Rod holders … (ditching the milk-crate)

Goodbye milk-crate. Hello deck space

The old milk-crate/rod-holder was just taking up too much deck space in my little hobie mirage sport, plus I had a "fail" on on of the holders in the milk-crate yesterday.  So today I made this from PVC pipe we had on hand and about $5 of connectors and hardware.

I know it's not a great engineering feat but I'm not particularly good at this sort of thing so I'm anxious to try it out now.

Great idea.Very nice.

Very nice! now you get more space back there! Do you mind if I do the same? I need the space for the bigger fish!     

Looks pretty sweet

Way cool minimalist design!

That will work as long as you do not plan on doing any surf launches. I have seen flush mount rod holders ripped out during a yard sale. If you roll your kayak in the surf with rods in that PVC rod holder, you risk damaging your scuppers.

Good point.  So far my surf launches have been very few. And those I have done have been with minimal gear, just one rod, no FF, and only the gear in my middle secured "tackle box" hatch.  I wanted to minimize the merchandise in the yard sale.  So far I have not botched it

But I understand that there are just two kinds of ocean going kayak fishermen, those who have rolled in the surf and those who will. 

So your point is well taken.  For now I will continue that practice of minimal gear when surf launching and will leave this thing behind.  But since most of my launches are from a boat ramp or sheltered beach this should work nicely I think.  Will test it out soon.

How is that staying in place if you flip over?  I don't see any connections to hte kayak to keep from losing your rods and rod holder.

putting anything in the scupper hole scares me even the hobie wheels.

i was thinking of doing something like this but i love my crate too much

I really like this idea!
I'm going to copy it and make one to hold two fly rods.
Thanks for the great idea!

I also wanted to ditch the Plano box w/rod holders (ditched the milk crate yrs ago after realizing I couldn't fit two 20lb lings and 10 rockfish in the tankwell with all that other crap in there). Plus, less is better sometimes. Especially when it comes to the undersized tankwell in a Hobie Revo. There's hardly enough room for my fish, much less a crate. So I made some pvc rodholders that fit into the flush-mounts behind the seat...allowing me to carry 2 rods, a net, and a gaff while keeping the tankwell open.

One thing I'd suggest is maybe put some pool-noodle material inside the pvc to keep the rods secure & prevent them from bouncing around. I just cut some lengths of noodle, then hollowed-out the middle and gooped it in place. It works great.

You can use Ram tubes also. Mount the balls on the side walls of the tank well with the tubes going up or back. I love my set up, 4 rod holders right behind the seat and a full tank well for fish.

You can use Ram tubes also. Mount the balls on the side walls of the tank well with the tubes going up or back. I love my set up, 4 rod holders right behind the seat and a full tank well for fish.

Finally a use for Ram tube rod holder. I got tired of the Ram ball slipping and switched to Scotty.

One thing I'd suggest is maybe put some pool-noodle material inside the pvc to keep the rods secure & prevent them from bouncing around. I just cut some lengths of noodle, then hollowed-out the middle and gooped it in place. It works great.

To keep the rods from bouncing around or spinning, I use a cutoff saw cut a "V" on the top of the tubes that hold the rod butts for the base of the reel to rest in similar to the "U" in the ram tubes. It really helps keep the reels right where I want them (away from my back) and prevents them from spinning around in the tubes.

WOW -- all these ideas rock -- especially the pool noodle inside the rod holders.   Nice pix and rigs guys!