SportFishing and Charters Forum - help me design a new set of outriggers

First of all, I have to say that I fish out of a 17' Whaler (with no T-top) so some of the traditional outrigger designs on the market are much harder to adapt to my small boat. Plus, I store the boat on its trailer in my low (8' - 8") carport. Here is what I now use - a set of Aftco bent rod butts with a 6' aluminum pole welded to them. They were given to me by a friend to try on my boat for a few months to see how they work. To deploy this simple system, I place them inside rail-mount rod holders and then bungie two lines (550 parachute cord) to the front and rear rails of the boat - this keeps them firmly in place and prevents them from rattling around in the rod holders.

Not a perfect system by any stretch but they work o.k. Trouble is, I scraped one of them against a dock and ruined it. Its no great loss as I have been meaning to get/make a better set for quite some time now and this just forces me to do it sooner. So, here I am trying to devise a system that will work on this small boat. Several small boat guys around the island avoid outriggers altogether by simply angling a set of rod holders out close to 90 degrees and then they simply run their smaller Tuna/Mahi lures directly off the rod tips. I tried this and it worked marginally at best with my smaller 30-T's and 5' 9" 30 lb rods. I encountered plenty of line tangles that I never encountered when using the homemade outriggers. I also think a descent Mahi hit on one of these rigs will possibly break my rod tip since th lures are running right off the rod tips.

One idea I have (to avoid outriggers) is to get stronger 50 lb rods in 6' length and run them on angled rod holders (80-90 degree offset). My thought is the 50lb rods will handle the strikes better AND give me a few more inches of width in my four-line spread. I am also considering the E-tec small boat outrigger system ($229 at Boaters World) but there is very little info on the web about this system (even from the manufacturer).

I need help from creative minds to figure this out, the boat is an '05 Whaler 170 Montauk so I don't want to do a hack job on a nearly new boat.

I'm turning up a holder for 15' Tigress poles that will mount on a T-Top or small boat at 1/3 the cost. I'll post photos when I get them finished.

lil john buddy :) seems like we're in the same boat :grin:
no mines not a whaler but a 19 foot fiber boat...
not mine also...i rent it out :grin:
i have run 5 rods in it without tangles...ok may be once or twice with bad running plugs but mostly ok :)
interesting 2 see how this thread goes since i also can use some tips on my new boat... :thumbsup:

Have you consided Planer Boards? Check out April 2006 Saltwater Sportsman Magazine page 94.

I used to troll 4 lines out of my 17' Whaler with no outriggers and think that you can get by without them if you stagger your lines correctly. Whaler used to make an outrigger mount that bolted to the console rail on the old style consoles - I don't know whether one of these would fit on the new style Whalers, but it might be worth looking into if you're set on outriggers.

These might be what you need instead of outriggers. I use them on my boat whether I'm running my outriggers or not and they've held up very well for six years now. :thumbsup: http://www.boatersworld.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&productId=379020

Try these:
http://www.thehulltruth.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=90739&posts=8&highlight=side&highlightmode=1#M917758

www.siderigger.com

I bought these yesterday to use with Tigress 15' fiberglass poles. Best price I've found
Jody

http://www.rivermarinesupply.com/xcart/catalog/product_11512_Tigress_Adjustable_Rod_Holder_Outrig ger.html

Thanks for the ideas so far. I should have gone into better detail on my original post. A Whaler Montauk will not take gunnel mount holders due to how the gunnels are manufactured. This fact eliminates some of the recommendations but I do appreciate the input nontheless. There are forward and aft rails (along with a small console rail) and you are pretty much limited to affixing something directly to these rails - I have several pairs of CE Smith rail-mount holders and currently use one set up forward to serve as a "base" for my old set of outriggers. They are simply Aftco bent rod butts with 6' aluminum poles welded to them.

I realize Whaler used to offer outriggers as a factory option on older small boats but those units are no longer being manufactured according to Whaler. Keep the ideas coming, I'm sure something will adapt and work well with this boat.

mtcfish - please post some pics when you get that latest creation finished, it might just be what I need.

DUDE - I like your idea but my trouble now is my light 30lb rods (at 5' 9") flex a bit at the tip and I am loosing spread width when this happens. They are older (but good quality) Star Rods and I only run lite jet heads off them. My International II 30T's (used with those rods) are loaded with 50lb Trilene line right now and I know that is also creating additional pull on the rod tip with lots of line out. I have some new Momoi 30 lb line and I wonder if that (along with more robust 6' 50-80lb rods) would do the trick?

