I had one of those Promar folding nets and it didn't last a season. I took good care of it by rinsing it and spraying it with WD-40 after every out but in about 9 months it just snapped one day while I was trying to open it. I now use your standard boat net, albeit slightly shorter. It works fine and I don't have to fiddle with it on the water.

As for pliers they make some that are aluminum that I'm using for most things. I also have a Leatherman wave that's pretty solid. Hard to go wrong with a multi tool, just make sure it's tethered.

Alan, I've found the best way to transport a SP13 is on 2-3" abs/pvc pipe on a trailer as a sort of "rail" system that fits right underneath the twin channels of the hull.  Cheap and effective. Depends on your trailer set up though.

The nice thing is, since I'm building the trailer out I can set it up for that. It was pretty much my plan to do a front and rear rail with 3" ABS pipe between to slide the boat on. It will actually be a 2 story affair since my buddy also has an SP13 and we may go do several tournaments together.

Quote from: Madcat on July 09, 2015, 07:53:05 PM

Quote from: beerhunter on July 09, 2015, 07:48:14 PM

For the trailer ideas FishingforaCure or shoprat both have crazy cool setups and are knowledge in this types of projects I'm sure ffac is typing something up right now!!

Sounds like a hell of a time your gonna have and I'm sure will see you on the water !! Good luck

I hope so, a big part of this plan is to head up north and fish with my NCKA bro's!

Ur killin' me ... actually, I was looking for a pic of my setup but I'm STILL adding onto it sooooo....  Just picked up another batch of powdercoated goodies to mount to it today.  I'll snap some new pics of the rig this weekend.

A Harbor Freight utility trailer makes for a good starter platform upon which to build a box/rack setup for the yak, gear, cooler, chairs, etc...

I have a motorcycle trailer with a perm tag I picked up a few years ago. I'll be modifying it for the kayaks and as a mobile cleaning/cooking station. I'm probably going to lengthen the tongue by 3-4' to give myself some extra room and make it easier to back up. I hate short tongue trailers.

Here's a decent picture of the trailer:

I've been talking with my wife about this for a while and it looks like it's going to finally happen in 2017 since I'll cap out on vacation time then. I'm going to spend this winter rebuilding my trailer with a locking box, fold down sides and rails to hold my boat. I'm also going to put a camper shell on my truck and put a platform with a bed in it inside ala Billydog. Then I'm going to try and hit at least 20 kayak tournaments in 2017. I'd like to hit a mix of fresh and salt kayak tourney's all up and down the coast. I need to rebuild my freshwater gear since I sold most of it off over the past 5 or 6 years as I got more into saltwater fishing.

On that note I'm looking for some advice on gear. I still have all my freshwater tackle but I need some rods/reels. I've got a calcutta and a stradic I was thinking about just tossing on some freshwater rods and using. I'd like to have a total of 5 setups so I'm not going to be switching baits all the time. I'd like to get 3 bait casters and keep it under about $250 for all three, but I have some wiggle room if needed.

As for rods I'll need one spinning rod for the stradic and 4 baitcasters. I'm thinking 2 plastics rods, a crank bait rod, a spinner bait rod and a drop shot rod. I'm going to be hitting up a bunch of yard sales in the next year looking for deals on high quality rods (G. Loomis, St. Croix and Lamiglas stuff), failing that I'll be buying new and would like to keep it under $100 per rod. I'm totally open to suggestions on this.

I've never done anything quite like this, I mean I'm an avid camper but I don't go out and camp quite this much. I'm planning to set the truck up so I can rest and sleep without the hassle of a tent etc. I'm brainstorming ideas to build a propane stove setup into my trailer to make my life easier. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas on setting my trailer up as a mobile kitchen/kayak transporter in one I'd really appreciate it.

Quote from: AlexB on July 07, 2015, 01:35:15 PM

You aren't "planning" on leaning on it, but shit happens.

