Basic rod holder install

Hey Zee, I know this post is almost three years old but I am a new Hobie outback owner and have some questions about your holder mount.  First off are you happy with the location?  Does it interfere with pedaling?  I feel like the location may be a little to close to my knees to pedal but was thinking that an extender may get it high enough to keep it out of the way.  Putting it to far forward, I feel like the potential to miss fish is greater.  Also thinking of putting a backing plate on it to keep the pressure of the hull.  Thoughts?

I have one mounted in front of the forward built in rod holder.  I had to get an extender to keep it clear of my knees and to make it easier to reach.

It works great in that location.

I'm just showing some pictures of a rod holder I installed yesterday.

I'm mounting fixed ball mount bases from RamMount on both sides of a Revo11 and Revo13 for FF and Rod holders. I'm putting them exactly where the OP (with picture) did, immediately in front of the rudder draw handles. The baseplate doesn't sit at all flat especially on the Revo11. It rocks sideways. I've thought of using washers under the 4 corners. Anybody got a cleaner trick to get a more solid mount?

I'm looking to drill my first holes in my kayak to mount a rod holder.  I was curious about the rod position, and could rationalize a few different preferences, but still can't decide:
 
If you mount the rod holder on the starboard side (lets stay a little bit in front of you so it's away from knees and paddles etc.), Do you fish the line of the rod out to the starboard (so the butt of the rod is near the cockpit space) or Do you fish the line of the rod out to the port side where the midsection of the rod is crossing in front of the cockpit space?  Does it matter?  Is there a rationale?

I'm ambidextrous, so sometimes my preferences don't always make the best sense. For example, I have both right handed and left handed reels on the two rods I rig up, I will troll either side of my kayak with either setup and I will play a fish right or left reeling.  The rod holder will go either direction and can also angle either way.

I'm getting dizzy...

Gear tracks are a great way to experiment with what works best for you. Also you've had that boat a long time for no holes Barb!

Gear tracks are a great way to experiment with what works best for you. Also you've had that boat a long time for no holes Barb!

I agree that gear tracks are great, because you can change the location of rod holders both from one day to the next, and during a day, to suit your needs.

"Rocket Launcher" style rod holders angle straight up from their base.  In many other styles of rod holders, the handle or butt of the rod sticks down below the height of the rod holder.   If you mount one of the second category of rod holders on your left gunwale next to your legs or feet with the rod sticking out to the left of your kayak, the handle of the rod will stick down towards your feet, and may get in your way.  However, if you rotate that rod holder 180 degrees, so the rod goes across your kayak and sticks out on the right side of the kayak, the rod will be rising up as it crosses your legs, and you will have plenty of room under the rod for your legs.  It'll also be easier to get the rod in and out of the rod holder, because you won't need to reach way out past the side of your kayak.

These issues are illustrated by the following picture.  As you can see, there is plenty of room under the rod mounted on the left gunwale for me to pedal my Revolution, even though the rod holder is pretty low, and isn't raised on an extender.  I avoid raising rod holders on extenders, because an extender increases the stress on the rod holder mount or gear track.  However, if I rotated that rod holder 180 degrees, so the rod was sticking out to the left of my kayak, the handle of the rod would definitely get in the way of pedaling.  The rocket launcher style rod holder mounted on the right gunwale angles up from right at the gunwale.  If I moved that rod holder closer to me, it would run across my legs too low, and would interfere with pedaling.  So when I position a rocket launcher style rod holder so the rod runs across my kayak, I need to install the rocket launcher in front of my feet, or it would get in the way of pedaling.  I could install the rocket launcher pointing away from my kayak, but then I would need to reach a lot further to get my rod into and out of the rocket launcher.

Wow, Pete, are you geared up or what!

Wow, Pete, are you geared up or what!

I’ve made a couple of improvements to my outfitting since the date of the picture shown above:

1.   I replaced the Scotty Depthmaster downrigger with a Cannon Lake-Troll downrigger.  I like the performance and operation of the Cannon better, and it’s way easier to shorten the boom on the Cannon than the Scotty.  For a description of how I mounted the Cannon on my Revolution, and and explanation of why I mounted it that way, see http://www.yakfisher.net/smffiles/index.php?topic=9918.0 .

2.   I replaced the Scotty Gearhead track mount, which kept twisting out of position, with a fixed position base which I made myself.  For a description of this base, and an explanation of how you can easily make your own equipment which mounts on gear tracks, see http://www.yakfisher.net/smffiles/index.php?topic=9917.0 .

Here’s a picture of how the front of my Revolution looks now:



Here’s a picture showing what I have on the back of my Revolution.

Wanted to share how I installed my flush mount rod holder on my 2016 Outback.  I felt like it was a long stretch to put it forward of the built in and I was trying to figure out how to use the space in the little built in tray on my left.  The lowrance ready plug takes up a lot of space.  I pulled the plug and realized that if I trimmed a corner off the flush mount base it would fit in the pre-drilled hole.  So that is what I did.  I did have an issue with the rod holder hitting the gunnel because it was so low.  I ended up buying an 18" extension (30 dollars, way over priced) which corrected the issue. It now fits nicely and leaves that side clean when not installed.  Turned out to be a fairly pricey rod holder, but it does look good and make use of the space.