Planer boards you can run 3 lines off one board plus two off your rail rods and mount two holders on the bench one for you short prop wash cedar and the other the wtfb shotgun yozuri bonita ;?

Tigress Marine makes a railmount outrigger holder that should work well on your whaler. Available from West Marine or Boaters World.
Tight Lines & Calm Seas

ubettcha13 - 3/15/2006 11:17 AM

Planer boards you can run 3 lines off one board plus two off your rail rods and mount two holders on the bench one for you short prop wash cedar and the other the wtfb shotgun yozuri bonita ;?

Is there a specific size or model you can recommend for rough, off-shore water that will handle 8-9 knots trolling speed? From previous posts I have reviewed, it seems the jury is still out on these devices for faster off-shore use??

Tarpun - 3/15/2006 12:42 PM

Tigress Marine makes a railmount outrigger holder that should work well on your whaler. Available from West Marine or Boaters World.
Tight Lines & Calm Seas

Looked those items up on both sites. Unless I am looking at the wrong item, the kit is for T-top rails of 1" diameter - the side rail diameter on the Whaler Montauk is 7/8". Am I looking at the wrong item?

John, the item for which I gave you the link mounts in your existing rail mounted rod holders that you have the bent butts on already. They put your rods in a horizontal position out to the side. That would give you about 6ft of spread per side. They're about $50 each and last forever. Plus you can put them in any rodholder you wish even if you eventually find a more permanent solution. In other words, they can complement outriggers or serve as outriggers themselves. :thumbsup:

how about the fiberglass or other "light" poles mounted in clampon holders. Do you still have the side rails?

You would need to secure them so you dont lose them.

Or make you some elbows out of some good tubing and mount them on the front of the console in those rodholders.

How about using bamboo poles like they used to in the old days? Chances are you can find them for free (there's always SOMEBODY at war with bamboo in their yard) and they're light, strong, and – when you hit them on the dock –*disposable!

http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0002712014367a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=church+outrigger&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.22&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=church+outrigger&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp

Wrap it to your rail using duck tape and go fishing.

That Cabelas one looks great. I wonder if it'll last? At $23.99 you have to wonder how sturdy it is. ;?

Not very sturdy, but at $23.... get another one if it breaks ;)

Don't try to drag something heavy with it and don't set the release to0 tight you should be ok.

http://www.cabelas.com/products/Ccat600397.jsp
I don't know how fast you can use these as is but with some engineering on your part through trial and error with extra ballast the salmon boards should fill your needs

John,

Get a T-top made. That will shield you from those tropical UV rays and allow you to mount some kind of clear plastic screen in front of the console to ward off the spray on windy days. It will also give you a place to mount overhead rod holders for storage and most importantly of all, a set of outriggers. For mountings, a machine shop should be able to fabricate a 90 degree tube with a gimbal that will fit a piece of bent aluminium pipe with a cross hatched gimbal fitting on the butt end which slots into the holder. The other end will receive your outrigger poles. If I was setting up even a 17 foot boat and needed to troll effectively for pelagics I would use at least 12 foot poles if not 15 foot. Aluminium poles are probably best, stiff fibreglass poles are acceptable too. Either way, brace your outriggers to the bow with cord to stiffen them up. This will help minimize the outrigger tips whipping about in rough seas, let you troll larger lures and give you a crisper release on the strike. Don't use them for high speed trolling however. With your vessel you're probably better off trolling just two or three rigs max straight from the rod tips if you need to high-speed troll.

12-15 foot surf rods are about as cheap an outrigger as can be found.

My mistake. I didn't notice the id. Would probably be tuff to shim. Tigress does make an outrigger holder that fits into a rod holder. You would need some sturdy railmount rod holders clamped TIGHT! to your rail to keep them from moving. Lee makes side mount holders that could be mounted on the cosole but the might be a little cumbersome to work around. I pondered the outrigger question for over a year on my old 16 whaler and wound up just adjusting my spread for conditions. Got a bigger boat for so the problem went to the bottom of the to-do pile. Kept the BW & would still like to figure an easy practical solution. Tight lines.