As some of you may already know, I'm building a fi

[BulkCarrier]

The new Dorado II have a rod holder between your legs. You can use it and open the hatch, but I don't think you will get a big fish (10kg cob or snoek) into the hatch when it's there. I use it quite a lot because you can even paddle short distances with it in the center rod holder.

In front of the foot paddle might be a bit to far.

One thing to maybe look at is places to mount scotty fish rod holders.

 

[getafix]

Not a good idea. That would make it difficult to get a big fish into the hatch. As it is, it can be difficult getting big dagas in

Now you see, I wouldn't know that. Never caught anything bigger than 2 kilos. Although for me baiting up is still a problem. Reaching behind to put a rod in a holder while trying to bait up is a mission. (Especially since I don't have a brake on my reel)

 

[Danie Burger]

Guys you mount the rodholder by your footrests so the rod leans towards you, it causes no problems and you can reach it with ease.

The hatch opening sideways - I always fish with my hatch closed, so freak waves will never wash inside the ski - Just something I started doing early on as I almost capsised once with the hatch open while fishing.

 

[BigMatt]

My 3rd holder is straight upward at the end of my footrest and i can reach it just fine. I can even paddle with a rod in it...

 

[jonno_jonno_999]

Hi Tauruck,

Rather you than me! I have a stealth and 2 things bug me with it. The rear hatch has a screw lid which is a hassle, so a front type hatch and lid  behind me would be good, also if it could be sealed to double as a live- bait well. I've thought about sealing my rear hatch, drilling a hole in the lid for the airator tube, and attaching the airator to the lid with velcro, but I am worried whether the rear drainage plug drains as far as the rear hatch or just does the steering gear area. If that is the case, and water gets in through the fittings, then I will have a major problem if the rear hatch is sealed. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated, as I want to do some major live baiting come summer, and would like to do any modifications now while I am not using the ski.

Good luck with your prototype; Should be quite something when she's done.

 

[Danie Burger]

Hi Jonno

I also have a Stealth and the drain plugs work as follows.

The front plug drains the fish hatch and the rear plug drains everything else except the dry hatch.
The dry hatch is supposed to get no or very little water that is why there is no plugs to drain that.

So for answering your question - Yes you could turn your dry hatch into a live bait well (I personally would not as there is nothing better than after launching through big surf to put on a nice dry top against the PE wind don't know where you from though - do you mind updating your location?

 

[Danie Burger]

Hi Matt

I do not know how tall you are or if I am just stiff with age, but I can't reach my rodholder in front if sit in the ski. I just mounted mine and gave it a dry test, it works perfectly even though it slants 2wards me. In the water I would propably be able to reach it if I dangle my legs over the side

Well as they say, different strokes for different blokes

 

[tauruck]

jonno_jonno_999 wrote:

Hi Tauruck,

Rather you than me! I have a stealth and 2 things bug me with it. The rear hatch has a screw lid which is a hassle, so a front type hatch and lid  behind me would be good, also if it could be sealed to double as a live- bait well. I've thought about sealing my rear hatch, drilling a hole in the lid for the airator tube, and attaching the airator to the lid with velcro, but I am worried whether the rear drainage plug drains as far as the rear hatch or just does the steering gear area. If that is the case, and water gets in through the fittings, then I will have a major problem if the rear hatch is sealed. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated, as I want to do some major live baiting come summer, and would like to do any modifications now while I am not using the ski.

Good luck with your prototype; Should be quite something when she's done.

Thanks jonno, I'm learning as I go but the neat thing is that all the feedback is a positive for me whether I'm hearing good or bad things about other skis. I'm not building a ski that resembles the others out there. I hear what you say. BigMatt started a thread on tupperware crates and on page 2 I posted two pics of my 8" hatch. In the second pic if you look at the bottom of the cylinder you'll see it has a flat section that it's resting on. This can be used to mount a pipe fitting. Running a hose from this fitting to one ofthe transom mounted drain plugs will enable the hatch to be used as a live bait well. I will incorporate your idea into my ski. Better to put something in that may not be used when assembling than try to do it later. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[BigMatt]

Danie Burger wrote:

Hi Matt

I do not know how tall you are or if I am just stiff with age, but I can't reach my rodholder in front if sit in the ski. I just mounted mine and gave it a dry test, it works perfectly even though it slants 2wards me. In the water I would propably be able to reach it if I dangle my legs over the side

Well as they say, different strokes for different blokes

i fish with my legs over the side anyway, i guess thats how i reach it with ease. If i sit i can reach it, but with a slight hernia!

