pop-up cleats

[benhil00]

I have just bought a 2000 Fisherman, 222. The front cleats are the traditional type. Functional, I have no issues with them. But, I do fly fish from time to time and I am wondering whether anyone has tried a pop-up cleat "replacement" in this spot. The concern is the line getting caught up in the cleats. All thoughts welcome.

Thanks.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hey Ben, pop-up cleats are nice and work quite well. There are several versions out there...

My experience with them is on competition ski boats, which, for the most part, never came with aft cleats, as there is a great risk in the ski rope getting caught on a cleat if the line goes slack...several of us at our ski club installed the flush mounted pop-up cleats that did a fine job...

An important note...some of these style of cleats are only surface-mounted, meaning the bezel is simple mounted with self-tappers into the boat. Do NOT use this style as there is not enough support. Use the thru-bolt style which will give the support needed to properly secure the boat....

Ultra

 

[Fishtales]

I think it would be a lot of work for little gain IMHO. It may be better to come up with some type of plastic cover that you could install when you fish and remove when done.

 

[simonfish]

The boat I had before my current GW 180 Fisherman had popup cleats. I fish almost exclusively fly, and thought that I would get tangles, etc, if I didn't have popups.
My 180 Fisherman doesn't have popup cleats and I don't have any problems at all. I chase 10kg longtail tuna, cobia, queenfish, yellowtail kingfish, etc. and my main problem is having the flyline catch the flyreel handle on first strike/run

I don't personally think they are necessary, I catch my flyline on my feet, my reel handle, etc more often that I might on the cleats.

Just my thoughts.
cheers
Simon