DIY Center Rod Storage Lund Fisherman

I have a 2005 Lund 1700 Fisherman and the rod storage is limited. Was doing some searching and came across a thread on walleye central where a guy built a center rod storage in the same boat. Thinking about using his design as reference, but instead of rod tubes just having a rectangular opening. Attached some picture from that thread as a concept. Wondering for the plywood, is marine grade the way to go here or could I use a treated plywood instead? If marine grade is the best choice is there a place in the twin cities to source this that anyone knows of?

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I would use something other then wood completely if it were my build. But marine grade is what I would use if wood were my only option.

what Bearcat said…

I agree with BC.
If using wood marine grade for sure. Menards carries a couple thicknesses of marine grade plywood.

What are some other materials you guys would suggest/have used as an alternative to wood? Looks like another wood option is MDO boards that are similar to marine grade and available at Menards.

Multi polymer plastic., hell some one could print something this day and age I’d assume. Thick plastic would be my go to.

I sent a pm, David.

The plastic boards are pretty expensive! This is just from Mcmaster-carr ,but $500+ shipping for a 4×8 board. This is Starboard or or Polyethylene (HDPE)

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You can buy PVC trim panels at Home Depot and lowes. Probably cost the same as similar size sheet of marine grade. They come in thickness up to 3/4. Treat them just like plywood for cutting and assembly. Tiny Boat Nation on youtube probably has some videos to help you out, but they usually use aluminum or marine grade.

Id be curious to the flex of plastic for that top piece, not familiar with it myself.

IMO go 5/8″ marine grade and don’t over think it, marine Ply was used for decades in boats, many still do, and taken care of will last. It’s a rod locker, just get er done.

Cool project, good luck w it

Marine ply will work fine. I’d recommend going the extra mile, though, by encasing it in fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin for extra strength and to waterproof it. I used west system epoxy and a woven fiberglass cloth for a similar deck extension project and it’s as good as new more than 10 years later. I saturated the wood with the epoxy using those cheap chip brushes, laid down the cloth (buy a specialty fiberglass resin roller to get all the bubbles out and you’ll be glad you did), and then saturated it again. You basically can’t see the cloth once it’s done, but holy cow does it make the deck stronger. And as I mentioned, fully waterproof.

Two other thoughts:

In my experience with similar projects (I’ve done a few over the years), the plastic board is a bad idea – it’s not strong enough. Guys use something called Coosa Board to avoid wood, but it’s really expensive and would only offer a weight advantage (much lighter) in this situation. 100% not worth it.

Lastly, poly resin is cheaper and might work in this situation, but I don’t know for sure. West is guaranteed to work well in my experience. I’d highly recommend it along with the woven cloth for strength.