kokanee64
Well-known member
I've always hated seeing a nice rod laid on the deck or leaned in the corner while someone unhooks a fish or puts on a new lure. It is an invitation for a broken rod. On our boat we have a rule that we ALWAYS put rods in rod holders. Commercial rod holders are expensive and most are mounted semi-permanently; there never seem to be enough of them and they are not always where you need them. The two boats we've owned in the past 20 years, a 16 ft Boston Whaler Dauntless and a 21 ft North River Seahawk, both have rails, so I've equipped the boats with homemade rod holders that clamp and remove from the rails in seconds. They are easy to make, surprisingly strong and never in the way when it's time to put on the canvas. They have more mechanical advantage than it first appears, so be careful that you don't tighten them too much.
The first photo shows several rod holders clamped to the rails of the Whaler. Because the front and back rails had different diameters these rod holders needed 2 rail mounting holes and so the holders are longer. They can mount either way vertically and the tube can be on either side of the rail. If you look closely in the first photo you'll see notches cut into the white PVC tubes (aka, schedule 40 PVC drain pipe). The notches captured reel mounts and kept rods from rotating in the holders -- when you make your own holders you can match them very specifically to you needs. The second photo shows rod holders on the North River. We were camping on Lake Powell 60 miles from Bullfrog, all the way up the San Juan arm, anchored off a small island near the mouth of Piute Canyon looking east toward Neshaki Wash. Because the rails of the NR don't set as high above the gunnels, and because the rails are a different diameter from the Whaler, I had to make slightly different holders for the NR. The third photo is a close up of two holders mounted on the NR, one reversed so you can see both sides well.
Since I'm a hobby woodworker and have plenty of scrap wood around I've made my holders out of walnut. Walnut weathers well and resists rot -- as a kid growing up in Missouri I hunted rabbits on a neighbor's farm where the fence posts were walnut split and put in the ground by the owner's grandfather. I suppose any hardwood would work, although oak has tannin and might stain if it gets wet and is left laying on metal or fiberglass. I don't finish my holders but a few coats of polyurethane or varnish would probably solve the staining problem. If I had to make my holders out or pine or fir I'd probably make them a little thicker, perhaps by cutting down a 2x4. I'd be wary of plywood as the screws used to mount the hinge strap and eye bolt would probably cause the plywood to delaminate. If I didn't have scraps I'd be temped to recycle some wood from a newer pallet -- most are made of tough, narley hardwoods and are free for the taking at one of my local lumber yards.
Because I use scraps the dimensions are based on the material available -- size doesn't need to be exact. The 10 rod holders I made for the NR were made in two batches; one batch measures 3/4 x 2 x 6 inches and the other measures 3/4 x 2 3/8 x 5 7/8 inches. They also have different size tubes, 1 5/8 and 1 3/8. I think it is easier to get a trolling rod out of the larger tubes but the smaller tubes store my bass rods better. I cut the walnut blanks with a table saw but a saber saw or hand saw will work perfectly well. I cut 5/16 inch slots for the 1/4 inch eye bolts and 5/32 inch slots for the 1/8 inch aluminum hinge. A little slop is OK. You'll need to experiment to determine how long the slots need to be -- it depends on where you drill the screw holes for the eye bolt and hinge.
The rail holes need to be drilled to the exact same diameter as the rails. All the rails I've ever measured with calipers are standard drill sizes, 7/8, 1 or 1 1/8 inches. If the rail holes and rails don't match exactly there won't be enough metal to wood meshing to grab and the holders will twist too easily. I cut a piece of 3/8 inch scrap wood the width of the holder blanks, one for each older. Clamp the spacer scrap between the two holder blanks as shown in the photo (my holder in the photo is already drilled but imagine how this would look without the holes). If you don't use a scrap to separate the walnut blanks you won't be able to tighten the screw down enough to keep the holder from spinning on the rail. The spacer also determines the distance you need between the screw holes in the aluminum hinge strap. With the spacer in place, put the hinge strap into the slots and drive a nail into the screw holes to mark the hole centers in the hinge. I use a forstner bit in a drill press to cut very accurate rail holes but an inexpensive spade bit in a hand drill will do the trick nicely. The knobs can be purchased at any woodworking store, on line, and probably from a big box lumber joint, same for the eye bolts. Once the holder is completed and mounted I cut off the excess bolt, making sure to leave enough thread to loosen the knob sufficiently for bolt to slip down the slot and over the end of the wood so the holder can be removed without removing the knob.
I use stainless oval headed screws to attach the tubes to the walnut as shown in the photo above. I typically put in 6 - 8 screw, some straight and some angled a little, making sure I don't drive the screws in the slots or the rail holes. The 3 big holes in the tubes are so I can get a countersink bit inside the tube to drill the pilot holes and countersink the screw heads. The oval headed screws don't scratch or hang up rod handles going in or coming out. If you're worried that the screws won't hold (I'm not) add a couple of stainless hose clamps to firmly secure the tube and wood. The last tough is to cover the PVC to wood gap with white caulk. I looks are important you can also stain and varnish the wood before adding the hardware to the blanks.
