How I Pimped my Trident

Many of you know that I recently moved out of my Marauder and picked up a Trident 15.  After carefully studying Sean's rigging tips, I adopted many of his ideas and added a few new ones to boot. 

Here is the summary... pictures attached below in order.

1-5 Forward Rod Holders.  I mounted two scotty round flushmout brackets up ahead of the sonar sheild because I had them and because they fit there.  Later I found out that it is really quite a reach up there.  So I found that the small Scotty threaded brackets can just barely squeeze into the space between the rod pod and sonar shield.   A good location reach wise and aldo nice to have all the rodholders on the centerline of the yak, keeping the outsides free and clear for your feet or for netting fish, etc.  But how to make this work while keeping the fishfinder screen clear... hmmm...  The solution is found in using extensions on the rodholders.  Here I used a standard extension on one side, and the standard extension plus a short extension on the other.  This is needed in order to keep the rod grips from infringing on eachother.  I also show two rod holder orientations that I've tested at lake Mendo.

6 - 7 Rear Rodholders.  I mounted a total of 6 flushmounts behind the cockpit.  The first four are tilted slightly outward in sort of a conventional position.  The rear two are aligned to point basically straight back for storage of gaff, club, net, snare, etc.  I don't like that stuff to lean out over the side of the boat if possible.  Also, I used Cobra flushmounts because I like their one piece design and gimbal slots in the bottom of the rodholders.  In one photo I show the likely position of my downrigger, installed with a Scotty gimbal mount in one of the flushmounts. 

8 - 10 Cable management and battery box was handled just as Sean did in his post.  No sense messing with a good thing.  This setup keeps the entire inside of the hull free for ease of sliding rods in and out of the rodpod.

11 - 13  Sea Dog Footpedals... pretty cool design.  It allows for a gas-pedal type rudder control along with a fixed footbrace.  The location of the pedals can be adjusted anywhere along the track without changing any cable tension settings.  Again... I couldn't just use them as is... I cut the adjustment flags off the ends of the adjustment rod because they just weren't necessary and because I was concerned about my legs hitting them, etc.  Wrapped a little rubber tape on the ends of the rods for a grip to turn them. 

14 - 17  Rudder Installation... I got a good deal on a Wilderness systems rudder, so I had to make some tweaks to retrofit it to this boat.  I had to fabricate a bracket so I could use the factory studs in the rear of the kayak.  I also had to get some longer sections of nylon tubing for the cable tubes.  I found I could buy the stuff from some online kayak fishing stores for like 25 bucks, or I could get the same stuff from McMaster Carr for like $0.21 per foot.  This tubing is identical to the OEM stuff that comes with the WS rudder system.  Flame the ends to flair and drill the hole in the hull carefully for a tight fit.  Lastly, I installed small stainless steel turnbuckles on the rudder so I could have some level of adjustment on the rudder cables to align the foot pedals.  I taped them once I found the right adjustment so they'll stay put.  I also had to put a higher rudder block on the rear, so I just used a piece of hypalon rod grip and installed with the factory screws... ran a bungee through it to secure the rudder in transit.  Finally, the last photo shows how I routed my rudder up/down controls.  I decided to use a cam cleat to hold the control cord in the up position.  I figure I can use the same cam cleat for my quick rear anchor release line once I rig that up in the winter. 

Enjoy!!!

Nice job EK I hope to do some OK pimpin' in the future....

Nice clean job KRR. Thanks for sharing.

Jedmo

Hmm I think you need more rod holders!

Great job as usual!

Nice job, you definitely put some thought time into that fishing machine. Does the two small Scotty flush mounts interfere with the rod pod from sealing.

Pat R     

Does the two small Scotty flush mounts interfere with the rod pod from sealing.

Pat R    

No... it seals fine.

Thanks...

Looks SWEET EK!  How are the seadogs in person?

Looks SWEET EK!  How are the seadogs in person?

They seem pretty decent.  I haven't had them on the water yet, hopefully I'll get them out this weekend. 

They are all plastic construction... but seem plenty beefy and the foot pedals do have a solid metal shaft inside. 

I did have to switch out the bolts provided (phillips head) with some hex head bolts... can't really use a phillips screwdriver on the inside of the kayak where the bolts come through. 

I was concerned that maybe my legs would hit the tracks when installed on the kayak, but that's not the case at all... I think they'll be considerably more comfortable than the bare molded footwells on the trident.

We'll see how they handle in the real world this weekend.

EK

didnt even think of the small scotty mounts.  They have the same size female as the normal mounts right?

oh and I was going to use my wilderness rudder from my old ride on my orange trident.  So glad you used some different rod holder configs, otherwise we might confuse the two.

didnt even think of the small scotty mounts.  They have the same size female as the normal mounts right?

Yep... the mounts are the same...

where is your cam cleat for anchor rode?
how is the fit and ride of the boat.  i am looking for a new kayak.

I use the same rudder line cleat doubles as the cleat for the anchor release line.  I just tie off the rudder line in the up position when anchored, and use the cam cleat for the anchor release line.

The boat fits well... plenty comfy and substantially improved speed and quietness on the water than the marauder and plenty of stability. 

I've been out a couple times now with the rudder system and the Sea Dog foot pedals are performing well.  I like them.

EK

how to you keep the rode straight off the stern?   my cleat is on the stern, it can be difficult to line up the rode!
ps.   

So here is how I rigged my anchor system on the trident 15.

First, I am using the "Tote" brand of anchor release.  A piece of yellow nylon rope with a loop fitted around the pin in my rudder assembly.  I secure the release line to a cam cleat that is next to my seat.  I normally use this cam cleat to secure the rudder in the up position.  When I'm anchoring, I just tie off the rudder line to something else to free up the cam cleat for the anchor release.

The release line needs to be long enough to allow your float to settle behind the kayak.  By letting out a little extra release rope, the anchor will settle in nicely behind the rudder assembly and will center itself on the stern of the kayak, making for good tracking in current. 

Make sense?  Seems to work well.

Chris, I used to put my cleat directly on the stern until I saw the simple release line idea that Tote came up with a couple years ago.  Much easier.

EK

Thanks KzReelRods for the inspiration I just had to try playing around and fix myself up with some Rod Holders.  Not the best quality pix, but couldn't wait to share as you can see the leftover mess.   
 
Thanks KzReelRods!

Items used:

 2 - Scotty Round Flush Deck Mount

 4 - Scotty Adjustable Rod Holder Extender #459

 2 - Scotty Powerlock Rod Holder w/ Mounting Bracket Brace (I didn't use this Mounting Bracket Brace but the extra lock screw that came with it was used at the connection of the rod holder to the extender)
     
screws, bolts plus washers from your local hardware store for the Scotty Round Flush Deck Mount.