes bored through them & the holes don't even line up on a level plane to each other. They are screwed into a small recess in the liner wall stiffeners . They definetely need to be replaced with a better design & an additional unit needs to be installed further back towards the rear to balance the long flyrods properly. I have an idea of what is required & will fab some out of starboard or seaboard but its always wise to gather as much info/opinion from others before making a final decision on the design & needless to say, there is always room for improvement.

Marks boat was heavily modified. I'm sure it's just a matter of finding or making the right holders.

My 9' fly rod fits in my rod racks, but only because it's a two-piece rod.:D

It's not ready to hand if you spot a tailing red, but it doesn't take long to put it together.

Dave

Strick,

That is a piece of art. Not sure about threading the rod tip through the obstruction, but that may not be an issue for SideLoc's application. Properly designed he might get away with mounting to levels of two rods side by side with a bracket shape similar to the one in the pic.

One of the issues I'm dealing with & can't quite decide is whether to design & position the rear rack to support the rod by the butt , just ahead of the cork handle OR support the actual cork handle itself.

Gotcha. Supporting it by the cork handle will give it more stability in the rack, but you don't want to damaage that cork. Maybe something like a smaller piece of PVC pipe, split in half and then maybe lined with a softer material to not damage the cork and properly cleaned up might work.

Help me out here. It's been years since I have touched a fly rod. Not since I went to a stocked pond maintained by a fishing club my dad belonged to back in the '50's.

Not quite certain but it looks like the one in Strick's picture is supporting the rods by the front tip of the cork handle. It would be interesting to hear if Mark is happy with that set up & wheather he would do anything different if he were to do it again.
What say you Strick ?

That's true and it may be the way to go. You know better than I, but is the weight of the reel in that position enough to cause the rod to tip in a rack such as that? That was my thought, that it might be.

Have you given any thought to iFly rod holders? I have them on my skiff and really work out great. When mounted horizontal you can fit twice as much as vertical.

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...y/IMG_0529.jpg

If the rack is installed in a position to support the butt of the rods just where it goes into the cork handle , the rod will balance & would not tip. My concern is that if the handle is supprted , the soft cork may develop compression marks that you can feel in your hand when casting the rod but I guess if I use 3/4" seaboard & round over the edges it's unlikely that it would be an issue.

Under high enough magnification, even a "perfect" diamond has flaws.

Are we overthinking this?

Thanks for the input & the pic. csurf but if I had a set up like the one in the pic. with the reels protruding out like that , they would inevitably get destroyed.
FWIW If you have more room you may want to consider staggering them by dismantelling the tubes from the mounting base, rotate the tubes so that the slot is facing down , redrill new hole in tubes & align new hole to existing corresponding hole in base & reattach them to the base & then stagger them by placing the bottom rod a few inches ahead of the upper rod so that the reels can hang down in tandem position & sit flat against the side instead of sticking out like that . You would obviously need to separate & mount them individually as singles instead of double or leave them attached an just rotate the tubes so that the bottom reel is hanging down & the top reel is facing up. Just a thought !

I looked into the staggering option but that would not work. In that install there was not enough room for two vertical reels with enough rod clearance.

iFly's web site has a similar setup on their home page -> http://stores.theifly.com/StoreFront.bok

You should also check out Du-Bro rod holders.. I know a few flyrodders that use them.

There are also the TACO Rod Hangers and TACO Bungee Rod Holders.

I forgot about this idea, which I saw about ten years ago in a Parker forum. Check it out.

http://www.stripersonline.com/t/554596/boat-rod-holder

Fine lookin' jack Capt. Chuck. That gag looks pretty effective, too ;)
TooFly, that striper forum design is slick as snot. Thanks for posting that.
McG

I've owned both 18' and 20' SeaCraft boats and have had fly rod racks on both.

I'm lazy these days and the OP would do best to contact me directly as hosting photos on Photobucket just to re-post what I've posted here a decade ago ain't gonna happen.

If the OP wants to go down this road, email is mark@markpix.com and there is a verification email bounce they will have to contend with from my spam filter.

No problem, McG.

Paul

Hey Mark, please check your email.

I got all my rod racks fabricated out of starboard & ready to install but when I pulled the original teak racks I noticed that all the screwes were driven in at an angle . It must have been done for a reason because they are all the same on both sides & I'm wondering if this is a common procedure to create more bite with the screw.
This may sound stupid but I don't know if I should drill the new once straight or do them in an angle like the originals.

Think of it as a right angle. More holding power. :D

Sidelok, mine were at an angle too.

Setting them at an angle, ie. 45* does increas the lenght of screw in contact with the glass - as in "more bite." They're angled that way for a very practicle reason in this application. Put the new ones in at a similar angle is my humble opinion.