[jdbb]

Hello all

Joined the forum last week and thought I should put in my 2c worth.

Here are some things I've done to my Outback.

The hobie mirage drive kayaks are great and give you two hands to fish with until the fish heads south and the kayaks going north and you need three hands - if you let go of the rod to get to the steering lever the fish is gone. I've glued a bit of tube onto the top of the steering lever

when I want to fish I put a bit of metal rod into the tube

and then I steer the outback with my elbow or the butt of the rod leaving two hands free.

When I get my adventure I want to do a fair bit of paddling so I think I will add a bit of shock cord and string to the tube/rod steering and extend the string foward so that I can steer with my left foot - something like this

I'm thinking that if I want to go left the shock cord will pull the lever, and to go right I will put some pressure on the string which will somehow be attached to my left foot - maybe a pedal.

I've also played with rod holders. A recent post on this site talked about the tube in the rod holders being loose and the solution could be to add some tape to increase the tube diameter. I tried this a while back and wasn't happy with it so I drilled a couple of holes in my rod holder extension and put some shockcord through the holes, knots are inside the tube - depending on the extension diameter, you could put a few bits of shockcord in there. Tube now fits like the proverbial.

And for the final bit of useless information, instead of fixing a scotty rod holder to the kayak, I've fixed it to the top of one of my rod holders. Solid as a rock and get the rod holder up and out of the way of my feet.

All the above makes my kayaking a bit easier - suits me but mighn't suit others.

jd

 

[bazzoo]

JD, have not got a hobie, but am going to give your rod holder idea a bit of thought , it looks a winner to me , very clever mate,did you have to plastic weld the top of the original rod holder to fit the scotty?, and is it really secure enough for a good hit from a decent pelagic . :?: :?: :?:

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWc1KOB4AAB1XgAASQAc0MBEAP+/f4DAApmIp+lPQU2mmmpmo9NTTYkDUmT1Dyg0NADRpganomp6JkJ+qNNAAAIlEZMOPX5uPLhGrFSDVVOC49mwN9uSfDIJR8rQs9JT4mgmeFcsy2G3WCxroLwxW27kyv3vah656C9FPrzvvOpEOus3OZMjiErRLrwXAxPva0OL5Qi6eiKKbySCtorXbds5GlRekrrPIMrBUdmaYcLPDFpO+YKkOkRHfcjAcq2IF4AxMXckU4UJDNSjgeA==

 

[jdbb]

Bigbazoo - there's nothing too fancy about the rod holder. I used a bit of 42mm pvc tube - it was under the house, leftover from a ducted vacuum installation on one of the jobs I think. To make it a tighter fit in the built in rod holders I've done the 6mm shockcord thing shown in the other photo.

Top of the tube is cut off parallel with and about 6" above the deck. I've then shaped some timber to fit inside the tube and fixed it in. Cut a bit of stainless steel to the same shape as the base of the scotty and then fixed it to the top of the timber, then bolted the scotty to the s/steel.

As for withstanding a big hit - I think I'd be using a rod leash regardless of the type of rod holder and I'd be setting the drag so nothing got broke.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[JT]

Very clever JDBB. As a fellow outback owner I am very impressed with some of your ideas. Particularly with the steering extension. You are obviously also very handy. :shock:



John

 

[Davey G]

another 'ideas man' joins the forum!!

welcome jdbb.. nice idea re the steering rod.

 

[Dodge]

another 'ideas man' joins the forum!!

welcome jdbb..

jdbb, like Dave I admire a handyman as there is no such thing as a perfect solution for all comers off the shelf, keep them coming.

Another way to fatten a PVC tube is to heat and make it fractionally oval before inserting and get the required amount of resistance