Ideas for Boat Storage:

Stick It! (Somewhere)

Storage space is at a premium in small boats. Here are some of the things we did in Toy Boat 2...

We often travel with 10 rods: 5 fly rods (two 8 weights, two 10 weights and a 12/13 weight), and 5 conventional or spinning rods (two 30 lb trolling rods, 1 live bait rod, 1 heavy casting rod, and 1 deep-jigging rod). Our guests may also bring 4 - 5 rods. Where do you put all of these rods in a small boat?

The New Math - Calculating Rod-Storage Capacity:

How many rods can you store on your boat? Most skiffs nowadays come with four vertical console rod holders and at least two gunnel-mounted rod holders near the stern. Some skiffs also come with under-gunnel horizontal rod racks, which can carry two - three rods per side. Another common accessory is a T-Top with 5 - 6 vertical rod holders ("rocket launchers").

Adding everything up leaves us with the ability to store 18 rods (2 stern + 4 console + 3 port gunnel + 3 starboard gunnel + 6 T-Top). Or does it?

The first problem with this math is that the two stern gunnel-mounted rod holders are not really intended to store rods that are not in use. They're really best suited to hold rods while trolling, drift fishing, or temporarily while rigging. They are in the way as soon as you start trying to cast around them or when fighting a fish. So instead of being able to store 18 rods, you really can only store 16. Or can you?

The next problem is rod length. On a surprising number of boats, the under-gunnel rod racks are not long enough to accommodate anything stretching beyond 6.5 feet (see picture to left). If you favor fly rods or longer conventional rods (we often use 8 - 9 foot casting rods for throwing jigs and plugs), this means they can't go in the under-gunnel racks.

And if you use fly rods, you already know that they can't easily go into stock vertical or gunnel-mounted rod holders without some additional attachments, because they have tiny rod butts (or none at all). In some cases, fly rods with fighting butts will fit in T-Top rocket launchers, but they may not be very secure.

So in the New Math, if you were to use fly rods only, you would have 0 usable rod holders "out of the box", not 16. If you like longer casting or spinning rods, you would have 10 rod holders, not 16, if you had a T-Top with rocket launchers, otherwise you would only have 4 rod holders avalable to store these rods.

In the case of Toy Boat 2, we were even worse off because the stock Edgewater 175CC hull did not have under-gunnel rod racks, and we could not add a T-Top because of height restrictions. . (Note- Edgewater added under-gunnel rod racks as an option on the 175CC two years after we bought our hull, see picture to right.)

What Can You Do?

After a fair amount of head-scratching, we added these Teak Isle polyethylene rod racks to each side. These are normally installed in pairs, and are supposed to handle 4 rods.

To add more capacity, we installed a third rack per side. This allows us to store both long and short rods, and we can double up the rods by putting half the rods facing forward (reels to the rear), and the other half facing the rear (reels towards the bow).

This allows us to store 8 rods (of almost any length) horizontally per side, for a total of 16 rods. We do not count either the gunnel-mounted rod holders or the vertical rod holders on the console in this tally, because we reserve them for "working" rods, e.g. rods we may need to use on a moment's notice.

A down side to this arrangement is that the rods are exposed. Reel handles stick out, and if you're not careful, you can get snagged on hooks. The rod blanks can also get damaged from something falling on them from above, or an angler falling into them. These are things we've learned to deal with, so overall we've been reasonably happy with this arrangement.

Specialized Solutions for Fly Rods:

Fly rods pose a unique set of problems for any boat, because of their length and relative fragility. Our horizontal rod racks work well within the indicated limits; here are some additional solutions that have been developed to make life "on the fly" more tolerable:

