Scotty Depthmaster on Hobie Outback - Install Complete

What's up NCKA?

Just wanted to post up some pics of my completed downrigger install. Just finished it today, so no water time yet. But I think it's gonna work great.

It's right there in easy reach. Crank is in a comfortable position. All that good stuff.

It's basically two 8" strips of Yakattack Gear Track GT90, and a mounting plate made from 3/8" Starboard, Yakattack Mighty Bolts, stainless wing nuts and washers. The Scotty base is mounted to the Starboard using stainless steel Tee nuts and the 10-32 threaded screws that came with the DR (cut down to proper length with a hack saw). The Tee nuts are recessed into the Starboard to keep a nice flat surface.

The whole baseplate just slides into the Gear Track and hand tightens with the wing nuts. It feels VERY solid. Zero play, and the load is spread over a nice wide area. I'm looking for something less snaggy to replace the wing nuts.

Can't wait to try it out!!!

Anyway, here are some pics:

Looks really cool bro I dig it...

Thanks, Slacktai!

Couple other details...

I cut the boom shorter and used the existing fairlead to direct the braid onto the spool correctly. This involved removing the boom from the base, hack-sawing off a short piece, and drilling a new hole for remounting.

I also rotated the brake lever 180 degrees. This involved rearranging the brake parts, AND cutting some material off the DR base to allow the lever to swing in it's new position. I can take some detailed pictures of this if anyone wants, but it pretty much explains itself once you take the DR apart and play with the pieces.

It looks awesome and I'm sure you'll be much happier with this setup than any behind-the-seat mount.

Btw, I thought you'd planned to raise the pulley using copper tubing. I'd be a little concerned about the braid rubbing on the fairlead at that sharp of an angle and eventually causing a problem. I wonder it a small pulley/block might fit there---the smaller ones are only about $10 at West Marine...

Alex, looks good bro. You'll definitely get in the "zone" now. I love my DR and it sure takes out the guessing of where you are in depth. Just a tip....you might wanna replace the cable with 200+ ft of 80+lb braid or Dacron line. Helps cut through the water better keeping you straight up and down and takes away the Humming noise when trolling with cable. You should be able to get away with at a least 8lb. on that DR. Fish shape and heavier  weights keep you straighter at deeper depths fyi. Don't forget to get a few good releases to. 

Just thought of a couple other things. These are probably totally and completely insignificant, but I thought I'd toss them out there for you to consider...

I don't know how low your Outback sits in the water, but my Adventure is pretty low-slung. So, at least on the Adventure, I'd be a little concerned that with your setup, the pulley might occasionally take some water, which could conceivably cause it to foul---it wouldn't take much crud to cause problems. Just one more possible benefit to raising the boom...

Another thing is that your DR line looks like it might be a bit farther from the edge of the kayak than other similar setups I've seen. In my case, the line is about 5 or 6 inches from the edge of the kayak and it seems to me that it should probably be even closer than that (like maybe 3 inches). I'm guessing from the pictures that yours is about 8 inches. Anyways, the closer you have it, the less side pull and less tipping force you should have, all else being equal.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

It's funny.  I had some of the same concerns, and I've been PMing Nangusdog over at NWKA about them. His DR is mounted in the same location on an Outback, with the same shortened boom. He said after several years and many trips he has not seen any wear to the fairlead or any other issues. He runs an 8-lb ball offshore.

I still may play around with raising the pulley using copper pipe, but for now I'm happy with it.

Already spooled it up with 80-lb PowerPro.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

It's funny.  I had some of the same concerns, and I've been PMing Nangusdog over at NWKA about them. His DR is mounted in the same location on an Outback, with the same shortened boom. He said after several years and many trips he has not seen any wear to the fairlead or any other issues. He runs an 8-lb ball offshore.

I still may play around with raising the pulley using copper pipe, but for now I'm happy with it.

Already spooled it up with 80-lb PowerPro.

NICE!= YOUR SET TO NAIL THE CHROME THIS YEAR!

That's a nice setup.   

Looks good Alex, when's the first test drive?

Hopefully next weekend? Planning to hit Berryessa for a weekend of camping some time soon.

Looks great man. I need to get some time to finish my install for the revo.

 
  Only thing I can add is, you might have to modify your paddle stroke, as its location  looks like it might be a little in the way for those times you need to use the paddle.

It's easy to pop on and off the base for launching / landing. 

  Only thing I can add is, you might have to modify your paddle stroke, as its location  looks like it might be a little in the way for those times you need to use the paddle.

Only when he needs to back up.