X-wing "style" console question

Being pretty new to the SOT Kayak scene.  I'm trying to think of how I want to rig the Oasis.  I don't want to pop holes into it until I'm very sure of what I want and where I want it.  I've scoured the net for way to many hours gathering ideas.  The other night I found myself toying with different ideas as I was trying to fall asleep (this is turning into a normal occurrence, yikes).  Anyhow, I was wondering why pretty much everything I see has tracks running long the gunnels fairly close to the cockpit.  On these tracks, there's typically a multitude of rod holders, go pros, FF, downriggers, tool holders, drink holders, etc.  If a person turned upside down, the chances of getting hurt are pretty good.  The difficulty in getting back in once righted is also up there.  Why not put two tracks on the gunnels and build a shelf that would rise up and span the width of the kayak.  All your gadgets are then mounted on a platform in front of you, there's less holes into the kayak itself and the sides of the kayak remain relatively clear.

Upon a little further searching along the lines of that concept.  I found a photo of the Malibu Kayaks X-wing console.  Granted that's an ugly beast of a console and the storage box hanging down in the middle wouldn't work with the pedal drives.  The general concept is certainly along the lines of what I was thinking.

Are there other examples of this type of "gear shelf/table" out there?  I don't even know what to call it so searching for it is not that easy.  Is there a reason this is not more common among the SOT fishing crowd?

A console table can - will - be in your way when the kayak rolls over.  And it will roll over, sooner or later.

I take nearly nothing with me and I'm not the best source for advice, but if you'll look through the "Cutting and Drilling" threads you'll see how folks in this area set up their kayaks.

We all go through the "What and How" phase.  It helps to keep calm until you've put your kayak in the water and can get a feel for where things should be.  Do it a few times and things get obvious.

But forget the console table.  Read this: http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=15380.0

Thanks for the reply.

Interesting article and quite informative.

What I do notice is this guy's "custom" rack is more or less pinning him into the cockpit and hampering re-entry.  He's got 2x4's all over the place.  Tackle boxes added to the sides to make re-entry even tougher...  This is not at all what I have in mind as that looks downright scary.  Not sure if those are wood 2x4's or plastic wood 2x4's.  Either way, all that added weight is certainly not helping matters.

If you look at Ling Ling's boat.  He's got a gear track on his gunnel by his mirage drive.  That's what I was thinking of (on both sides) with a table/shelf that rises a bit and spans across.  That way, there's nothing directly beside you on either side to cause interference with exiting and climbing back on if it rolls.  In my case, it would be placed just slightly forward of the rear mirage drive and directly behind the front seat.  It cannot be large and bulky as there's not a whole lot of room to work with.  I wouldn't want one at the front cockpit area, I'd want that left fairly open.

When the kids and I were at the lake last week.  The practising of climbing back on board is exactly what made me start thinking of how to get crap out of the way to make re-entry easier.  We're heading out to the lake again this week and there will be more practising involved.  I want all of us to be very aware of what needs to happen and how it needs to happen before we're faced with a real life situation.

Anyhow, off to catch the Ferry...

I tend to mount all of my rod holders and fish finder on the left side of my boats and leave the right side wide open for reentry.  On my Outback I do have gear track on both sides but they are down in the pockets so they won't hamper re-entry.  It was kind of a waste of money since I've never put anything over on that side.  On my Oasis I will have gear track only on the left side since I don't ever plan of putting anything on the right side.

I tend to mount all of my rod holders and fish finder on the left side of my boats and leave the right side wide open for reentry.

And I'm the opposite. All my spinning gear is left hand crank so I fish off the left side which I keep clear.

And so it follows that I also troll off the left with the rod holder on the right.  The rod crosses the boat in front of me.  And all the trolling / baitcast reels are lefty crank.

Point is, leave one side absolutely clear for reboarding.

It's not just ease of re-entry but also difficulty of righting the kayak when it's upside down.

The more you have firmly attached to the top deck - or above it - the more difficult it can be to right an upside down kayak.  The heavier a "semi-permanent" attachment is, the harder it can be to right the kayak.
 

I understand why having things attached to the sides might make it harder to turn the kayak back upright, but I'm not sure that I understand wanting to keep one entire side clear. Since I don't know which side of the kayak I might end up going over, I keep everything far enough forward on both sides that I could re-enter from either side without anything being in the way. I freely admit that I'm new to kayak fishing, though, and have only practiced turning over and re-entry from both sides without a completely full load of gear. What am I missing?

If you have everything far enough forward that it won't be in the way then that will work for you.  For me, I'm a little on the wide side so I need some space to do the seal flop onto my kayak.  I also like to have the rod holder and fish finder within quick reach on my kayak so if I have them close enough to reach that don't leave much room to reboard.  That's why I leave one side empty.  I just need to make my way around to the correct side to reboard.  But what works for me doesn't me it will be the same for everyone.  I also don't like to use too many leashes because I fear getting tangled in them, but then again, that's just me.  YMMV

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I am in process of building out an Oasis as well, for tandem and solo fishing.  I am just getting ready to put yack attack gear tracks on the sides and I have a hobie H crate mounted in the front/fore seat for when I am solo, I mount it in the back for when I am tandem.  I will not admit I know what I am doing yet, but happy to trade info. 

Just came home for the night as I need to work tomorrow.  Heading back out to the lake again tomorrow night.  We did some rolls and some trolling today.  Being that I sit in the back (only because I like to be able to see and know where my child is), I paid a little more attention to what I would want and where I would want it.

Trolling a willow leaf and flatfish while holding the rod in your hands gets a little tiring relatively fast.  However, there's no mistaking a fish strike when the rod is held in your hands .   I can certainly appreciate a person wanting a rod holder within quick and easy reach.  A gear table where I envisioned it is not going to give a person a quick and easy reach.  It would require a person to scoot forward to grab their rod.  That in itself could be an issue when you add waves into the mix.

Tinker brings up a very good point

The more you have firmly attached to the top deck - or above it - the more difficult it can be to right an upside down kayak.  The heavier a "semi-permanent" attachment is, the harder it can be to right the kayak.

I don't really want a crap ton of stuff "regardless of where it finally ends up".  Today when I was out on the water, I was thinking very much along the lines of Tinker's comment.  If a person was to build a table, depending on how high they built it and how much stuff they loaded on it...  righting could potentially become a difficult task.

I've certainly not committed to building a table as I'm not 100% sold on the idea.  I'm also not completely discarding the idea as I think it has some potential.

Justinjw, please post pics as you outfit your Oasis.

On my Jackson Big Tuna I put 8 separate rails to fish all positions tandem or solo. 

Here is what I did.  My guess is I will be unhappy with how the battery and fish finder are as it will lean to one side.  But will see.

This I fixed the crate on the fore seat rail with the straps.

Bolting the rails on was a pain...

Now I need to go fishing...

justinjw,  Have you fired up the fishfinder?  That is more or less where I was thinking as it is out of the way.  It's really far forward and I was curious on how easy it would be to read.

As I do not have the knowledge yet to post pictures I have to post a link.  This is the Scotty catalogue and on page 13 there is a kayak with a "table"spanning its width. Is this what you mean?

http://scotty.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017_Outdoor_Catalogue.pdf

The one on page 36?  That one's pretty neat - it's fairly low and it's on rails and slides forward and back.