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Mounting rod holders

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Bigtwin

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How do you mount rod holders to the rails when the metal on the sides runs all the way up to the bottom of the rail? I'm interested in rod holders mounted on the side rails used for bait fishing..thanks
 
Most rail mounted rod holders get in the way of the mooring cover. On my Benny, even if I removed the rod holding part, some of them unclip and can be removed. The actual mounting bracket itself got in the way of the cover. I do not have a "fishing" version floorplan. I still haven't found anything that will permanently mount on the rail that does not interfere with my cover. When I say interfere, it stretches the cover way too tight to fit around the mounting bracket. Mine is super tight anyway. Thus, putting too much strain on the snaps. For rod storage and transport I have the SS tubes that attache to my tow bar. 3 on each side.
 
TexAgg56 said:
Most rail mounted rod holders get in the way of the mooring cover. On my Benny, even if I removed the rod holding part, some of them unclip and can be removed. The actual mounting bracket itself got in the way of the cover. I do not have a "fishing" version floorplan. I still haven't found anything that will permanently mount on the rail that does not interfere with my cover. When I say interfere, it stretches the cover way too tight to fit around the mounting bracket. Mine is super tight anyway. Thus, putting too much strain on the snaps. For rod storage and transport I have the SS tubes that attache to my tow bar. 3 on each side.
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TexAgg56, thanks for the reply. I don't own a Bennington and currently fish with a center console and have 3 rod holders mounted to each side of my 22 ft boat. Wife and I would like to have a fishing pontoon but it's got to accommodate our fishing style.
 
When you say the tubes, are you talking about the fence rails? If so, are you bait fishing, or trolling? I clamp mine under the upper fence rail to the siding. It holds well enough to troll with ( no down rigger ). I personally don't want to drill any holes in my boat. I am working on a clamp on down rigger attachment to go on the cleat. If you would like a photo of the fishing rod holder, I can snap one on Saturday.
 
Dannie said:
When you say the tubes, are you talking about the fence rails? If so, are you bait fishing, or trolling? I clamp mine under the upper fence rail to the siding. It holds well enough to troll with ( no down rigger ). I personally don't want to drill any holes in my boat. I am working on a clamp on down rigger attachment to go on the cleat. If you would like a photo of the fishing rod holder, I can snap one on Saturday.
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Yes, I meant the rails when I wrote "tubes"..I bait fish and usually have 6 rods baited (3 each side). I also have two electric downriggers that I would want to rig but that's another discussion. I would appreciate any pics/input.
 
I'll post a couple of pics on Saturday. I'll try to give you an idea of what I'm working on to mount a down rigger on.
 
I have my Scotty mounts mounted to Bimini arms and I also place them on my rails without bolting them on. They hold strong. I also have a mount on my transom that can hold a single or triple rod holder from Scotty. I also have a Scotty mount near my throttle that uses a Scotty cup holder being the throttle hits the cup.
 
Here’s pics of different parts I use.


C37A4748-C684-4947-B2B8-9B194D8C8637.jpeg 66A83CBF-6D76-43A2-B1C4-97D0047138F4.jpeg BA379FAE-83BB-44BC-8E46-8C7DAC97BB53.jpeg 704C1CCB-7BBE-4950-8F32-4E999C77710B.jpeg CDB8EB53-5870-48AF-A778-72184A622DE5.jpeg 39CB0A10-E047-44E5-A3F4-868816AC209B.jpeg
 
Jumping ahead to mounting a downrigger, I wanted to show what I came up with. My 20' S model has no deck area on the outside of the fence except for where the boarding ladder is. I didn't want to mess with cluttering up that walkway, or leaning over to use the thing, so I utilized one of the rod holders on the rear bait well. A trip to the local steel yard netted some scrap aluminum which I cut and drilled into the shape I wanted. I can weld, but don't do tig, so the local muffler shop did a nice job sticking the bits together for me. The only problem I had initially was keeping the assembly from rotating within the rod holder. I solved that by cutting a notch the bottom of the rigger mount to dovetail with a crossbar that's already located inside the bottom of the rod holder. It works very well and can be removed quickly which is important because that's also my bbq area.










 
Thanks for taking the time Maynard to post the information. Where there's a will there's a way! I sure wish Bennington would make note and make factory solutions for downriggers and bait fishing needs. I have electric Cannon riggers, very similar. Don't know that I'd buy electric again but at times they come in handy. I actually have the triple Scotty rod holder mounted on a kayak.
 
SEMPERFI8387 said:
I have my Scotty mounts mounted to Bimini arms and I also place them on my rails without bolting them on. They hold strong. I also have a mount on my transom that can hold a single or triple rod holder from Scotty. I also have a Scotty mount near my throttle that uses a Scotty cup holder being the throttle hits the cup.
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thanks for the info. If you have mounts attached to the rails without bolting them on, what keeps them attached?
 
Bigtwin said:
thanks for the info. If you have mounts attached to the rails without bolting them on, what keeps them attached?
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Tension. They are pretty tight. If anything, I’d probably drill a small hole or two and run a screw into rail, but I have blackout and don’t want to mess it up. No problems with mooring cover either. The Bimini mounted ones I bolted. I like the Scotty stuff, they have sooooo many mounts. They even have a small camera mount I use.
 
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