Mounting a Scotty Rod Holder

I finally bought a boat…1st one.

It’s a 14’1980 Mirrocraft deep fisherman and I’m trying to side mount a Scotty holder to the inside of the rail. I bought it thinking finding installation instructions/type of fasteners to use would be easy to find on the internet, but that’s not the case.

Any suggestions for screws that I can use in the side of the rail? I don’t think I’ll be able to drill all the way through to use nuts. Is there a type of screw that will hold without nuts behind them? Thanks

p.s Not sure how to describe the rail, but its a molded aluminum rail so its hollow on the inside. Does that make sense? I can post a pic if need be.

Definitely post a pic. Rail mounting should be a snap so I’d like to see what you’re up against.

Here you go, thanks!

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You should be able mount rod holders just below the gunwhale(upper edge on the boats side) you made need to build a spacer to bring the mount out from gunwhale a touch so the rod holder stem will fit in the holder.

If that in the case ,I would use Polyethylene for the spacer, I had to do this to my 16′ Lund and I bought a real cheap Polyethylene cutting board to build my spacers out of,I think I paid less than $5 for it.

When attaching ANYTHING to a boat you should use ALL stainless steel fasteners, I also used a plastic insert locking nut to keep mine from coming lose and gave it a clean looking finish, placing the nuts on the inside of the of the boat.

I was near my boat I would shoot a pic for you, but it is at my camper 45 miles away.

Please post a pic of you boat side rail if you can for further help.

Here’s another view from underneath the rail.

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After seeing your gunwales I dont see why you cant drill all the way through to use bolts, just dont over tighten,I would still place the nuts inside on yours and use washers .remember to use stainless steel fasteners.

I know see your gunwale is curved on the out side… now I would mount just below the gunwale, making sure your rod holder extensions are long enuff to reach down a little further, put your rod holder together and hold it just below the rail and see if it will work BEFORE you drill.

Yeah, I suppose I could, but I was thinking it wouldn’t be good to have bolts and nuts sticking out from the gunwale. I’m not sure what you mean but “inside”? How would I place the nuts inside? Sorry.

I think he means use a stainless bolt with a hex or machine screw head. Put the machine screw head on the outside of the boat and the nyloc nut to the insite. this will help to prevent covers, weeds, lines from snaging on a nut head on the outside of the boat.

Thanks trumar, I see what you mean by nuts on the inside. But yeah It would be tough to get it to line up right with the gunwale being hollow and an 1 1/2″ thick.

Yes, I probably could go under the gunwale, but then I’d have to shim the bottom two holes of the mount and drill through the hull. That might be the only way to go though.

Are there any clamp on brands out there that we like? lol

place your bolts from the outside the boat in,,putting you nuts next to the rod holder mount, I would also place a washer at the bolt head and before the nut, measure what kind length you need and buy as close to that as you can, I even trimmed mine off some so it gave me a clean/save look.

Ok,off to my sons wedding rehearsal/dinner,need further I will be back on line via phone.

No worries I got it. Thanks again all. Congrats on the daughter in law!

I would install some “riv-nuts”. Basically a riv-nut is a heavy duty “pop- rivet” that has internal threads. You install the riv-nuts, then fasten your item using standard threaded bolts of the proper size. The riv-nuts take the place of a loose nut. Riv-nuts make for a nice clean and strong installation when you don’t have access to the backside of a panel. They hold much better than a sheet metal screw or the like.

My old boat was the same. I used metal screws with pan heads for the top and used bolts for the bottom holes.