Universal Downrigger Adapter Plate

Good morning All,

I am new to this forum and wanted to accomplish two things with this post.

First is to say hello to everyone so, Hello. I have been reading topics on here for a wile now and figure this was a good time to join and finally post something.

Second, I have started a small business with fishing in mind. I have multiple downriggers from different companies, and it’s always been a pin to switch them out as their individual quick change/mounting brackets have to be permanently mounted to the boat. I have developed a universal adapter plate with multiple bolt patterns on it for popular downrigger brands. The adapter plate is 6″X 6″ plate made out of 1/2″ aluminum, 1/4-20 threads in the bolt locations, and they will be milled on the mounting surfaces for a flush mount. I am looking for a few anglers to put some hours on these plates. I should have 5 prototypes made by the end of January. Are there any anglers would be willing to test these for me? You would have to provide the following information while you are testing.

– I am only asking you pay for shipping of the plate to your location.
– Pictures of the instillation process on your boat.
– Pictures of the downrigger you mount to the boat on the adapter plate.
– Pictures of the downrigger in action mounted to the adapter plate.
– Detail write-up of what you like and do not like about the adapter plate.
– You will get to keep the adapter plate unless you have any type of issue with the adapter plate. In that case I will need it back for further analysis.

Are there any anglers who would be interested? If so, I will post the best way to contact us for further details.

Regards,
Dan

Dan, I am possibly interested.
I Have Cannons riggers that mount to Traxtech swivel mounts that too are drilled and tapped for many other brands of riggers. I log about 100-125 hours on my Superior boat in a season.
1. Does it swivel, I do not have Cannon swivel bases but my current TT bases do swivel?
2. Will it fit into standard size Traxtech, Cannon or Cisco track.
-Mark

Hi Mark,
These plates do not swivel.
At this time I do not have Traxstech bolt pattern on my design. If you send be the dimensions/layout of the bolt pattern I could include that in this prototype.
-Dan

I do not have Traxtech riggers but the track installed on my boat and as mentioned use Cannon riggers.

I will say this since you are looking for feedback on the product. It would really be advantageous to eventually make the base so it can be used in a track system and eventually design a swivel system.

I will include a pic of what I am running, to eliminate any confusion of what I needed to make it work. Sorry, It sounds like there is not much I can do in terms of product testing for you. -Mark

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Im a little confused. I currently run a very similar setup to Mark, but don’t exactly understand what your product does. Is it just a plate that you mount to your gunnels? Maybe you could post a picture. Also agree with Mark, that track systems are becoming the norm and that would be a major selling point to myself and others.

Mark,
It is possible to get a thicker plate and cut grooves so it would work on a track system. I currently do not have those dimensions. Could be included in a later version.

If the track system is incorporated we will let you know.

Hello Eyecatchum,
This intention would be to mount this in a permanent location and instead of having to change the base plate say of a Big John down rigger to a cannon and having to re-drill holes in your boat. This adapter plate would allow you to directly mount the Big John or Cannon base plate directly to our adapter plate. This could eliminate the possible need for more then one person to remove and re-attache a different plate, and you could quickly change gear out that uses the same bolt patterns. For example, a Big John downrigger shares the same bolt pattern as a Big John rod holder.

I will post a picture as soon as the first plate is finished.

Thank you both of your input and interest.
-Dan

I do not have downriggers, but I do have traxtech tracks on my boat. I plan in the future to add downriggers. The downrigger mounts I will use will have to be compatible with the traxtech tracks. I think that with the advent of the tree rod holders and alike, track systems are becoming popular and having a direct mount and a mount that slides into a track system is something to look into

Hi Dan,

I may be interested as well. My setup is similar to Mark’s but I have Cannon swivel bases and Traxstech non-swivel mounts.

The only thing is that I have absolutely no problems with the setup I have. The track system is super flexible as I can take the downriggers off in about 5 seconds and put rod holders or whatever in its place in the same amount of time.

I’m interested in seeing some pictures. Here’s a couple of my setup.

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Hi puddlepounder and biggil,
Thank you for the feedback and intrest. The current base will be an entry level base and will not have the track design incorporated.

We understand a lot of people are going to the track design however there are still a lot of Anglers who still do not have tracks. Including the track design will raise the cost of this bracket.

We will most likely end up with two different bracket styles one with the track slots and one without. This product testing will be for the one without.

We anticipate the first batch of brackets to be completed by next Monday. I will post picturs than or sooner if possible.

Thanks,
Dan

Update on the downrigger mounts. They are surfaced milled and lined up for drilling/tapping next. Should have pictures within the next few days.

They would of been completed last weekend but I had to go on a work trip to Panama City, FL. I wasn’t going to pass that on up in the middle of January when I live in northern IL

Good morning all,
Update on our UDAPs. Our milling/drilling machine went down and parts have been on back order since January 26th. I am being told the parts are shipping out next Wednesday. I assure anyone who was following this post they are sill in process and will be completed ASAP. More updates to come.

Regards,
Dan

Hello All,
Anyone that originally was following this post must have wondered where we went after we had some milling problems. I wanted to close the loop to let everyone know we ended up discontinuing the milling portion of our business. The competition has the market share and connections to manufacture brackets at a lower price then we can offer.

We feel this was a blessing in disguise as it allowed us to to focus on our custom rod building. We have been building all kinds of custom rods lately and we encourage anyone reading this to take a look at our new web page https://www.remmoutdoors.com/.

If you are interested in a custom fishing rod please do not hesitate to contact us.

Tight Lines,
Remm Outdoors