| FISHING KAYAKS Rigged Fishing Kayaks |
| Rigging
your own fishing kayak is both a technical challenge and a personal
experience. A well rigged fishing kayak should be practical, and fit
your personal fishing style, including where you fish, what fish
species you're after, how long your fishing trips are, and what fishing
techniques you use. Practical Rigging Advice It's a common mistake among beginning kayak fishermen to try and accomplish everything before they make their first fishing trip in their new kayak. Our advice would be to take your kayak and fish from it a number of times before you begin planning how to rig it for fishing. You should undertake one rigging project at a time, and go about it slowly and carefully - There's no point in wasting time and money on solutions to nonexistent problems, and it's always better to have a clear idea of the problem that needs solving before thinking of ways to solve it. If a certain solution works for your fishing buddy, or your neighbor, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the best for him, and it certainly doesn't mean it's the best one for you. Better Too Little Than Too Much You can always add gear to your fishing kayak, but once you've outfitted it with flush mounted rod holders, outriggers, or a trolling motor, it's sometimes impossible to restore it to its initial state. This is true especially if the system you're outfitting your fishing kayak with requires cutting holes in the hull, or drilling in it. Another way to practice this motto is to ask yourself simple questions, like -"Do I really need this thing on board my fishing kayak?" For example, kayak fishermen tend tom assume they need to outfit their kayaks with a milk crate. It's become almost an automatic reflex to do so whenever they acquire a new fishing kayak. However, a milk crate may have been a necessary add-on to old style fishing kayaks of the sit-in and SOT types, but it's redundant in the new generation W fishing kayaks, especially the W500 series that offers so much internal storage space and deck surface that it's almost impossible to think of ways to use all of it. Another example is outfitting your fishing kayak with too many rod holders: It's very unlikely that you'll be able to handle more than two fishing rods at a time from your kayak, and therefore having more than two or three rod holders might not serve you. This new movie shows the W500 Fishing Kayak rigged for saltwater fishing, in Florida: John Zoltner’s Motorized W500 Fishing Kayak - New YorkJohn drove all the way from upstate NY to eastern Massacusetts to get his W500 fishing kayak. Being an experienced engineer, John took his time to inquire and think about trolling motors, steering systems etc., and came up with one of his own: I’ve included some pics of my trolling motor adaptation which borrows from other W kayakers, and adds a unique steering method.
After some experimentation I decided to mount the motor at the very back using a 1/4″ aluminum plate, and added a crossbar to the top of a shortened TM shaft. So far this is Rox’s TM configuration. I then routed the steering cables thru 1/4″ brake tubes screwed to 2 strips of pine running the length of the seat.
Since I wanted the steering and motor speed control to be on the same handle, I mounted the TM head and a short section of shaft to a large plastic pulley and wrapped the steering cable around it. By doing so, I can now control the both the steering and speed from the common handle.
I attached a piece of 1/4″ plywood to the top of the 2 pine strips and covered it with some foam and a piece of vinyl material. Since there is now a hollow space under the seat I was able to run the TM wires and also a rope to raise the motor via a smaller hand cranked pulley.
I also used the flip-over loading wheel concept that one of the clever W bloggers sent in.
I’ve been out twice since the TM has been added and so far its working really well. John Z |
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