Anyone have some thoughts on how to get some more spread out of my boat without installing outriggers into the T-Top. I have looked and I don’t think there is a way for me to install the outriggers into the T-top as it’s the hard top and there is no indication I can see that there is a plate as I’ve seen on some boats.
I do have kingfisher rod holders on the underside of the T-top but want to get them out a little more ways than just putting a 6’ fishing pole in it. Appreciate any thoughts or ideas?
Back in my offshore days, we used rod holders mounted on the Ttop as outrigger posts and ran removable out riggers from west marine… wasn’t the prettiest or fanciest things you’ve ever seen but they worked and got us almost 40ft of spread…caught fush too
Get some Taco telescoping and drop them in your king holders. Those holders are not strong enough to run with them out and obviously you would not want to anyway since they would be sticking outboard. When not in use you can collapse them down and store them easily. I use one as my center rigger in one of my t-top rod holders and it works great.You can try some differed material for a slight shim to get them to fit snug, I used a short piece of 1 1/2 braided bilge hose on mine I believe. Mine drops right in one of my fish boxes collapsed down on the run out and home.
You don’t have outrigger mount backing plates on your t top because you don’t need them.
If you go with some basic Taco 280’s or even GS-170’s and then carbon fiber 15 to 18ft length poles, you do not need anything like what you see on some boats with 15-20 year old technology going on for riggers.
We just installed mounts and 16ft internal carbon riggers on a 26 Shearwater the plant told the customer they couldn’t do for him. It can be done- just not with 15year out of date technology in mind. The top cannot support an 8lb rigger on a 22ft boat being trailered or run in 3ft seas. It absolutely can support a 3lb rigger in a mount installed with dampening and a larger backing plate meant to spread the load to avoid compression and delamination of the top as well as utilizing the large flat extruded horizontals built into your framework in order to support “longitudinal” shock on the mounts while you’re running and pounding offshore if bad weather.
If you have powdercoat, don’t put an aluminum telerigger in a rod holder. When a weld starts cracking and the corrosion cancer spreads you could have put the best outriggers and mounts on the market on your boat for less than the cost to repair your t top. I’ve heard it all… almost daily, actually. You’d be better off buying 8ft star aerial conventional rods for those kingfish holders than running heavy aluminum riggers in them.
If you want to collapse them and wind up all the line and then reverse the process the next time you get to where you’re going, to each his own. One day the mechanisms that allow the telescopic to occur will fail. It’s a certainty. One day, someone on the boat might get tired of the 15 minutes not spent fishing but instead untangling outrigger halyards and getting poles extended and then stuck into some kingfish mounts. Heck, one day, someone may fall into the water while trying to do such a thing. It may have happened to me personally. I won’t speak to that! I also won’t speak to weather* I have broken an aluminum outrigger pole in ha
Phin - Thanks! I didn’t realize I could install the outriggers despite not having a plate in the framework for it. The boat dealer told me it wasn’t possible. So I was giving up on that and trying to find some other way. I’ll definitely go with outriggers now that I know. I’ll give your shop a call.
I have been using the Out Rover for years, love ‘em. They are bird-type teasers that plane out to either port or starboard and take the baits out 20-30’ or so, much further than any outrigger would. $50 each and they go in a storage bag when not in use. They stay on your line when fighting a fish, that is the only negative I can think of but it hasn’t been an issue for me. Poor man’s (or maybe smart man’s?)outrigger that puts a teasing splash in front of your bait. http://www.outrover.com/