I know most aluminum fishing boats don't have rails and all I can say is, "what were they thinking?" I like having rod holders so much I'd investigate having rails welded on. I've designed and built hundreds of things over the years, from houses to sheds and from kitchens to furniture, but these simple, functional rod holders are one of my best designs. By publishing them today they are now in the public domain and anyone can make them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
The first photo shows several rod holders clamped to the rails of the Whaler. Because the front and back rails had different diameters these rod holders needed 2 rail mounting holes and so the holders are longer. They can mount either way vertically and the tube can be on either side of the rail. If you look closely in the first photo you'll see notches cut into the white PVC tubes (aka, schedule 40 PVC drain pipe). The notches captured reel mounts and kept rods from rotating in the holders -- when you make your own holders you can match them very specifically to you needs. The second photo shows rod holders on the North River. We were camping on Lake Powell 60 miles from Bullfrog, all the way up the San Juan arm, anchored off a small island near the mouth of Piute Canyon looking east toward Neshaki Wash. Because the rails of the NR don't set as high above the gunnels, and because the rails are a different diameter from the Whaler, I had to make slightly different holders for the NR. The third photo is a close up of two holders mounted on the NR, one reversed so you can see both sides well.
Since I'm a hobby woodworker and have plenty of scrap wood around I've made my holders out of walnut. Walnut weathers well and resists rot -- as a kid growing up in Missouri I hunted rabbits on a neighbor's farm where the fence posts were walnut split and put in the ground by the owner's grandfather. I suppose any hardwood would work, although oak has tannin and might stain if it gets wet and is left laying on metal or fiberglass. I don't finish my holders but a few coats of polyurethane or varnish would probably solve the staining problem. If I had to make my holders out or pine or fir I'd probably make them a little thicker, perhaps by cutting down a 2x4. I'd be wary of plywood as the screws used to mount the hinge strap and eye bolt would probably cause the plywood to delaminate. If I didn't have scraps I'd be temped to recycle some wood from a newer pallet -- most are made of tough, narley hardwoods and are free for the taking at one of my local lumber yards.
Because I use scraps the dimensions are based on the material available -- size doesn't need to be exact. The 10 rod holders I made for the NR were made in two batches; one batch measures 3/4 x 2 x 6 inches and the other measures 3/4 x 2 3/8 x 5 7/8 inches. They also have different size tubes, 1 5/8 and 1 3/8. I think it is easier to get a trolling rod out of the larger tubes but the smaller tubes store my bass rods better. I cut the walnut blanks with a table saw but a saber saw or hand saw will work perfectly well. I cut 5/16 inch slots for the 1/4 inch eye bolts and 5/32 inch slots for the 1/8 inch aluminum hinge. A little slop is OK. You'll need to experiment to determine how long the slots need to be -- it depends on where you drill the screw holes for the eye bolt and hinge.
The rail holes need to be drilled to the exact same diameter as the rails. All the rails I've ever measured with calipers are standard drill sizes, 7/8, 1 or 1 1/8 inches. If the rail holes and rails don't match exactly there won't be enough metal to wood meshing to grab and the holders will twist too easily. I cut a piece of 3/8 inch scrap wood the width of the holder blanks, one for each older. Clamp the spacer scrap between the two holder blanks as shown in the photo (my holder in the photo is already drilled but imagine how this would look without the holes). If you don't use a scrap to separate the walnut blanks you won't be able to tighten the screw down enough to keep the holder from spinning on the rail. The spacer also determines the distance you need between the screw holes in the aluminum hinge strap. With the spacer in place, put the hinge strap into the slots and drive a nail into the screw holes to mark the hole centers in the hinge. I use a forstner bit in a drill press to cut very accurate rail holes but an inexpensive spade bit in a hand drill will do the trick nicely. The knobs can be purchased at any woodworking store, on line, and probably from a big box lumber joint, same for the eye bolts. Once the holder is completed and mounted I cut off the excess bolt, making sure to leave enough thread to loosen the knob sufficiently for bolt to slip down the slot and over the end of the wood so the holder can be removed without removing the knob.
I use stainless oval headed screws to attach the tubes to the walnut as shown in the photo above. I typically put in 6 - 8 screw, some straight and some angled a little, making sure I don't drive the screws in the slots or the rail holes. The 3 big holes in the tubes are so I can get a countersink bit inside the tube to drill the pilot holes and countersink the screw heads. The oval headed screws don't scratch or hang up rod handles going in or coming out. If you're worried that the screws won't hold (I'm not) add a couple of stainless hose clamps to firmly secure the tube and wood. The last tough is to cover the PVC to wood gap with white caulk. I looks are important you can also stain and varnish the wood before adding the hardware to the blanks.
I know most aluminum fishing boats don't have rails and all I can say is, "what were they thinking?" I like having rod holders so much I'd investigate having rails welded on. I've designed and built hundreds of things over the years, from houses to sheds and from kitchens to furniture, but these simple, functional rod holders are one of my best designs. By publishing them today they are now in the public domain and anyone can make them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
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