courtesy Capt. Dan Blanton	Blanton's Rigged-and-Ready Rod Bags Noted outdoor writer Dan Blanton developed these "Rigged and Ready" rod bags to address the problem of carrying rigged fly rods in a way which allows easy access without exposing them to the dangers associated with long rods (car doors, ceiling fans, getting stepped on, etc.). Basically, you rig your fly rod, then pull the rod apart at the ferrules. The pieces are folded together, then inserted into the R&R rod bag. The bag length is adjusted to match the pieces, then the open end of the bag is closed over the reel. The resulting package can be easily stored in even the shortest horizontal rod rack, and the whole rod and reel are protected from bumps and bruises and salt spray. When the rod is needed, it is removed from the bag, the pieces put back together, and you're ready to fish.
courtesy Capt. Jim Novak	Stan Pleskuna's Rod Holsters Stan Pleskunas of Watsonville, CA makes a variety of custom hardware for boats. One of his inventions is something I've been calling "Rod Holsters". The holsters are mounted on the side of the console, and are designed to take a rigged multi-piece fly rod disassembled and folded (as described above), or one of Dan's R&R bagged rods in a "nose down" manner for easy retrieval.
courtesy Stan Pleskunas	Specialized Horizontal Rod Racks There are also horizontal rod racks designed specifically for fly rods. One example are these custom units designed by Stan Pleskunas. The racks shown here were built for Capt. Jim Novak's Scout 185 center console.
courtesy Blue Water Designs	courtesy IFlyRodHolders.com Specialized Vertical Fly Rod Holders There are also a number of vertical rod holders designed specifically for fly rods. One example is the "I-Fly", from I-Fly Rod Holders (right). Another example is the DelStang from Blue Water Designs, Inc. (left). These work well at holding a fly rod securely, but to be honest, we've never been a big fan of storing fully rigged fly rods vertically. In small boats going through rough water, the long tips of vertical fly rods can start oscillating back and forth, with the tips hitting each other. Usually, a separate clip is needed to secure the tips This type of solution might be better on larger boats with less violent pitching motions.

In addition to the two stern rod holders, we added two more gunnel rod holders approximately amid-ships. These 4 rod holders act as the active rod holders while trolling. We reserve the vertical rod holders on the console for conventional or spinning rods that need to be deployed quickly. For example, the console rod holders might have a conventional rod with a metal jig to cast to a school of breaking fish, a live bait rod to pitch a bait out when the fish come close to the boat, and a deep jigging rod so that we can drop a lure vertically to fish deep below a kelp paddy..

That all makes sense while trying to hook a fish. But when trolling offshore, free rods must be cleared quickly and stowed after a hookup. Where do you put them after they're cleared?

As mentioned, we reserved the console rod holders for rods that we'll quickly break out after a trolling strike, to pitch a live bait or cast a jig. The horizontal rod racks are hard to use quickly. And we don't want to leave the cleared rods in the gunnel rod holders, as they are just another obstruction while fighting a fish. What's left?

The answer is "Nothing". We're out of rod holders. As a result, we added 2 vertical rod holders to the grab rails on either side of the boat (4 total) . After a trolling strike, cleared trolling rods are placed in these vertical rod holders until the fish is landed or lost.

Specialized Solutions for Fly Rods

Anyone who has fished with a fly rod knows that line management is critical. You can't cast until you have enough fly line outside the guides to load the rod, and as you retrieve the line it can easily be stepped on and tangled. If every second counts after an offshore hookup, how can you keep a fly rod ready for action without creating more clutter on-deck?

In the past, people would use 5 gallon buckets or similar containers, strip the fly line into them, them leave the fly rod in a corner of the cockpit until a strike occurred. This works, but has some obvious limitations, especially in terms of managing fly line as the fly is retrieved. The small bucket is hard to hit while stripping line fast, often resulting in a bigger mess than if nothing at all was used. Conventional "stripping baskets" have also been tried, but with limited success.

The best solution we've found to date are Vertical Line Management Devices, or VLMDs. These are relatively narrow (12-15" diameter) plastic barrels with heavily weighted bases. They stand 20 - 24" high, and some models have spikes in the bottom to keep the fly line from shifting around. The first commercially available unit was the Pro-Trim Beachcomber Flyline Tamer, but other similar products have been developed, including the Sea Level Fly Fishing Stripping Bucket, and the model we use, which was developed by Stan Pleskunas. Stan's VLMDs feature grab handles, line spikes in the bottom, and come in two different diameters. The narrower travel model includes swing-out feet for more stability.

In practice, we pull out enough line for a long cast, make a cast, then strip the line back into the VLMD. We hook the fly to a guide, put the rod into the VLMD, then place the VLMD in a corner of the cockpit.

The VLMD is heavy enough to stay upright in just about any sea condition, but can also be strapped in place if needed (Stan fabricates a stabilizer bracket than can be mounted to the gunnel or a bulkhead), or some water can be put in the bottom for more weight.

To make a cast, the angler simply pulls the rod out of the VLMD, unhooks the fly, and shakes out enough line to start casting.

Once a cast is made, the VLMD makes a great stripping basket for the fly line. It's just the right height to take full-stroke strips of fly fly line without having to aim to hit the opening. And after a fish is hooked up and the fly line cleared, the VLMD can be moved away to a different part of the cockpit. A very useful tool, and one that can benefit almost any offshore fly fisherman.

Note that the vertical fly rod holders mentioned above are good for storing rods, but because they force you to reel up all of the fly line, are not that useful for keeping fly rods "at-the-ready".

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