MX 1825 Dual or Single console??

I am ordering the first Mx 1825 into Australia, so have not had the luxury of a ride and drive or even seeing the boat up close. I like the protection the dual console provides for family and non boaters when I fish the bass comps, but the front deck looks a little short to handle a few 6′-7′ rods. I am getting Skeeter to install a couple of rod staze on the front deck, but would appreciate input if anyone has looked at the issue of storing rods on top of the front deck.
cheers Mike

ON the side console it would not be a problem on the full I see it being really tight don’t have one in front of me ours haven’t arrived yet . Eric from SBC should be able to help!

good morning. A dual console will add a few issues to keeping rods up on the front deck. You wont be able to lay them flat on the floor with the dual console. You would be able to with the single though. The thing I have always done in the past is to run the rods right along side the gunnel and rest the tips right where the console meets the gunnel. I see no issue with being able to put a rod staze or 2 half way down on the inside of the gunnel and be able to hold the rod right there.
If you wanted to be real sure that it wont do anything to the gel coat where the rod touch it you could add some clear plastic tape in that location to protect the gel coat and the rods.

Its not the ideal situation but with a little planning it could be figured out to work and do what you need it to do!!

Congrats on the new boat!!

I test drove the 1825 MX single counsel with the F150 yesterday. Your area of concern is a worthy one. With the single counsel having the passanger side opened up you would free up some deck space for rods. That was a fun boat to drive and you will really enjoy it, but I did feel pretty tight up front with the dual counsel model, the back end of the boat is laid out very nicely which results in the front end being a little cramp in a 18 ft boat. Another feature that I was suprised with was the guages were mounted under the steering wheel and it was difficult to see the tach when running, if it were possible to locate that in a more user friendly spot that would be cool. They didn’t have a 200 hp dual counsel to test drive, if you are a person that likes a little more juice, I think that motor upgrade would be worth the money. F150 complimented the boat well but performance was pretty standard. Very nice boat and you will enjoy it!

Thanks for the input. I have been tossing around the idea of installing a plastic tube type rod holder down at front deck level and having the tube go into the passenger console against the gunnel and just above the shelf. The tube would protect the tips from things that are thrown in and may roll around in the storage shelf. If the front deck is 70″ the tube would add about 9″ to that which would be fine for most of my bass rods. The motor I am putting on here is an E-Tec 175, will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the Yammy’s.

if you install an adjustable rod holder to the outside of the console, you can have the best of both worlds…a nice windshield for your partners to sit behind and plenty of room for your rod tips without scratching up either the gelcoat or the rods. it works really nice for keeping your rods from bouncing around or getting jumbled up too.

i use a medium size RAM sonar mount with a wall-style rod holder on top of it. you will need to put a board or metal shim between the mount and the holder as an adapter since the mounting holes won’t line up.

my boat’s a tiller, so these pics are on a rail mount, but it’ll show you the idea. on my previous dual-console rigs i would put a RAM ball on the gunnel just outside of and slightly forward of each console (one on each side). that way i could move the rod holder and rods to either side at my convenience. the rods lay on the front deck with the tips pointing past the console…but not touching it.

works great!

What a brilliantly simple solution Thanks heaps for the post.
Who said fishermen were just hansome faces!