Maybe consider building in a "weak link" so you'll break the standing bar before you tear apart your hull? Maybe cut the aluminum conduit and join it back together with a balsa wood dowel that will snap or something plastic or rubbery that will deform?

   Break the hull ?      You can't be serious....         Ever try to break a piece of polyethylene?      If that happens,,, better start looking for a better built kayak.  I could see it with some of those chinese models that utilize re-grind plastic. 
  The idea of putting in a "weak link"  just begs for a failure to happen.    You're supposed to lean on it.  that's what it's for.     I used mine to pull myself up out of my seat, even put the kayak upside down on the bar to test the strength of the bar and connectors.   Intentionally pushing the extremes.   The least of my concerns is that the hull would  break...         Take a closer look at some of the other mfg's stand up bars.    They're using the same bimini fittings.    But hey,,  if you'd prefer to spend 200 dollars plus shipping.... 
       
       Regarding a place to put your paddle:    Since Ive actually built and used one of these stand up bars....  That dog just don't hunt.     Imagine the senario.  You're standing up, paddling along with your fishing pole in one hand , paddle in the other ?  You suddenly decide to  balance your paddle in that convienent paddle rest  to cast?             Or would you be paddling,  then set your paddle down, grab your rod from a holder ,  stand up, then start casting?    Just don't see how it's possible to do both.    Maybe rambo style,,, hold the rod in your teeth.        Try it sometime and let me know how that works out for you.

How did you bend the conduit Jim? I don't have a pipe bender, would one of those cheap hand benders work?

Quote from: SeaWeed on July 02, 2015, 07:30:48 PM

I'm interested how it will do with some minor kelp. Like how hard it will be to untangle the occasional piece of floating kelp in the prop. If it passes that test I could consider one of those.

I usually try to dodge kelp, but its easy to remove if you get it stuck. Just pull the drive up and remove the kelp.  I think its easier to remove and store the drive for kelpy areas than pulling the hobie pedals, and you get less water surge into your kayak than on the hobies with the drive out.  You do end up losing some deck space once you bring the drive up though since it sits in front of you.  I've been slacking on my pro staff duties but will try to put together a review of both the SP13 and the SP10 somewhat soon (teaser - I love the SP10 more than any kayak I've ever owned)

To piggyback on this, I have the Boonedox rudder and have notice an issue where kelp will float up between the end of the center-hull and the rudder since there is a gap. When I get some time I'm going to call Boonedox and give them a heads up on the issue. I don't believe to many people on the west coast have natives at this point so I have a feeling they're not aware of the issue. Hopefully they'll be receptive to user input.

As far as the drive goes, it's a cakewalk to untangle it or put it up/down. It's definitely quicker than the Hobie in regards to deploying and removing it and I have managed to free it up just by reversing for a moment. I can tell you I did about 15 miles this weekend with my fishing buddy who's also in a slayer and had much less strain on my thighs and knees than I did in my Outback. We did about 2.5 miles in around 40-45 minutes of straight pedaling and probably could have done double that. It just pedals very easily and once it gets moving it's super easy to keep a steady cadence that will give you around 3.5 mph (gps confirmed).

I absolutely love the boat btw, I honestly can't say a purchase has lived up to the hype this well in a long time. Within 2 minutes of being in the boat I was standing and the next day I was standing comfortably and looking for spots that looked promising.

You aren't "planning" on leaning on it, but shit happens.

Maybe consider building in a "weak link" so you'll break the standing bar before you tear apart your hull?

That sounds like a good idea. Like I said though, I'm going to see what Dan can do for me before I consider building my own. I don't have a ton of free time anymore so I don't get to tinker as much as I used to.

I had a nice 20' boat for awhile. With the costs of registration, maintenance and fuel it was just to much. It really sucked when it was $100+ every time I just wanted to go to a lake and fish. Since then I've spent more in kayaks than I ever spent on the boat itself, but I haven't even touched the fuel costs. The difference is I get out 20x more than I did with the boat. I spend a solid 150 days/yr on the water with the kayaks. With the boat I was lucky to go out twice a month.