Suction cup rod holder
 

Ok, I'm all proud of myself so I thought I would share :-)

When out fishing it seems that the unused rods are always in the way so I wanted a holder up by the bimini where they wouldn't interfere with our efforts. Still, the boat is used for family activities quite a bit so I didn't want something permanent, ugly or expensive.

My solution was to graft some heavy duty suction cups onto a cheap bulkhead mount rod holder and stick it onto the side window when necessary. I already had the suction cups but they only cost about $9 on Amazon. Couple that with a $16 rod holder and for a total of $25, some scrap hardware and a few hours of effort I now have some good, temporary rod storage. I haven't tried it yet but it seems plenty solid. I'll report back if there are any design hang ups that I find when using it.

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I like the looks of that invention, but it scares the crap outta me. Hanging some possibly expensive rods and reels over the side of the boat like that and depending only on 14+ lbs per sq inch of air pressure to keep them attached just seems a tad "risky". But I DO like the idea and the looks. So I offer two suggestions. first, move the holders to somewhere inside of the boat. Second, attach a safety line to the rod holder and make sure each rod is secured to the holder via a bungy cord or whatever. That way if a catastrophe should occur you won't lose anything except the suction. Nice idea though. :beer:

I'm with d, i'm not hanging my rods outside of the boat. Like the idea, just a different location. Might be the photo, but it looks like the bimini is still in the way

Thanks guys. I was thinking about that. All my rods are cheap but still...

The cups are 4" in diameter so at 12 sq inches each they have plenty of strength (under ideal conditions) - but a dirty seal could be a real issue. I had thought about tethers but that seemed cumbersome. I hadn't however considered bringing it inboard and that seems to be an ideal solution as the rods won't be in the passenger's way and they are even easier to get at now. There is clearance by the bimini when its folded forward as it almost always is when fishing.

Great suggestion. Thanks!

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Good Idea for light rods But here in the NE we fish some heavy rods!! And $$ so what I did was take a rail off a old whaler and mounted to the boat ans added holders to it worked great!! You can see here
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/...81_G.sized.jpg

MJ nailed it - solid mounting attached with screws. By the way Joe, it's killing me that you're having to let that boat go but I know you gotta take care of first things first. When you're ready, there'll be a bunch of us ready to throw in and help you get set up.

Even with a solid mount you can see the eye bolts, I used to run a bungee over the reels when under way!!
Thanks scook!!

Jvitiel - those little bins along the cabin wall look pretty handy - are they the bottoms of quart oil containers?

Damn MJ, that's a nice minnow you have there. Guess that pic was taken just before you went fishing for some really large fish. :party:

Yea, my rig is only for light weight rods for sure...

MJ, I'm pretty sure your setup was the original inspiration for what I did. I remember seeing that pic or one very much like it on this board last year and the idea stuck in my head. I just needed to figure a way to make it removable for when doing family stuff.

Skook, yes they are oil cans. The Admiral thinks that they are ghetto looking but I like them. I have some back on the transom and they are a bit flimsy with all that's going on back there but up front they work fine. I didn't want to hassle waiting to have enough cans of the same color from oil changes so I bought new empty ones for like 60 cents a piece on the internet.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/ite...0465&catid=805