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Custom Rod Holders

4K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  moriverfish 
#1 ·
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!

Thomas
 
#2 ·
Contact PHILPS4BIGKATS

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.
 
#3 ·
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!

Thomas
 
#4 ·
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.
 
#5 ·
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.
 
#18 ·
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?

Thanks
 
#8 ·
Sorry, here's some bigger pictures.

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!

Thomas
 
#9 ·
Contact PHILPS4BIGKATS

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.
Grimpuppy -

I tried PMing the user you listed, but if came back as a non-existent user.
 
#10 ·
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.
 
#12 ·
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.

 
#13 ·
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?
 
#14 ·
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!

Thomas
 
#15 ·
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!
 
#16 ·
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 . . .
 
#19 ·
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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