First time rigging up. Advice?

I recently snagged a Tarpon 160 (not sure on year) off Craigslist for $250 and finally have some time to check it out and get it ready for some fishing.

First off, I need to clean it and double check it doesn't leak. It looks well used, and the guy I bought it from said his brother used to fish it off 4 mile beach. Looks like he dragged it there occasionally, but the scratches don't look like they punctured anywhere.

I need a seat. The one that came with it is a small plastic back rest that looks extremely uncomfortable. Recommendations?

The rear storage is an oddly shaped hatch, doesn't look like I can go the easy milk crate route. I got a Scotty rail mount/rod holder for a quick forward rod solution, and there looks to be 2 places to drill and install flush tube rod holders behind the seat. Would rails be a good option to consider?

I need to figure out storage for a net and/or gaff as well, which is where I'm a little stumped without the milk crate. I was planning to do 4 pvc rod holders to use for gear storage, but unless I can figure out how to mount a crate over the hatch I dont think that's in the cards.

I just got a generic seat off amazon. Go for the higher tier ones (~$45). It is pretty comfy.

You could probably use bungie cords to strap a milk crate on top of the hatch.

Taking it out on the water some will help you figure out what might work. What can you reach easily etc. I imagine it’s a fast kayak but not as stable as what they are building now days. If it were mine I would figure something super simple. If there are places to mount gear tracks you might be able to use them to add rod holders for a pole and net. It might be possible to install flush mount rod holders. The image I found online looked like it has two circles for that right behind the seat. Two rod holders will get you fishing with a net and one rod while you work on upgrading to a kayak with a bait well and gear tracks.

Sounds like a pre-2005 double-hatch model.

If there are flat circular spots behind the seat for flush-mount rod holders, that's going to be the cheapest way to get started. Put a rod in one and a net in the other and go fishing. Put that Scotty mount (hope it's a flush-mount) up front behind the wave splitter and stick a rocket-launcher rodholder in it. Use that to hold the rod when you're actually fishing.

Fishing gear gets carried in pockets on your PFD. Tackle boxes seem out of place on a kayak, especially a fast paddler like the 160.

Now where to put all those fish...
Milk crates are overrated IMO, they stick up too high, catch wind and hold too much stuff. I made a fish box out of an old Rubbermaid tub and it works great. Set it on top of the aft hatch and bungee it in place, put two or three pounds of ice in it and you can keep fish cold for hours.

Thanks for the advice guys, I thought I'd have time today to clean her up and post pics, but a few things stacked up on me. It is indeed a 2 hatch model, and I've seen some topics about it on here after searching. Seems like some people just store rods in the hull?

I think I'll go grab 2 of rocket launcher rod holders for behind the seat, mount the Scotty rail mount up front, and call it good for rods/gear.

I'm not familiar at all with rails, but it looks like they give more adjustability?

I still have to figure out mounting my fish finder (and how to do the transducer.

If there is a way to mount a gear track up front out of the way of your paddle stroke you can mount a FF on that and hang the transducer over the edge.

The advantage of gear tracks is that they allow you to easily change the gear on your kayak and way it is set up, both during a single day and from one day to another, as you learn more about ways to set up a kayak from other anglers, as you learn your own preferences, and as you do different kinds of fishing. Gear tracks also allow you to change from accessories manufactured by one manufacturer to accessories manufactured by a different manufacturer. If you add a fixed mount to your kayak, you may decide in a short time that you don't like the location or manufacturer of the mount.

A disadvantage of a paddle kayak, as compared to a pedal kayak, is that you have to mount gear where it won't interfere at all with your paddle stroke, which is a challenge because your paddle and your arms sweep over a large area of your kayak with every routine paddle stroke, and over a larger area when doing some kinds of maneuvers.  You don't want to mount gear where it restricts your paddle strokes, or where you may whack your paddle, your knuckles, or your elbows on the gear unless you constantly restrict your paddle strokes.  Take the kayak out on the water a couple of times and figure out the limited areas in front of and behind your seat where you can mount gear.  Areas in front of your seat are particularly valuable, because you want to be able to monitor your fish finder and the tip of a trolling rod without turning around to look behind you. You may need to mount your fish finder and trolling rod holder towards the center of your kayak and in front of your feet, where you need to lean way forward to operate the fish finder or insert and remove rods from a rod holder.

