Gear Trac, Ramball, etc.

Hello All,
   It has been a tad slow in the shop, and I just started wondering... How do you like YakAttack gear trac? It is pretty inexpensive for what you are getting, but I have never used their products. Any cons? It would be relatively easy to mill out a version of a mounting track if the GearTrac has areas where it could be improved. I just do not mind drilling holes in my yak and I enjoy making things. Anybody have any cool or interesting ideas for a future project for my/your Yak that you haven't made yet? We have a CAD programs (solidworks), 3D printer, Bed mill cnc machine, lathes, welders, etc.

I think Yak Attack Geartracs are great, and can't think of any major ways to improve them.  I like the wide Geartracs better than the narrow ones, for the following reasons:

1.  Rod holders and other equipment put a lot of stress on gear tracks.  The wide gear tracks spread that stress out over the width between the holes on the left and right sides of the track.  With the narrow Geartracs, all the leverage of your rod holders and other equipment is exerted between the bolts in the center of the track and the edge of the track.  This puts a lot of leverage and stress on the hull of a kayak, particularly if you raise your rod holders up on extenders.

2.  The wide Geartracs are mounted from the outside of the kayak, using screws.  This is way easier and faster than putting bolts through the hull, because when putting bolts through the hull you need to worry about the shape of the inside of the gunwale, and you may need to bend fender washers to fit the shape of the inside of the kayak.

Wide Geartracs are extrusions which Yak Attack manufactures or buys by the yard.  All they have to do is drill mounting holes in them and dress up the ends.  As a result, they seem a bit expensive to me.  However, if you tried to mill down bar stock to create an equivalent gear track, it would be enormously expensive and time consuming.  I doubt it would be economically feasible to mill your own gear tracks, unless you wanted some unusual configuration and were willing to spend the time and effort to mill it out.

Pmmpete, thank you for that review. That was my first impression of the gear track when I first saw it at next adventure. My mountings only consist of Scotty flush mount and a 1" ram ball. 
I have a feeling I will be adding gear track soon, or maybe just modifying a picatinny rail and mounts from some of our parts to mount other accessories on my yak. Just looking for the next idea!

Geartrac and Mighty Mounts allow versatility. I prefer to use them as the base. I run Scotty and Ram products on them all the time. The geartrac also allow you to "clear the deck" in case you want to do such a thing for fly fishing as one example. I have used the wide geartrac and the geartrac 90s and both are fine. If you don't want to use a backing plate you could substitute something else like I did with pieces of a plastic cutting board. The Rigging Bullet works for those tight places too. I ran that into the gunwales on this boat just a week ago and tested it out over the weekend. On a side note I think that Ocean Kayak Trident 13 is going on Craigslist soon.

Geartrac and Mighty Mounts allow versatility.

Ray is totally correct, and I should have mentioned that first when explaining why I like Geartracs.  They provide great flexibility about how you set up your kayak, both from day to day and within a day.  For example, last weekend I set up my kayak like I usually do, but was wearing bigger shoes than usual, and noticed that I was occasionally bumping one of my rods with my toe.  So I moved the rod holder back about two inches, which eliminated the problem.

Allow me to contradict myself just for fun. These tools do have benefit but they can also be viewed as more gear trash. They cost more than a Ram or Scotty base and one could argue that all you need is one or the other. I'm kind of partial to Ram products as they seem to have a wide array of versatility. That said my photo and kayak above demonstrates the perfect application of a geartrac because a Ram or Scotty base would not fit there.

I like my narrow GearTracs and would install them again.  The only change I would make to my particular installation is to get the longer versions.  I am a fan of 1" fender washers instead of the bar YakAttack sells.  All stainless hardware of course.

I have narrow tracks on one kayak and wide ones on the other.   Both are great and I plan on adding more soon.  I switched to the narrow ones on my new kayak because I am cheap. 

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In a perfect world you would make them flush like a ride 135. Other then that they are awesome just the way they are.

RAM 1/4 x 20 thread Screwballs and stainless key nuts on a backing plate are another option. It works if you have enough area under the deck for a decent plate. If you don't need it just pull the ball and cap it with a bolt.