Finished the install of the Gemlux Bluewater HD swivel 0 degree rod holders. These rod holders will be used to fight fish from the gunwale. I’m planning on eventually installing the Gemlux Deluxe outrigger system, but may wait a few months for that.
I originally wanted to just replace the factory holders with these gemlux, but got ”lazy” as enlarging a pre-existing hole is harder than just drilling a new hole. I figured 8 gunwale rod holder is better than 4. I positioned the HD holders 1 foot forward of the factory ones. You can see the weak mounting of the factory holders, I have ordered tigriss backing plates for the factory holders so straight butts could be used in a pinch (with lower drag).
Biggest problem I faced was the lack of room under the gunwale. The gemlux backing plates are too wide and I trimmed one but it wasn’t enough without sacrificing it’s holding power. I decided to trim a notch into the inward part of the gunwale to allow for the backing plate to rest flat. I sealed the area exposed with 3M 5200 and used an excessive amount of 3M 4000 on the hole cutout and under the rod holder cap for water tight integrity. My gunwale on the starboard side has a more defined curve that made the outboard side of the rod holders to have a little more of a gap than I wanted. I was able to get one almost perfect, but the other no matter what I did, still had a slight gap. I used extra 3M 4000 on that holder and will monitor it. When installing the nuts, a lot of excess 3M made it into the threads which will act as a sort of thread lock.
You can see the size difference between factory and HD holders. As well as my fancy custom rod leashes to protect my pretty new Avet 80w and 50w’s. I went with Pinnacle Marine for the rods.
Bottom picture is a cut out of the gunwale, before even using my boat (weather) I’m already cutting big holes. I was somewhat surprised to find wood in the gunwale. I know this is only a 20’ boat, but I thought I bought a Grady-White, not a Bayliner.
I originally wanted to just replace the factory holders with these gemlux, but got ”lazy” as enlarging a pre-existing hole is harder than just drilling a new hole. I figured 8 gunwale rod holder is better than 4. I positioned the HD holders 1 foot forward of the factory ones. You can see the weak mounting of the factory holders, I have ordered tigriss backing plates for the factory holders so straight butts could be used in a pinch (with lower drag).
Biggest problem I faced was the lack of room under the gunwale. The gemlux backing plates are too wide and I trimmed one but it wasn’t enough without sacrificing it’s holding power. I decided to trim a notch into the inward part of the gunwale to allow for the backing plate to rest flat. I sealed the area exposed with 3M 5200 and used an excessive amount of 3M 4000 on the hole cutout and under the rod holder cap for water tight integrity. My gunwale on the starboard side has a more defined curve that made the outboard side of the rod holders to have a little more of a gap than I wanted. I was able to get one almost perfect, but the other no matter what I did, still had a slight gap. I used extra 3M 4000 on that holder and will monitor it. When installing the nuts, a lot of excess 3M made it into the threads which will act as a sort of thread lock.
You can see the size difference between factory and HD holders. As well as my fancy custom rod leashes to protect my pretty new Avet 80w and 50w’s. I went with Pinnacle Marine for the rods.
Bottom picture is a cut out of the gunwale, before even using my boat (weather) I’m already cutting big holes. I was somewhat surprised to find wood in the gunwale. I know this is only a 20’ boat, but I thought I bought a Grady-White, not a Bayliner.
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