Downrigger install?

[BigLew]

It's the same setup as mine.

If I are going to mount down Riggers on mine, I would install a hawes pipe just aft of the rodholder on the gunnel. Then I would glass in underneath three 10" 8/4 x2-3" white oak strips laminated face to face so that the edge grain was facing up under the riggers and through bolt the rigger mounts to those where the cleat is now.

That said, I would also check with someone who I trusted in such matters. Some serious aluminum plate maybe all they'd recommend. My thinking is torn fiberglass is much more expensive and inconvenient to repair than using a little overkill to begin with.

Just my 2 cents.