Concept to Execution - Relieving Pressure - Electric Downrigger Install on Rails

Short story: I installed an old electric downrigger on my kayak, and it works like wicked awesome. Scroll through the pictures to ignore my long winded narrative.

Long story:

So a couple years back I picked up this old, I mean practically prehistoric, Cannon Mini Mag Electric Downrigger off Craigslist for a Ben Franklin, right?

Well I installed it on my b---(non human powered watercraft that shall not be named), and used it.  It worked OK, but its slow, noisy due to the steel cable and I honestly haven't been on the NHPWTSNBN more than twice in the past 12 months.  So I had been kicking around this idea to install the sucker on my Native Slayer Propel 13, more for shits n giggles than anything else, as most of my downrigger fishing is 40' or less, and works just fine with my Scotty Laketroller + Shuttlehawk combination.  First thing I did was replace most of the steel cable with braid.

Anyways, because of the heft of the DR, I couldn't just drill four holes into the kayak and mount the thing.  So I came up with a couple ideas:
1. Mount the downrigger on one side of the kayak behind the cockpit, and back it with a gnarly backing plate.
2. Find some other, non-stupid way to do it.

Now onto an aside.  One of my favorite things about the Native Slayer Propel series is the ubiquitous rails along the kayak. I mean they're almost literally everywhere.  There's probably more rail space on the SP than any other kayak model out there.  That's especially great as I really started to understand and enjoy the rails a few years ago before I joined Native as part of their promotional staff.  I like rails because at the end of the day, everything can come off the boat, and it looks clean as the day you bought it.  The versatility is unmatched and boats are significantly more handsome and easier to sell without a random amalgamation of holes and rigging.

Back to the thought process.  I could mount a cannon downrigger plate to one side of the kayak behind the cockpit fairly easily, and back it fairly easily, as Slayers have a nice little access hatch right behind the seat.   But then it would be permanently attached to the kayak even when I'm not using the downrigger.  It would also probably cause a significant level of stress onto the plastic, even with the backing plate.

Instead, I decided to utilize the rails on my kayak to spread the weight and stress of the downrigger across the rails.

To do so, I purchased a 1x6x48" piece of hardwood.  I thought about using starboard, but decided on the hardwood due to theoretically less flex. 
I measured it across the rear rails, cut to length, then drilled 4 mounting holes into the wood.  Now, one thing I've learned about rails is that rail mounting bolts are kind of ridiculously expensive.  I read that brass toilet mounting bolts fit well in rails, so I decided to test that out with 1/4"x20 brass toilet mounting bolts from HD.  Pretty cheap, I think something like $2.50 for two, versus a lot more for the ones made specifically for the purpose.



I could have stuck with the original nuts, but for ease of removal I ended up going with stainless wing nuts and a washer.

After measuring and cutting holes, I placed the downrigger on top. Due to the weight of the downrigger, I decided it was best to place it somewhere in the middle of the board to spread out the weight distribution and stress. 

But by doing so, it makes it more difficult for me to reach the up and down switch behind me.  Also, due to the way that the SP13 is configured, there's a decent amount of distance spanning the back of my seat and the front of the rails.  So I could access the up/down switch if I wanted to, but it would be more difficult.  So what did I do?  I opened the sucker up. 


When you open up an electric downrigger, especially a wicked old one, you realize that they're pretty basic machines.  Its just an electric motor that handles a spool.  I believe most scotty electric riggers don't even do a power down, they have manual down and then electric up.  When looking at the switch, its a pretty basic 4 prong switch, with the prongs being - power, circuit breaker, one side to make the motor go up, and the other to make the motor go down.  So the idea popped into my head to build an extension for the switch to make it a remote switch (not wireless). 

I purchased a 4 flat wiring cable from Autozone for a few bucks,


Then set to figuring out how to extend the switch.






I knew in concept that I wanted to mount the switch along my rail so I could manage the up down, but wasn't quite sure how to accomplish that with the key idea of keeping the rails clean at the end of the day. So I hatched a plan to mount the switch in a waterproof box, and mount the box on the rail.

Anyways, searched a couple of stores and ended up going with the old standby Outdoor Products (formerly Ozark Trail) waterproof boxes at Wal-Mart.

 These are honestly pretty great made in china cheap pieces of crap plastic boxes.  They aren't terribly expensive, but are well put together and waterproof. I've historically used them to protect batteries (as you'll see later).  Mounting the switch was pretty easy, just had to drill a hole on the top of the box for mounting the switch and one for the wires to enter. 

But how do I mount them on the rail?  Well I had a decent amount of scrap cutting board left over from a previous project and found that it was the perfect width to mount the switch box. 

