Gunnels Flexing Fighting out of Swivels - Lack of Support.....Anyone Have This Issue?

[John3325]

Couple of weeks ago, we landed a 90" 390 lb tuna in the Seacraft. Awesome day, and I was siked to land a tuna in the Seacraft which has quickly become my favorite boat ever.

With that said, fighting that fish brought many concerns up as I continue to fish for BFT. We started the fight in the bow, out of a 0 degree rod holder that is backed with a 8" X 8" piece of marine grade backing, and the backing plate. The whole 8" X 8" footprint was flexing forward when the fish put on the heat - not good. Mid fight, we got the bent butt into the starboard aft 0 degree swivel on the starboard side. I knew the coring up front was compromised, but the coring in the gunnel aft was solid and dry when I installed the 0 degrees. Still, the gunnel was torquing outward with the fish fighting. We ended the fight quick (luckily), got the fish in the boat, and got it to market with no issues.

So, after talking with a few people and thinking about it, I have come to the realization that this boat wasn't made to fight tuna out of the rod holder. In 1976, what was the biggest reel? A Penn Senator, maybe a 30 or 50 class reel? That gunnel was never designed to have that load on it, so what's the best way to reinforce it?

I am curious as to what others have seen in this regard, and if this issue has happened to anyone else? Where do those with the straight IB usually fight, bow/stern/aft starboard or port?

I took the boat over to Kent Fab in Pembroke, MA (Fantastic guy named Erik Kent does custom fabrication for boats and his work is outstanding) for some other mods I needed done, and we discussed this issue. He had an interesting idea, where we would put plates on top and bottom of the stern gunnel, and brace the 0 degree rod holder against the transom. We could do a similar option in the bow too. Both options, essentially help transfer load from the surface area the rod holder grabs to other stronger parts of the boat (in this case being plates installed and the transom). If I were to do this, I'd recore the bow and/or stern gunnel and then have him do the work.

Any thoughts/comments/insight I appreciate in advance. Thanks all.