Does anyone know someone within an hour or two of Kansas City who could be a nice, custom aluminum rod holder for the transom of a boat? I'm open on the design, but would like one that's well built, holds 6-8 rods and some sort of a quick attach/detach feature would be a huge plus. If anyone knows of someone who does good fabrication work and is familiar with building catfishing setups, can you please pass their name/number my way? Thanks a lot!
It is probably right at the outer limit of what you are wanting to travel. If he can do it for you, I know he does top notch work on the stainless steel rod holders he sells and his rack for his boat is bad %$#&. Shoot him a PM and see if he is willing to hook you up.
Thanks a lot for the info. I'm going to send him a PM now. If anyone else knows of someone in the area, please pass their info along to me. It'll be a little while before the new boat arrives, but I'd like to get a plan together sooner rather than later.
I see that you're from Clifton, KS. A good friend of mine that I used to work with is also from Clifton. Last name of Hartman . . . figure everyone probably knows everyone out that way!
Another thing ya could do if that don't work out is check the designs of the other folks here who have done it, design it yourself and find a welding shop that will do it close by.
It will probably take some time, so gonna be more than one trip. Check what others have done and make a few phone calls to the guys and find out the pro's and cons of their design. Figure what will work. Hope ya find someone and it works out for ya.
Mine is easily pulled off the boat in a matter of seconds. You can of course do practically anything you want. I ended up getting a "rocket launcher" rod holder from a guy on Craigslist (cause it was a decent deal) that is built for 6 rods and runs across the back of a boat and is adjustable for different width boats. The brand is Wahoo Industries they may be worth checking out depending on what you want to go with. I was able to buy their "gimbal mounts" from a local store which are available on their website also and bolt those right up to the mounting holes on each end. Then I installed 2 sets of flush mount rod holders in the gunnel which the gimbal mounts can slide in and out of. Not a single bolt, screw, or anything for me to slide the holder in and out. So the RARE time I take my boat out not planning to catfish I can easily not have the holder or any kind of hardware from it in the way.
You can build a couple these yourself for about $100 without the rod holders. The extruded aluminum has t-slots and everything is fully adjustable, or can be welded solid.
Moriverfish.....I know this is an old post but I ran across it and wanted to ask some questions about your T-bar. How did you attach the extruded aluminum to the pedestal? I get how the joining plate attaches to the extruded aluminum but couldn't quite tell how you bolted to the pedestal. Did you drill completely through the pedestal and run a bolt all the way through the joining plate and pedestal? Also, out of curiosity...how long is the T-bar in the photo?
That's probably the way that I'm going to have to go with this particular job I'm thinking. I can't do anything that goes all the way across the transom of the boat due to the inboard jet cowling needing to open (tilts toward the transom). I like the idea of using a seat base for the easy on/off solution. Those look pretty sturdy - have you every worried about one of them bending or not holding up or are they as sturdy as they look? Thanks for the pictures!
It is probably right at the outer limit of what you are wanting to travel. If he can do it for you, I know he does top notch work on the stainless steel rod holders he sells and his rack for his boat is bad %$#&. Shoot him a PM and see if he is willing to hook you up.
Thomas, they are very sturdy. The extruded aluminum is very stiff. The pedestals fit tight in the bases, and the lock keeps them from turning. The pedestals and bases are swivel-eze 238 series, which fits the 45mm x 60mm extrusion. Swivel-eze also makes a 175 series, which would fit the 45 x 45mm extrusion. I think this set up would work well also. I got everthing off E-bay no problems. I can look up the model numbers if you want. Hope this helps.
You can build a couple these yourself for about $100 without the rod holders. The extruded aluminum has t-slots and everything is fully adjustable, or can be welded solid.
Here's what I did for my boat. I also bass and crappie fish quite a bit so I needed my rod holders to be easy to remove. I got the 2x1 aluminum stock and round tubing for free from the father in law and bought the bases off ebay for $40 something I think. The bases have two locking allen wrench bolts to secure the pipe from turning. I've pushed and pulled as hard as I could and it didn't budge one bit. I can remove the tbars and stash them under my back deck if needed.
Thomas, they are very sturdy. The extruded aluminum is very stiff. The pedestals fit tight in the bases, and the lock keeps them from turning. The pedestals and bases are swivel-eze 238 series, which fits the 45mm x 60mm extrusion. Swivel-eze also makes a 175 series, which would fit the 45 x 45mm extrusion. I think this set up would work well also. I got everthing off E-bay no problems. I can look up the model numbers if you want. Hope this helps.
I'm going to swing by one of our local fabrication shops, but I have a feeling this may be the way to go for me. I just wish I actually had possession of the boat so I could see what's going to work and what's not going to work! :rolleyes1:
Depending on how the rear storage of the boat is laid out, I think this setup might be the best way to go - especially for the easy off/on portion of it. Do the posts lock into the bases?
Here's what I did for my boat. I also bass and crappie fish quite a bit so I needed my rod holders to be easy to remove. I got the 2x1 aluminum stock and round tubing for free from the father in law and bought the bases off ebay for $40 something I think. The bases have two locking allen wrench bolts to secure the pipe from turning. I've pushed and pulled as hard as I could and it didn't budge one bit. I can remove the tbars and stash them under my back deck if needed.
Those are very clean and sturdy looking as well. I don't know if I'm going to be able to have anything (like your T bar) going across the transom of the boat with the inboard jet cowling, but I like the looks of your set up too!
What kind of inboard do you have? Could you install something on the cowling itself since it's already raise up? I seen an inboard Shoal Runner with a line of Driftmasters mounted along the back of the cowling cover. I don't think I would like bending over that far to grab the rod but raise it up just a bit and it would have been great I bet!
What kind of inboard do you have? Could you install something on the cowling itself since it's already raise up? I seen an inboard Shoal Runner with a line of Driftmasters mounted along the back of the cowling cover. I don't think I would like bending over that far to grab the rod but raise it up just a bit and it would have been great I bet!
That could probably be done, but I'm not sure yet because I don't have the boat :rolleyes1: Unfortunately I won't actually get to see the boat in person until late February or early March time period. I don't know just mounting a rack or holders on the cowling would serve my purposes, as I don't think I could get more than a few rod holders on there and I'd like to have 8 spread across the back. We shall see though . . .
Those are 2 3/8 pedestal bases in the deck and 9" snap lock pedestals. I drilled two 5/16" holes in the pedestals for the bosch hardware. Hi, I got all that stuff off ebay years ago, but the pedestal bases and pedestals are more spendy now. You can buy 2 3/8 diameter aluminum pipe and cut it with a miter saw. I used 45 X 60 mm bosch extrusion, 60mm is very close to 2 3/8" to mate with the pedestals. The bars were app 26" long I think. You can get short pieces off ebay pretty cheap. I would get some one to weld it together if I did it again, I got a different boat now, but still using the bosch extrusion.
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