 

[jonno_jonno_999]

Hi Danie,

It appears I have a problem then, 'cos my dry hatch sure as @&%$ aint dry! I was told by another guy that a certain amount of water gets in pretty much everywhere through the various fittings, so when I go out I have a small waterproof bag with xtra top etc. Tx for the info tho. I hope I don't have a leaky hull. I am in Cape Town btw,( don't know why that doesn't show on my profile); I will update it. Tight lines Jonno

 

 

[Ziyz]

jonno_jonno_999 wrote:

Hi Danie,

It appears I have a problem then, 'cos my dry hatch sure as @&%$ aint dry! I was told by another guy that a certain amount of water gets in pretty much everywhere through the various fittings, so when I go out I have a small waterproof bag with xtra top etc. Tx for the info tho. I hope I don't have a leaky hull. I am in Cape Town btw,( don't know why that doesn't show on my profile); I will update it. Tight lines Jonno

 

Dry hatches not staying dry is a common problem. Would be good to have a truly DRY Hatch.

 

[tauruck]

Ziyz wrote:

jonno_jonno_999 wrote:

Hi Danie,

It appears I have a problem then, 'cos my dry hatch sure as @&%$ aint dry! I was told by another guy that a certain amount of water gets in pretty much everywhere through the various fittings, so when I go out I have a small waterproof bag with xtra top etc. Tx for the info tho. I hope I don't have a leaky hull. I am in Cape Town btw,( don't know why that doesn't show on my profile); I will update it. Tight lines Jonno

 

Dry hatches not staying dry is a common problem. Would be good to have a truly DRY Hatch.

Where do you think the water gets in?

 

[BulkCarrier]

Rod holders and any other fitting you have to drill for.
The problem is that the people putting it together doesn't seal all the fittings correctly.

I have heard of people that have bad leaks on their ski's taking off all fittings and resealing them and now they have a dry ski inside.

Some of the guys overseas believe you buy a ski without any fittings and put them on yourself.

 

[tauruck]

rterblanche wrote:

Rod holders and any other fitting you have to drill for.
The problem is that the people putting it together doesn't seal all the fittings correctly.

I have heard of people that have bad leaks on their ski's taking off all fittings and resealing them and now they have a dry ski inside.

Some of the guys overseas believe you buy a ski without any fittings and put them on yourself.

Hey R, When guys drill through, what method do they use to fix the accessories, rivets, screws? Is there anything inside the boat that it anchors to besides the skin. What I'm hearing here is that somebody rivets a rod holder to the very thin skin of a ski and uses silicone sealer. It is then expected to handle loading ie. the bait is in the water and a fish picks it up and runs. The leverage of this long rod puts enormous strain on the small area the holder is fixed to. What's in place under the skin to spread the load? a normal pop rivet and or a self tapping screw. Here's the first of many problems.

 

[Danie Burger]

Back to the point of the dry hatch, maybe I am very lucky but my hatch was wet only once so far and that was after launching with the damn thing open ......... haha

I drilled 4 holes in though for a mod I am busy with, will see how watertight it is afterwards.

 

[BulkCarrier]

I use load bearing rivets on my fibre ski. That's what it came with and that is what I am using.

I have never drilled a hole in the body om my ski. I have only ever put things on the fish box lid and fish box itself. The kaskazi fishbox lid is fairly strong as long as your drag is set correctly and you don't hook into a whale.

