First time for everything

[DizzyDean]

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum. Not new to fishing for walleye but new to fishing with downriggers. I really enjoy fishing for trout and salmon and have even had the privilege of winning a tournament at the buckboard with my buddy. I have 2 new unitrolls and had a few questions about mounting them on a Crestliner 1850 Fishhawk I got this summer. The gunnels are barely wide enough to mount on, but there is a channel underneath that only has a cutout for the cleats. I had an idea about drilling the mounting holes on the top and then a half inch size hole directly underneath in order to have access to putting the nuts on either side. In my head I think everything is going to work out, but I am afraid because every hole is kind of permanent. Any suggestions or votes of confidence would be well received. I was also going to give the tilt up bracket a whirl since that was included. I have googled this downrigger topic and everything points me to some sort of track mounting system that costs more than all the downriggers and poles combined. Just looking to get this done before the season winds down here in Wyoming.

 

[lowe1648mt]

down rigger mounts

Can you put up a picture of your boat? A drawing of the area will do. I have experience at mounting but not on that boat.
Maybe another owner of the same model will tell you what he did, and how it worked for him.
Welcome aboard. Chris

 

[DizzyDean]

Boat pic

This isn't a great pic, but you can see the general location where I plan to mount in front of the cleat. The surface of the gunnel is just a hollow rectangular channel. It has been suggested I bolt all the way through, but I believe it will just crush since that is not how the cleats are mounted. There is an access hole for those so I can't see what one more would do. I am also hoping someone on here will come across this and have some experience in this particular application.

 

[Targa165]

Welcome aboard DizzyDean. So your the one that bought that boat. I looked at it when it was sitting on that lot for sale, in Mills. I wasn't interested in replacing the boat I have, I just wanted to look at the boat. It looked like a nice boat, and I'm sure you will enjoy it. If the gunnels are wide enough for your mounting brackets I would cut some plywood pieces as wide as will fit and twice as long as needed to use for a backing on the underneath side of the mount. I mounted Cannon Mag 5's on mine and used a pieced of plywood on the underneath side of the mount for added support and ran the washers and nuts up to the plywood. They have never loosened up and seem to be handling the downriggers just fine. It's nice to see more fellow Wyoming Kokanee Fishermen on this board. Be carefull though, Koke is addicting.

 

[DizzyDean]

Yes I am

I am the one who bought that boat. I live down in Laramie and found it in the paper luckily. I have mounted the starboard side today, but the rain chased me in. Turned out to be much more difficult than I planned, but I committed and got it done after a short day in the office. Now that I figured out a strategy the other side shouldn't take me as long.

 

[Targa165]

Looks like the same downriggers I have on my boat. I spent the last three years leaning over the boat to retrieve the downrigger weights. I finally spent the money for some Cannon weight retrievers. I mounted mine on the aft side or downstream side of each downrigger. I found them on amazon.com for $12.50 each and had them in only a couple of days. Can't believe I struggled with reaching for the weights for so long. Another great thing about the cannon retrievers is the string locks in the side of the guide and when your not using your downriggers you can tighten the cables with the retrievers. This is important if you don't want to spend several hours of your fishing time trying to fix the cable that slipped over the cable reel and is wrapped around the bolt going through the cable drum or reel what ever it is called. Don't ask me how I know this, but loose downrigger cables are a recipe for a problem.

 

[DizzyDean]

Yeah, I am not sure how they will handle now until I use them out on the water for a day. I really like track system with a 6 inch mount, but that is more money than I can afford. I may design and build something over the winter with the help of McMaster.com. Not sure how yet, but I am excited to get out on the water tomorrow. Thanks for all the input. I have used them before, but never on my own boat. I learned a lesson about loose cables on my buddies boat earlier this year when I got to see how fast an 8 pound weight will sink. Luckily we had another one or we would have been up a creek shelling out some dough to buy one at Buckboard during the tournament. Expensive lesson to learn.

 

[lowe1648mt]

Looks great .Fish on!