Trimmed it down to length a little bit, drilled a couple holes right down the middle and mounted to my rail with some spare yakattack mounting bolts that I had. 

Again, if you wanted to save a couple dollars, you could use toilet mounting bolts here.  After doing this, I noticed that I had made a mistake.  Because of the way that the seat mounts to the SP13, the rail mounted switch box would interfere with my ability to move the seat back and forth.  So I drilled some new holes with a slightly different placement.


I mounted the box to the cutting board with all stainless steel hardware and rubber washers to prevent any water intrusion that could hurt the switch.



Anyways, after I built this all out, I decided to try and build a mounting box to hold my battery in the downrigger mount.  I took whatever scrap wood I had left and built a small box, so the whole system is removable. 

It was a good idea at the time but after testing it out, it didn't work great because it made it more difficult for me to install the whole downrigger mount.  So I'll probably end up removing it someday in the future.  I used a 12v 7ah brick to power the setup, theorizing that should be enough power to run the downrigger all day.  I took the brick I have been using for my backup FF battery, as it was already ready to go and in its own Ozark Trail home.


Now, the mini mag that I have has an extra long boom.  I'm pretty sure the boom is something like 7 or 20 feet long.  I removed the boom to see if i could shorten it easily, but its stainless steel and tapered on both ends.  I don't have access to a metal lathe and didn't feel like buying a shorter one. Due to the long boom, it would be very difficult for me to reach the downrigger ball without falling off the kayak or swimming out to the terminal.  So I used a downrigger weight retriever, and attached the fairlead cleat to my switch box.  This allows me to retrieve the ball closer to my kayak so I can clip easier. 



After all of this was done, it was time for testing.  So I took the whole contraption down to shadow cliffs and tried it out.  Worked great down to 40 feet, which is as deep as the lake goes.  No issues at all!  I'm hoping to test it out this summer for deep water freshwater kings, Tahoe macs, or possibly into the ocean.  Haven't decided on whether I should do the latter yet, need to trust this set up a little more first and do some more waterproofing of the whole setup, including treating/lacquering the wood.  Also, getting a rubber snubber for the DR weight, and cleaning out all the rest of the steel cable with some softer backing, maybe dacron or some heavy mono.


Would I do this again?  Not sure. 
Can it be useful? Sure, why the heck not. 
Was it fun? Abso-freakin'-lutely. 
Should others try it?  Well, the concept is solid I think.  Heavy downriggers and other types of accessories can cause undue stress on a kayak hull.  If you have rails, using them to spread out weight distribution and stress is sort of a no brainer.  Even without rails, spanning the kayak's hull horizontally puts the strain on the strongest part of the kayak hull, on its edges.

Why stop at only 1 dr?

Nice work Ben! 

Nice job I'll be doing something similar with the compact walker electric down rigger I just got. I'm just trying to figure out if I'll need 6 or 8lb for king salmon fishing. Also have you tried it out on the water yet? I have a regular 7 amp hour battery but don't know it will be sufficient

That's impressive. I'd be interested to hear how the battery holds up during a long day of use.

Cool idea Ben, glad to see it worked!

Get'er done! Very cool mod Ben!

Is that DR is around 14 lbs?
Looks great! Great job of centering the weight.
I'm going to impart a little BTDT knowledge on you because I've found it to be super important.
Is there a way you can move the boom tip closer to the center line of your kayak so it's almost right against the side or at least not out that far?
The only reason I ask is because of how far it's out there will make it real easy to flip if that snags the bottom or anything on or near the bottom. The problem becomes compounded because if you have to have to cut the line you're going to have to turn towards the side that's going over to do it. There's no give with a DR boom like there is with a fishing rod. The further out the boom, the quicker your kayak is off balance and it happens immediately.
Like I said in the beginning, BTDT.
I made a remote control DR and found that I needed a kill switch on the outside to stop it immediately if needed. Since your design is switch operated no need for that.
Have a plan in place to be able to cut the line IMMEDIATELY. If you're bringing it up and it suddenly snags the kayak will begin to tip with little to no warning. It's different with a manual DR than it is with an electric one. Again,BTDT.
I was able to mount mine in front because I have a mirage drive (no paddle stroke to get in the way). This allows me to just lean forward to get to mine. Knife on the PFD. Pops out, slide forward and cut the line in one motion if needed. My weight can stay centered rather than having to lean to one side or the other to get to it.
If you have the opportunity, get in 2-3 FOW, wedge the ball between a couple of rocks or something to simulate a snag, then hit the switch on the DR. You'll see what I mean.
Better to be ready for it than not.