Downrigger on transom brace?

[davkrat]

I ran a search but did not find anything on my particular issue. I recently acquired a 14' Valco. Great little boat that I got ridiculously cheap. Old firned had it sitting inhis garage since 2002 and basically gave it to me. It came with a single Canon clamp on Mini-Troll. I can clamp it on to the transom next to the motor but would really like to have two Canon Lake-Trolls mounted off the sides. The gunwale on Valcos really sweeps out at a steep angle so the clamp on style won't really work. I could rig up a block of some sort to correct the angle but that seems like a poor solution. I was looking at the angled brace that connects the transom to the gunwale in back. If I reinforced that I think I could easily attach mounting plates and have a rigger off each rear corner that I could then set up straight back or off the side of the boat. Is there any reason not to mount them to that brace? Don't want to weaken or put unnecessary strain on the boat. I plan to transom mount my trolling motor like a kicker and don't want the transom all cluttered up. Seems the riggers off the back corners would be functional and easy to reach for me while my 2 kids sit up front and enjoy the ride.

For now I'll just keep the small clamp on of the back and top line a couple other rods for the kids.

 

[SuperD]

The most common mounting choices for your boat is the area you mentioned and a bracket mount off the middle seat. I'll see if I can get you a picture of what that mount looks like.

 

[dragonfly]

I don't know about your welding skills or maybe you know some one that does but you could box in the corners if you don't want to take up seat space or oar locks 'if you plan on rowing' this is where I mounted my rear downriggers I know this is not your boat but this is the idea. dfly

 

[Tater Salad]

You can also look at mounting the riggers off of the oar locks. If mid ship would be a convenient location to run the riggers from, it is pretty easy to fabricate a mount that secures to the oar lock.

 

[davkrat]

Thanks guys. I can weld steel sort of, it aint pretty but I can get two pieces to stick together somewhere near the position I want them too The corners on stronger boats are much more robust and I would not hesitate to mount anything there but on the Valco it seems like pretty thin metal. I was working on my chicken coupe yesterday and had some extra plywood so I cut a few chuncks and got a piece cut that fit right up inside the corner brace. I also plan to add a electric panel and mocked up a plywood piece off the rear bench. I'll make it out of plastic or aluminum and add another brace to the seat. Plan to mount a 12V port, FF, light and bilge switches, trolling motor hook up and a 6 bus fuse box. I think a smaller rigger with a light weight should be fine on the rear brace just wanted a second opinion. Does anyone have the bolt hole pattern/dimensions for Canon mounts?

Here's a photo of the area. As you can see the gunwales lay out way too steep for clamp-ons.

 

[SuperD]

I couldn't find the mounted version of the picture I was wanting but this will give you somewhat of an idea.
http://www.fisharc.com/forums/15-Classifieds/topics/2927-2_aluminum_downrigger_brackets

 

[davkrat]

I couldn't find the mounted version of the picture I was wanting but this will give you somewhat of an idea.
http://www.fisharc.com/forums/15-Classifieds/topics/2927-2_aluminum_downrigger_brackets

So that would bolt on to the top of the gunwale rail and then also in through the side several inches down? I was thinking something similar to that connecting to the top of the bench but I want to mount the fishfinder and switches there. I could mount one of these brackets between the corner brace and my electric panel. Thanks for the link that looks like a perfect solution. thumbsup

 

[SuperD]

Another shot for reference.