Advice For Setting Up A Down Rigger

[FishDrought]

Hi Raiders,

I am looking for some advice regarding fitting a Scotty 1050 to my Tinny.

I have mounted the base plate to an aluminium pedestal which will slot down in a rod holder. Now at the moment the tube of the pedestal needs to be shortened & I want to fit a decent slab of wood & high impact rubber between the pedestal plate (downrigger) and the gunnel to disperse the pressure a little better.

So the questions:

1, Will that be enough to ensure I don't warp the gunnel as the downrigger & pedestal flexes as the weight travels in the water? or should I fashion a G bracket that could disperse pressure easier?

2, Should I attempt to strengthen the gunnal? The boat is a 4.3m Brooker Runabout with wide gunnal.

3, The boat came with preset rod holders, there is one at the rear and one about half way along the side of the boat. I want to mount the rigger into the holder about halfway along the boat as it is easy to watch and also the rear holder is fitted next to a grab rail and the downrigger will not be able to sit flush?

So any ideas / suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jason

[brickman]

jason if your mounting the downrigger in a rod holder the rod holder would need to be stainless steel and the rodholder needs a backing plate on the underside off the gunnle and bolts not self tapping screws

make the backing plate as large as you can fit under the gunnle that will disperse the load some what and use 2mm rubber gaskit the backing plate should also be stainless

cheers gary

Edited May 18, 2010 by brickman

[Guest Aussie007]

this is how i mounted my two downriggers one was a Attwood (4lb weight) plastic type hanging off of the transom with bunnings cheap G clamps the other is a Cannon lake troll (8lb weight) i used a builders stirip? probably not spelt correctly its used for pergola posts one end attaches to the cement the other to the post the sides were cut off than another piece of galvanized steel sheet was welded to the top and the lower vertical bar was bent with a hammer to the shape of my tinny i use the lake troll downrigger with the 8lb weight and its rock solid even while under way with the weight hanging from the boom (done this by accident) but glad to know it didnt go anywhere

[Basil D]

this is how i mounted my two downriggers one was a Attwood (4lb weight) plastic type hanging off of the transom with bunnings cheap G clamps the other is a Cannon lake troll (8lb weight) i used a builders stirip? probably not spelt correctly its used for pergola posts one end attaches to the cement the other to the post the sides were cut off than another piece of galvanized steel sheet was welded to the top and the lower vertical bar was bent with a hammer to the shape of my tinny i use the lake troll downrigger with the 8lb weight and its rock solid even while under way with the weight hanging from the boom (done this by accident) but glad to know it didnt go anywhere

Great little set up on that tinnie mate

[FishDrought]

Thanks fellas,

A lot of good info and really appreciated. I must admit that builders stirip thing looks a piece of shed genius haha top marks.

Cheers

Jason

[Guest Aussie007]

this is another shot of the downrigger mount its bolted to one of the side ribs by two bolts the downrigger locks into place either in forward or reverse so it doesnt get snapped off at the wharf