Make This "Rod Locker" useful

I fish from a pretty simple 16 foot tiller with a floor. I’ve got an in-floor “rod locker,” or so Aumacraft calls it. It’s really just an aluminum box in the floor. I can fit 7.5 foot rods in there, but there’s nothing to secure the rods or keep them from bumping around and getting all tangled and beat up. The opening is only half the total length so you can’t see where the rod tips are going if you try to place a rod in there.

Right now this storage area is home to roughly six 3700 size planos, my stern light, an oar, a measuring board, a tiller extension handle, and a couple rod holders — basically most of what you see hanging around in the photo haha. It’s definitely useful as-is, but I have other places theses things could get tucked. I’m getting tired of having 4-6 rods lying around the boat — not to mention strapping them to the ceiling of my vehicle on trips — so I’d really like to figure out a way to make this work as an actual rod locker.

It seems clear I’ll need to use long tubes to keep the rods safe. I could attempt to build a whole rack system, but wondering if there are existing products I should be looking at or other ideas/completed projects that folks might like to point me to?

Size-wise, I’ve got 7.5 feet total length. The interior width is about 13 inches, height 7.25 inches. The opening is about 34 inches.

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Not sure this is the solution you are looking for, but I have a 17′ tiller with a rod locker (10 tubes) but I could get a lot more combos in it without the tubes and I’d just use rod socks for storage while on the road.

For storage while fishing I built a vertical rack that slides into a post base and keeps 10-12 rods out of the way.

I would buy rod sleeves to fix the tangle issues. Then I would put a simple ledge for handles to sit on the keep them separated. A tight bungee cord across would work I’m sure.

Thanks guys.

I feel like the security of the rods would be better in tubes in my case, and only tend to carry 4-6 rods at any time. Rod socks are a good thought, but I still want to somehow immobilize the rods so they’re not banging around on the road. Ripjiggen I’m thinking along those lines with the ledge, but incorporating tubes on the opposite end somehow.

I have had vertical storage in the past and I’d like to avoid it if at all possible. It’s a small boat, I don’t want to create the obstacle of a pillar of rods floating somewhere.

I think you are over thinking the rods “banging around”.
Use the wolven finger trap rod sock and place some carpet in the back 2 feet of the box and you will be just fine.

Huh. Ya know, maybe you’re right. I’ve never had a rod locker in my past boats so the notion of shoving a BUNCH in there at once seems reckless but after searching and seeing some bass boat road lockers stuffed full maybe you’re right.

Maybe a little foam padding (like garage floor foam squares) on the bottom to soften things up, combined with rod sleeves, and I call it a day.

dirtywater wrote:

Huh. Ya know, maybe you’re right. I’ve never had a rod locker in my past boats so the notion of shoving a BUNCH in there at once seems reckless but after searching and seeing some bass boat road lockers stuffed full maybe you’re right.

Maybe a little foam padding (like garage floor foam squares) on the bottom to soften things up, combined with rod sleeves, and I call it a day.

I think that’s the best and most simple solution. With such a short height in your compartment, they won’t bounce around much at all. My rod storage is along the side of the boat and is lined with carpet. I use the woven mesh rod sleeves and it works well. Way higher risk of damage from normal use outside of the rod locker than inside the locker.

I’d agree….you don’t need tubes. Rod socks and a little something to hold them will work. Tubes minimize storage. You don’t need to worry about damage….tangles are more of an issue.

I have storage in the floor. Side has tubes but open down the middle. I use rod socks down the middle and then I set the throwable pfd on top. Works great.

I can get 12 rods with rod socks in mine. A piece of foam or carpet in the bottom and you’re GTG.
I use “The rod glove” brand of socks because they fit over the large eyes on my spinning rods.

Rod socks are the way to go, if you are handy you can sew up your own which is what I did me personally hate the mesh ones. If you are worried about reels then just design the sock to cover the reels. For my baitcasters I purchased neoprene reel covers.

Thanks again everyone for the feedback. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of rod socks/sleeves to begin with but I’m glad I asked the question.

That’s the route I’ll go. This will also allow me to store a few other long/slender items in that same bin – secchi tube, oar, stern light, tiller extension, etc. Planning a couple cargo nets to deal with the miscellaneous items.

I have the coffin style rod locker in my impact and I love it for storage/ transportation. However, once I hit the water, all the rods I am going to use go in this thing, which replaces one of the seats I don’t use anyway:

https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/fishing-rod-retainer-fishing-rod-retainer-caddy/0000000222317?bc=10417|10433

it’s the best simple little item that solves all of the problems I have with other methods (hate digging through lockers when I want to switch, don’t like throwing rods in the corner to get stepped on, etc). If you’re like me and don’t utilize every single seat pedestal this thing is amazing.

I have had a similar vertical rod storage rack on a previous windshield boat that had a bit more space and I still thought it got in the way a lot. Think that’d be even worse on a small tiller with no room aft of the captain.

If I find it a hassle to get rods out of the locker I may reconsider next spring.

Rod sleeves/socks are the way to go. I took the built in tubes out of my rod locker in my Nitro so I could fit more rods. If you have the rod socks on the rods they won’t get tangled up and the eyes won’t catch on anything on the way out. Learned that the hard way when I first bought my boat!

Just don’t get treble hooks anywhere near the rod socks…..trust me.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Just don’t get treble hooks anywhere near the rod socks…..trust me.

Yeah, I have owned a grand total of 1 rod sock in my life. I had to cut a treble out of it and quickly tossed it in the garbage. I’m looking at the neoprene sleeves -vs- the mesh, but either way I religiously remove baits from my rods before storing. After embedding the largest size VMC treble in my finger this summer, I’m pretty cautious.

Snap in rod clips wouldn’t be easier than socks altogether?

SuperDave1959 wrote:

Snap in rod clips wouldn’t be easier than socks altogether?

I considered that. I could add clips to secure the rods near the butt end, and that might help keep them somewhat still, but the tips are still going to be floating around on the dark end of the coffin not strapped into anything. Seems like it’d be a matter of time before some tips get crossed up.