Hobie Cat Forums

Well I have just put a deposit on a new 2012 Tandem Adventure Island and should have it before Christmas to take down south west of Western Austraila.Yeahaaaaaa

I currently have a single AI which is fairly well set up for offshore fishing so will swap a lot of the general gear over from that to the TI.

I used to put a seat from another kayak in the back of my AI to take my son but now he is 14 and taller than me I needed a bigger boat.


I am really interested to hear from TI owners if they have any experience and photos of how they have the fishing rod holders and any other good ideas for sitting in the back set and fishing.

I will post photos as I get it rigged but would love any ideas.

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Geordie
West Ausie

Congrats! You got many options on this site.

I mounted Scotty Rodmaster II's on my rear cross bar. Allows access from the front or back seat. Had to go through the trouble of fabricating a saddle mount from a cutting board; but, they've been working well.



RAM holders are popular also and gives you more mounting option. I just preferred the Scotty Rodmaster II's for its gimbal pin and gear adjustment.

Aloha,

c2y

Thanks and Aloha c2y.

I like your saddle mounts, at least that means you can move them without having to drill holes.

How do you find it to reach forward if you are in the back seat. At least they are then out of the way of the pedals.

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Geordie
West Ausie

Geordie,

I usually fish solo from the rear seat don't have an issue reaching foward for my rods. I have the rod holders angled farther back when going solo so the rods are in better reach. I use less of an angle when going tandem since the rod holder can get close enough to poke the front passenger in the back. I little more of stretch but doesn't seem to hinder me much.

The built-in rod holders in the rear doesn't give you much of a spread and intersects if you're running longer rods. So I just use them for rod and gaff storage.

Found gaffing the fish is best from back seat since there are no tramps and akas in the way.

cheers!

c2y

OK I have had the new TI since just before Christmas and have been slowly kitting it out.
Here are a few photos of my set up.
Ram tube rod holders and I have just made the PVC tube bullhorn base to hold the holders a bit more firmly.





Rhino side loader boat rack for when I am going bush and cant take a trailer. this makes it easy to get on the roof without breaking my back.


Also built a trailer from an old jetski trailer and added an aluminium flat deck then the TI cradles. This makes it a one man job to launch and recover the yak from a boat ramp or the beach,

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Geordie
West Ausie

I waiting for the Railblaza Aka rail mounts which should be available any week now in New Zealand. The cool thing about them is you don't need to drill any holes. The Hobie dealership told me that one of the Railblaza Engineers owns a TI and a new mount has being made with the intention of fitting to the TI.

http://www.railblaza.com/products/browse/all_products/27/58/





Quote from RailBlaza regarding mount "The RailMount shown in the video is prototype of our new RailMount 32-41, this product is available in New Zealand late April, with the rest of the world to follow."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=514DMzfus8w

Thanks snakebite,
I had seen the Railblaza mounts in a local store in West Australia but they did not have any clamp type mounts that fit arount the tube of the TI.

But looking at your photos, it looks like they are made to fit that exact size tube and when they are available here in Aus I might have a redesign of my setup.

I might have to ask the store to get me a sample in or at least a catalogue.

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Geordie
West Ausie

Snakebite,

Thanks for the share. Nice system and the mounts look sturdy. Off the subject but I especially like the fish finder cover in the video and pic.

shaka,

c2y

They really tricked out that TI. If the Aka mounts stay put, they look like a great solution. I can see some really neat camera mounting options.

One small drawback is that they only have 8 fixed rotation positions (so 3 only, for rod settings).

The G-Holds would be great for paddles, masts and various poles.

Thanks Snake, We'll look out for those in the US.

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"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
- Ayn Rand

If you put "rail blaza" in the search window of West Marine, it comes up with a bunch of items.

