Scotty Lake Troller vs Depthmaster vs Depthinking

I'm sold, just waiting for one of you guys to come up with some sort of plastic that can be poured into the cup holder to mount the down rigger through, for the plug.

Get out of my head!!! I have my other Outback in the garage right now...made a dam for the front, smeared the entire console well with petroleum jelly as a release agent and am head out to home depot to look for some sort of resin to pour in there. The wood worked fine but wouldn't fit my other boat so I figured I'd try this method out...plus I needed something to do.

I'll keep you posted

Nangusdog and Dirk1730:

You may have the following problems if you try to pour resin into the water bottle holder of a Revolution or one of the trays on the gunwale of an Outback:

1. Petroleum jelly may not be a satisfactory release agent.  Try carnauba wax or some other official mold release agent.

2.  If you want to use fiberglass resin to make a plug for the water bottle holder of a Revolution or one of the trays of an Outback, you'll need to pour it in a series of thin layers, because if you pour it in one big piece it'll get hot and crack when it's curing.  A friend who worked with fiberglass many years ago had the following suggestion to avoid this problem:  Make a plug out of wood which fits fairly close.  Lay fiberglass cloth over the wood plug.  Coat the inside of the water bottle holder or tray with carnauba wax or some other mold release agent.  Slather fiberglass resin over and into the cloth.  Then jam the wood plug/cloth/resin unit into the water bottle holder or tray.  Because this would result in only a thin layer of resin reinforced with fiberglass cloth, my friend says this would avoid the cracking problems you would have if you tried to pour a solid resin plug.

3.  The top of the Revolution's water bottle holder isn't horizontal, it's cut off at an angle, so you wouldn't be able to pour the top half of the water bottle holder.  That wouldn't be a problem with the trays on an Outback.

4.  You're going to get resin all over your nice new kayak.

As a result of these concerns, I decided not to try to pour a resin plug.  My easy solution for making a plug for the water bottle holder of a Revolution:  You don't need a round plug like I used in my downrigger mount.  To keep the mount from rocking in and out on the gunwale, you only need a hardwood or plastic plug about an inch thick which sits in the water bottle holder at right angles to the gunwale.  To figure out the width and angle of the plug, take two pieces of cardboard and set them against the inboard and outboard sides of the water bottle holder and tape them together.  Cut a piece of 1" thick hardwood or plastic to those dimentions.  Round off the edges on a sander so the plug fits well into the water bottle holder.  Attach a wooden plug to the top plate of the mount with aluminum or stainless steel angle iron; attach a plastic plug to the top plate with stainless steel bolts or lag screws.  It should work great. 

Nangusdog, for the benefit of Coldfusion and others who may want to mount a downrigger on one of the trays of an Outback, could you  describe in more detail how you made a wood mount for your Scotty Depthmaster downrigger?

Adding a different perspective here ... I personally don't have any issues running a Laketroller behind my seat.  I use either 4# weight in freshwater or a 6# weight in saltwater.  And I can operate it with one hand by holding the knob with my outer fingers while loosening/tightening the adjuster knob with my thumb, pointer, and middle finger.  Works for me!

-Allen

I operate my Scotty Depthmaster with one hand, but for me, operating a Laketroller is either a two-handed operation, or a one hand/one knee operation.

If you don't want to drill holes in your yak, keep your fish and beer cold, and have comfortable access you can mount it on a cooler that bungies into the back of the Outback. The ball sits nicely in the molded in rear rod holder. I do like the resin mount though. 

I have gone all year with my depth master behind my seat. It's more about convience, and not having to do prefishing stretches.
Gordon, I can't wait to see downrigger 5.0

The attached pics show my hand next to a Laketroller and my hand on the controls of it.

-Allen

Another idea of what to a plug of - http://www.smooth-on.com/Silicone-Rubber-an/c2_1113_1136/index.html?catdepth=1 Should be fairly easy to do.

I have Demonick style mounts on both my Outback and my Revo. I am happy with both mounts. I also have the depthmaster and king, I prefer the depthmaster. I use the king when I have a friend w me on my second Hobie, it's more cumbersome. I can comfortably use up to a 10 lb pancake weight on my Outback and use the space underneath the unnecessary brace to store my catch(in a divefin bag exactly like the hobie dry bag) w some ice

I have Demonick style mounts on both my Outback and my Revo. I am happy with both mounts. ...

If you drill a hole through the end of the downrigger brake handle, thread a length of paracord through it, route it properly around one the of the rod holder uprights you can pull the brake handle and deploy while facing forward.  It can take a bit of finesse, so be very gentle until you get the hang of it.