For a while I've needed better rod storage in the boat so I fabbed something up today.

I used 1/4" starboard and .016 aluminum to make the rod butt holder. I was able to use a vise and a couple 1x4's as a sheet metal bender to achieve the angle of the butt holder I wanted.



Taking shape:


Mounted up:


Functional and clean:


I wish I had slightly longer pieces of starboard to use. That way I could have spaced out the rod butt holes to give more clearance between the reels as the rods are layed out but oh well.

Anyone else been doing any work to your boats?

Nice work!

Thank you. pretty pumped to not have the rod butts off the floor now.

That's awesome! I want one! How much?

Hmmm...Drew's custom rod holders. If I only had the time...

I'll tell you what it cost me though. I got the starboard for free out of the scrap bin of my local plastic supply shop. Then it was $7 for stainless hardware and the small sheet of aluminum at the hardware store.

Nice bit of fabrication there!!

Thank you. Starboard is fun stuff to play with. Used to install and repair reverse osmosis desalinators on yachts and tugs and we did some pretty cool stuff with it.

Not free, but a cheap plastic cutting board works great for fabbing rod/tool holders also.

Nice work !
Fabbing stuff for the boat is always fun.

Nice work!
I'll be installing LED trailer lights and wiring this week, then rewiring my boat over the next couple of months and installing an onboard charger/battery manager, switch panel and hopefully by July a new ff/gps.
Any advice on types of bits n blades to use on starboard, may need to do a little work with it myself...

Thanks!

+1
Cutting boards from Goodwill provide nice, cheap material for projects


Nice work on the holder, Drew!

I need to step up to the LED trailer lights myself. I've blown up too many light bulbs forgetting to unplug my lights at put ins or take outs. I like to back the trailer in up past the roller when possible is why.

As far as working with starboard, it's really easy material to work with. I used my jig saw with a wood cutting blade on it to cut my pieces out. For the holes, I drilled 1/2" pilot holes and then used a cone shaped stepped drill bit to enlarge them to accept the rod butts. Starboard cuts real nice with a table saw as well and if you wanna get fancy with it you can use a router to bevel the edges. I was actually on my way to buy a cutting board but decided to see what was in the scrap bin for free first. Starboard is essentially cutting board material.

The next project is to make a 2 or 3 of these for the boat.



I pulled this idea from another forum a while back. I think Twitch will recognize it.

I have been working on a design for a roller and bait box that can be easily transferred from my drift boat to my friends sled. This gives me some new modivation.

A couple of things SD,

First off that is a great idea until someone steps on all those rods while trying to get out and chase a 20#'er. Don't ask how I know that My machinist friend fabbed me up something very similar with the rod holder below and the roll dispenser above. I do use the rod holders while traveling down the road but take them out for the above reason when on the water.

And I never even put my tires in the river. One of the reasons we own glass boats is so we can drop them in to about .0001" of water (or over the guard rail 100' from the river). No reason to get that trailer any where near the water for both the put in and take out.

Not specified in that write up: Use Industrial Strength 2" wide self adhesive Velcro to hold the rollers in place.
Put pieces the 'fuzzy' Velcro spread out around the boat. When you want to move the rollers, just pull off from one spot, and stick it to another. The fuzzy pieces also double as good hook/jig/plug, etc holders. Just jab the hook into the fuzz.

Nice work.......Drew I have one of those extra long aluminum leader holders if ya want it. It's just taking up space on my bench in the garage.Good luck,
SZ

Came up with this design for my drifter. Fits in any open hole in the oarlock block. Easy on/off for storage and the guys up front can reach them easily too.

That's super clean. Nice! I want.

Those look great Twitch. I like the Velcro idea.