I recommend that you figure out how to mount a soft-sided or hard-sided cooler on the back of your kayak, so you can put your fish on ice as soon as you catch them.  If you don't refrigerate your fish, the heat and sun will quickly damage the quality of their meat.  When fishing in freshwater, leaving fish hanging in the water on a stringer will also damage the fish, and when fishing in salt water, leaving fish hanging in the water is dangerous because they can attract sharks and seals.  I have tried various soft-sided coolers, but prefer to use a hard-sided cooler which is firmly strapped down in the rear cargo area of my kayak.

The best “cheapo” seat right now is made by Vibe. I got one from amazon for like $35 and it is surprisingly nice (and includes a storage pack on the back of the seat).

Thank you for the detailed write up pete! Guess I will be getting gear tracks as that sounds like an overall better call. Any advice on which tracks to get? Are they more or less standardized or do different brands use different sized track mounts?

Hoping today is the day I can clean and prep the Yak, and maybe even take her out for a test paddle. Pics when I do.

Sin Coast I'll check the vibe seat out, thanks for the rec.

Oh and lastly, a little off topic, can you explain why hanging freshwater fish off a game clip is bad? I'm going to be out in MT this summer for a month or so on Flathead Lake and hoping to do some fishing, but I'm very new to freshwater fishing and assumed you could hang your catch off a stringer since there aren't sharks.

I once was Kokanee fishing in hot summer weather and the surface water temp was so high it ruined the fish I left in the water. I didn’t have an ice chest so I had no other choice.

...and how to do the transducer.

I'd recommend gooping the transducer inside the hull. Do it right, and you'll never have to worry about it again.

Oh and lastly, a little off topic, can you explain why hanging freshwater fish off a game clip is bad? I'm going to be out in MT this summer for a month or so on Flathead Lake and hoping to do some fishing, but I'm very new to freshwater fishing and assumed you could hang your catch off a stringer since there aren't sharks.

I don't like to leave live fish hanging in the water on a game clip or a stringer.  It seems cruel, and will stress out the fish and reduce the quality of its meat.  If I'm going to keep a fish, I kill it by bonking it or jamming a kill spike into its brain, I cut its gills to bleed it, I gut it, and I put it on ice in a cooler.  In the early spring, when the water temperature on Flathead Lake is in the mid 30's, I may leave big fish in the water to save space in my cooler. But as the water temperature warms up, it won't be cold enough to retard bacterial growth and spoilage, and leaving dead fish in water is bad for the meat.  See https://extension.umn.edu/preserving-and-preparing/preserving-fish-safely and https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/how-to-keep-fish-fresh/156660.  For a more detailed discussion of how to preserve the quality of freshly caught fish, see https://seagrant.uaf.edu/lib/mab/45/cahos-salmon.pdf.  As soon as I get fish home, I fillet them, vacuum pack them, and freeze them.  When I go on a road trip, I bring an ARB 80-quart 12-volt freezer and a vacuum packer, and I use them to vacuum pack and freeze the fish as soon as I get to shore.

I keep my fish in a hard-sided cooler in the rear cargo area of my kayak.  I put a garbage bag in the cooler, put a layer of ice in the bag, and then put the rest of the ice in a mesh bag.  When I drop a fish into my cooler, I pick up the mesh bag full of ice and set it on top of the fish.  This is to avoid a situation where all the ice is in the bottom of the cooler (which is where loose ice will usually end up), there is a pile of fish on top of the ice, the fish which are on top of the pile are a long way from any ice, and they get warm.

Hoping this site automatically resizes pics, otherwise apologies in advance for the page stretcher.

Took me a couple hours, mostly indecision and over cautiousness. I'm still playing with the Scotty rod holder in the front trying to figure out where to put it so I can troll. I think I need a gasket or something as well because it doesn't seat flush with the hull.

More pics of the before part

Was gone for a month and getting back to this project. I’m having trouble figuring out how/where to mount the gear tracks I got. There doesn’t seem to be a great space on the rails that I can easily access from inside to screw the tracks into place. I might rivet them in instead.

I also need to put another flush rod holder in behind the seat on the other side.

Lastly need to get my fish finder wired up inside.