 

[tauruck]

Rt, I wasn't implying that you did anything strange. I was asking you why all these problems happen. I think that when one rivets or screws a component onto fibreglass you need to know a few thing like we are dealing with water here. All agree that it will get in every which way it can. Self tappers made for steel and wood have no place on a fibreglass panel that's probably 2mm thick at best. Same goes for standard rivets and I don't care how big the head/dome is. The problem is below the surface, there's nothing behind the glass. Any screw or rivet eventually opens the hole in the glass and once movement starts things fall out, water gets in etc. Silicone rubber is a sealing agent not a bonding agent. People are expecting subconsciously that if a rivet or screw come loose then the mighty silicone will hold everything together. Wrong. Peel rivets which burst open like a flower are designed for plastics and fibreglass. No other rivet works, simple as that. Self tappers are the same. Way back someone's great grandfather put a selftapper on a boat or a car and it became standard for anyone who was too lazy to look for a better solution. To put that crap on a fibreglass anything means you don't care for your stuff. What happens to the thin fibreglass panel an 8" hatch is screwed to. It bows between every one of the screws whether its visible to the naked eye or not. Having the silicone in there is the common solution. Not so. There is only one way to do this thing whether it's for a rod holder, hatch or anything else. Bond and bolt....... Used on aircraft, race cars and boats worldwide. You need something under the glass to SPREAD the load. You need to bond the component being fitted to the fibreglass. Anchor plates/anchor nuts are the answer. This goes behind the glass with the aid of a good 2part epoxy adhesive. It works like this. A template is made of the components mounting plate. Cardboard is best and all holes must be carefully marked. Cut the template to size. Copy it in steel 1,5mm minimum making sure the holes are drilled in the right spot. Put the bolts through the holes and cinch up the nuts. Now get your steel template to a weldor if you can't do it yourself and have the nuts tacked to the plate. 2 places on each nut. Enough to keep them on but if you want overkill go around them. Tig welding is best but mig is also good. Cut a 6mm piece out of your template somewhere midway between two nuts. Drill the holes in your boat and make sure the rod holder or whatever fits nicely and holes line up. You are going to need a bolt way longer than the ones you are using to secure the component. That will be the first one used. You have a steel plate the same shape as the base of your component with a gap in it. Why?, we're getting there. You have a hole in your ski with 4 or 8 smaller ones around it. For the inexperienced cover the area with masking tape but punch through the holes. Coat your plate with the nuts welded on with a generous amount of epoxy adhesive and slide the open end through the hole in your ski, as you rotate it it disappears below the surface at the same time coating the underside of the fibreglass. Hold the plate against the surface and insert one bolt and finger tighten. The plate should now be hanging under the fibreglass and you can adjust it so that all the other holes and threads line up. Fit the other bolts and tighten. After a few hours or before the epoxy has cured properly you can undo the bolts, remove the masking tape and fit your part using epoxy adhesive. Once bolted down you can wipe the excess adhesive away from the rim. The Long bolt I spoke of earlier needs the head cut off so you are left with what is basically a threaded rod. This is used for installing rod holders because you can't have two fingers in the hole while intalling the rod holder. (Don't make funny remarks, this is a family site). Fit your plate inside the ski as before and wind the threaded rod in two or three turns. You can now hold the plate in position via the rod while you slide the holder over it if you want to install all in one go. Any fitting mounted in this way will never leak, take my word for it. This is a strong, neat one time and forget deal. PT? sounds like PT because of the detail I tried to convey. Check the pic, sort of self explanatory. Anchor plates can be any shape, round, rectangular, oval they all work the same. I hope this helps. Iwould love nothing more than never to hear about leaky skis.

 

[BulkCarrier]

No problem. I know the way I am doing it isn't 100% correct, but like you said it is better than self tapping screws. I looked at the backing plate idea when I was doing the rod holder install on the fishbox lid, but it was to much trouble. The other idea is to use thin bait cutting boards for the backing. Easier to work with than metal and no problems with salt water.

If I had to mount something on the ski body I will do a better job. The fishbox lid is easier to fix and replace than the body of the ski.

 

[tauruck]

rterblanche wrote:

No problem. I know the way I am doing it isn't 100% correct, but like you said it is better than self tapping screws. I looked at the backing plate idea when I was doing the rod holder install on the fishbox lid, but it was to much trouble. The other idea is to use thin bait cutting boards for the backing. Easier to work with than metal and no problems with salt water.

If I had to mount something on the ski body I will do a better job. The fishbox lid is easier to fix and replace than the body of the ski.

Right, I know what you are saying. The guys can use the advice if they want. Galve would be a given. Do you know why I'm like this?. Racing, got tired of fixing stuff for guys (you can't blame them) that rivetted stuff on cars that fell/tore off. 

 

[jonno_jonno_999]

Maybe I'm a bit thick but (a) does the masking tape go on top or inside and (b) y is it necessary?