Need help with installing slide track/rail on Outback

Hello folks.

I bought my first Hobie from an NWKA fella who wanted to remain anonymous.

I want to install fishfinder (Garmin Echo 200) and GPS (Garmin GPSMAP 76s) onto the kayak. I want to install slide tracks/rails first and to mount devices onto the rails.

If someone have done it before - please share your experience. I would really appreciate advice of the best location to install rails.

Can also somebody tell me what would be the purpose of those "shelves" behind the rudder control (see the picture)? I can't figure out why I would need them...

I thought to use either Scotty or YakAttack
http://www.scottypaddlesports.com/kayak-fishing-equipment-accessories/rod_holder_mounts/TrackAdapters.html
http://www.yakattack.us/Products/GearTrac.html

YakAttack seems to be a much reliable product, but Scotty is plastic, which means less weight and I can bend it if I need to. Any advice is very welcome!

The YakAttack stuff is solid!  I've been very happy with my rails so far.  I would avoid using the screwballs for rod holders on them though.

I would avoid using the screwballs for rod holders on them though.

Why? Too light for a rodholder?

A few thoughts about installing tracks:

1. Think of a rod and rod holder mounted on a track as a crowbar which is trying to tear the mounting bolts or screws for the track out of your kayak.  The wider the track, the better it can resist that force.  That's why I installed Yak Attack GT175 tracks, which are 1.75" wide, on my kayak, rather than the GT90 tracks, which are only .9" wide.  With a GT90 track, it's only .45" from the center of the bolts to the edge of the track.  As a result, the GT90 tracks put a lot of leverage on their mounting bolts.  The GT175 tracks are hideously expensive, but they are wider and have screws on both sides of the track, so they spread that leverage out more.  That's why I decided to install GT175 tracks, and I'm real happy with them.

2.  If your track installs with screws, like the Yak Attack GT175 tracks, you can install the track any place you can find a section of gunwale which is flat enough to support the track.  That's another reason I went with the hideously expensive GT175 tracks.  If your track installs with nuts and bolts, when deciding where to install a track, the shape of the inside of the kayak is just as important as the shape of the outside of the kayak.  Don't just slap the track down on a flat spot on the gunwale and start drilling holes.  First, carefully check out the shape of the inside of the gunwale in that area.  There may be mounds which contain cast-in nuts which will interfere with fender washers or solid backers.  Or the inside of the gunwale may be arch shaped rather than flat-topped, which would mean that unless you line up the bolt holes with the center of the top of the arch, a solid backer such as the Yak Attack "Full Back" won't lay flat.  For example, the inboard corner of the bow end of the solid backer could be digging into the inside of the gunwale, and the outboard corner of the stern end of the solid backer could be digging into the inside of the gunwale.  This would cause all the stress on the backer to be focused on those two corners, and with the middle of the backer not contacting plastic.  That's why I prefer fender washers to solid bars as backers for nuts.  Each fender washer can conform separately to the surface on which it is mounted, and when necessary you can bend fender washers to fit the surface on which they are going to lie.  To ensure that your bolt holes avoid obstacles or undesirable surfaces on the inside of the gunwales, it may be desirable to drill a guide hole with a small drill or dremel tool from the inside of the kayak.  Don't assume that you can put one finger inside your gunwale and the other finger outside the gunwale and accurately locate a hole.  You will be amazed how far off you can be.  Experiment with a piece of plywood before you trust using your fingers to locate a hole.

3. I would be interested to know how various brands of plastic tracks hold up.  I haven't used them because I suspect they don't adequately handle the leverage and twisting force put on them by rod holders.

4.  The trays on an Outback are for fishing equipment and tackle, such as pliers and lures, and they're real handy.

5.  Tracks give you a lot of flexibility in how you set up your kayak from one day to the next, or from one part of a day to another.  But an advantage of the Outback is that it has a lot of large flat surfaces on which you can mount bases for rod holders and other accessories, if you prefer to use them rather than tracks.

6.  I don't like using ball mounts except for small items with no stress on them like a GPS.  The ball mounts seem to slip.   

This is how I installed my Gear Tracs. If I could do it again I would have used a sturdy backing plate. The screws hold well but the added strength of a backing plate would give better piece of mind.http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=10545.0

Hope that helps.

I installed a gt-90 rail onto my revo 11 with the full back.  I had the issues Pete mentioned with cast in nut wells that ultimately required me to cut the fullback in half and not use in on one of the screws. I'm still confident in the install and the wider outback should have fewer similar issues.  I have one of the new ram mount balls plus rodholder and their ball design seems solid.

Earlier thread on how I installed my GearTrac rails.

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=10534.msg117277#msg117277

Thank you so much everyone, and especially to pmmpete,  as your information was extremely helpful! I had an interesting problem. I didn't want to install equipment on both sides of the yak. I keep port side clear of any obstacles as I can re-enter the yak in case of capsize. In the same time, if I install all tracks on one side - it will look really ugly. So I ended up with installing a lot of tracks... 
Bow one is for fish finder, middle one is for GPS, and any other gadgets I might buy in future, stern one is for downrigger.

Last picture shows poor quality of Hobie hull I own. I will post my thoughts on this topic some time later, but being completely honest, I'm dissatisfied with the hull of Hobie Outback comparing to Wilderness Systems Ride 135 I owned before.

My 2 cents to tracks installation. If you use screws - be careful with you electric screwdriver, otherwise it may "drill" holes and you end up installing bolt and nut in an extremely-difficult-to-reach-location. 

By the way. As you can see on the pictures, all these tracks are YakAttack. I placed one order over $100 for 2 sets (2 tracks per set), and then, about 3 weeks later, I bought 1 more set, and YakAttack credited me for 10% of the second order. I want to think that it wasn't a mistake and just a part of their customer care, a kind of returned customer reward...

By the way, quality of their product is really high. I liked even the touch to a nicely built product. Read my "Crab Caliper" story (I'm going to post it later today) to understand why I would like to pay pretty much any buck, just to get a "Made in the USA" labeled product.