Keith

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I sail: S FL, Key Largo, Everglades to Cape Romano, Ft Desoto, Cedar Key

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

The Railblaza looks great for all the different variety of mounts to hold diferent things. The rod mounts on the AKA would be great for light weight fishing but I am not so sure for trolling for bigger stuff.

You will see in my photos (further up) that I have recently made the bullhorn PVC tube thing, to support the base of the Ram ball mounts.

In the last month or two, I have had some really big hook-ups with tuna and spanish mackerel while I am trolling at a fairly fast speed. They hit so hard that it bends the Ram ball mount right back down so the rod is in the water. The bull horn mount helps hold both rod holders to give better support. I wonder if the Railblaza will be up to bigger fish strikes.

They do look like a versitile ste up though.

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Geordie
West Ausie

I suspect they will be much better. The bases took 200-300KG in their stress tests.

Question is, will you be able to remove the rod with a monster on? The holder is rather tubular, forcing the rod to come forward before lifting.

Under load, out on the Akas, I wonder if I'll have enough reach and leverage to do it without tearing something,.. Set at 90 degrees or less, this could be a problem. With my RAM lightspeeds, the rod pops out instantly (if it isn't dragging in the water by then).

Also, rod holders right on the gunwhales/Akas are not advised on wet boats like the AI/TI. Geordie's bull horns are super high and dry. The RAMS also raise the reels out of the waterspray, so I'm thinking Blazas 150mm extensions would improve this.

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"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
- Ayn Rand

I got a phone call from the Hobie dealer and they just got some in stock so I dropped around after work and picked two up. The dealer told me that Railblaza actually made a special delivery to confirm that the production version would in fact fit the Akas bar's before leaving them some stock. I also noticed that they aren't even listed on Railblaza website yet so people outside New Zealand might have to be patient for stock to filter through.



Here is a pic of what you get in the kit (made to fit rails 32 to 41 mm in diameter)


I did notice that they are a nice snug fit with the rubber inserts top and bottom which also offered good protection to the Aka bar coating.

I still reckon they are pretty cool even if I don't end up using them as rod holders with all the other attachments (camera mounts / G-Hold as mentioned by NOHUHU) that can be used in the star port mounts.

I have got a Public Holiday on Wednesday (Anzac Day) so hopefully the weather holds and I can get out for a fish and see how the new mounts perform.

I have just talked to Mike at RAILBLAZA, and without letting too much on, there are some rather exciting developments coming, which will really be suited to us hobie sailors / Fisho's.

It is my kayak in the pictures / Videos, which now as 23 of the starports on it, with a mixture of the starports/ sideports, and now the AKA mounts, which are hot off the press.

In relation to the AKA based rodholders, I have 2 mounted on each side which allows me to tow up to 5 lures without the risk of tangling, and strikes are easily managed on the tandem, with 2 people to wind in any lines that may get in the way.
I would assume (being an Ex Adventure Island Sailor), that it would be easy to fold the AMA's in to retrieve the rod.
In respect to larger pelagics, I would expect that the time taken to set the hook would provide adequate time to retrieve the rods from the holders, and assuming that you dont have the drag set to 100lbs they are relatively easy to remove from the holders.

I have found the Railblaza Gear to be top quality, and the manufacturer is constantly developing products which fill our needs.

I am nor have I ever been affiliated to Railblaza, I am just another hobie owner, who wanted to get what I felt was the best product-for-purpose.
I looked around for a suitable product but couldnt find something that would do what I wanted, without placing my rods at risk of swimming every time I caught a reasonable sized fish.

Geordie,
This is the reason for my primary investigations and subsequently the request for railblaza to look into a functional bar (41mm) mount.
I got tired of picking my rods (and reels) out of the water when I was fishing, and for some reason, I could never tighten the 'Xamm Ball' (you know what I mean) tight enough to prevent the hammering that it would get from the New Zealand Kingfish, sharks and stingrays..

The product which i tested on my 40km trip was excellent but that was only temporary, I would expect the replacement (genuine fitting) to be awesome.