I have 2 small downriggers and I would like to mount then on the rear rails of my WX1880. I would not use them very often so I don’t want to drill any new holes in the boat. Can this be done? Any pics of this.
Thanks. Dan P
I would assume that the picture shown is for mounting a 2×6 board across the back of the boat (from rait to rail) then the rigger base is attached to each end of the 2×6.
I have even gone as far as using rope to tie the 2×6 to the rails. I was in a bind on LOW borrowing a friends boat and it actually worked very well. Looked real “redneck” but function over fashion.
For a “better look you could paint the board and use U bolts to the rails. Maybe this Pic can help, its not a perfect explination but close.
works ok until you snag into rock wall or commercial net, then it rips the railings right off the boat. BTDI. Suggest sacrificial cannon balls and DR wire; something that will pop before your anchors blow, ~75-100# instead of the normal stuff if i remember correctly. but about 2/3 of the test of the wire that comes on them.
Looks good guys but to high tech for what I have. Like I said the riggers I have are smaller then the ones that you guys use. I am on a lake in northeren MN. And the depth would be 20′ to 40′ down. I was thinking if I could mount a bracket to my 60″ rails one for starboard and one for the port side and the riggers would bolt to that. I would think the rails would be strong enough for all that I need is 4-8 Lbs balls. Any other options out there?
it’s not a problem of the size of the DR, but the size of the boat/inertia. When a wire is stuck, it doesn’t matter when it’s a 4, 6 or 8# ball. If the boat is 800+ lbs, it’s going to rip the DR off most railing mounts i’ve seen. I’ve built a few of my own that survive and i’ve clamped single rods to them and i’ve mounted small DRs (cannon hand cranks if i remember) to a board between two rails on not a large boat (14 or 16 if i recall) i ran it into a rock face off washington island (or a net; it was nite time. if i remember correctly those were 6# balls and 135 or 150 wire. i would have been trolling at 2-3 mph. Ripped both DRs, rods, rod holders, reels AND the railing and the whole kit and kaboodle went into the drink.
Do as you like. Not a problem for me. Darwin is ever present.
(sorry for the tuff luv, but my daughter was on the edge of the Sikh mass killing today in milwaukee and i’m still a bit on edge…)
MarkBruzek- Aka: Chuck replied:
“Or one could set the slip-clutch properly and avoid that…”
No question that a properly set slip clutch helps, but it’s not a fail safe route either. I’ve found great variation in quality of clutches from mfg to mfg and from unit to unit, for a start.
Plus, i once had a motor kill and flood as we hit a net and the following sea pushed all our line out. In THAT situation, we had enuf time to cable cut, but when the DRs are pulling the rear transom down and the following sea is washing over, it can get exciting, BTDT.
All i was saying is that a liter cable gives one more ‘circuit breaker’ in the system. At three am with surprise bad weather, i want all the options i can get.
You may want to check out trax tech. They have a few accessories that may be what your looking for. We have mounted a 60″ track on top of a 60″ rail and it worked for the 4 times they took it out.
I bought the Cannon Rail/Side Mount and it works really well. I have the smallest sized Cannon downriggers and I didn’t want to drill anymore holes in my boat. This base worked really well for 4 days on Lake of the Woods this year. I mounted it to the “T” on the rail and I never ran at high sppeds with the ball hanging from the downrigger. It comes with some plastic sleeves that go around the rail and that keeps everything from sliding and prevents and clanking between the metals.
Thanks Bigfife, that’s just what I am looking for.
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