Downrigger on inflatable

[seascene]

I have a SeaMax inflatable 10' Ocean model.... has a good transom. Just wondering if anyone has tried attaching the short arm manual crank Scotty downrigger to the transom and whether that worked or not for salmon fishing. Otherwise to get down 30' or so I am better just to go with a diver board like Deep Six etc.
... .. thanks

 

[Dennis.t]

Hers an idea I will throw out at you. You can mount your downriggers on a board that goes across the width of your boat from pontoon to pontoon. That's what a friend of mine did. Sorry I don't have a pic or remember how he fastened the board down. But it worked.

 

[Old Blue]

I picked up a Scotty 1080 and clamp mount for my inflatable last year and it worked great, no issues double stacking unless I made a sharp turn or the tide was really swinging. It takes some getting used to running solo as the cannonball acts like a big kits especially the deeper you go but 30 ft won't be an issue. Like Dennis.t said there's that option too, my friend Tom has set his up that way but check out this set up: http://www.my-inflatable-boat.com/inflatable-fishing-boat.html

 

[Dennis.t]

I picked up a Scotty 1080 and clamp mount for my inflatable last year and it worked great, no issues double stacking unless I made a sharp turn or the tide was really swinging. It takes some getting used to running solo as the cannonball acts like a big kits especially the deeper you go but 30 ft won't be an issue. Like Dennis.t said there's that option too, my friend Tom has set his up that way but check out this set up: http://www.my-inflatable-boat.com/inflatable-fishing-boat.html

Wow, Very cool!

 

[Franko Manini]

I have a friend that did this successfully on a 12' Avon. Here is how he mounted two downriggers. First, he cut a good solid 3/4" plywood platform, say 10" wide, that spanned the width of his boat, less a few inches. The ends of the wood have to sit outside of the middle of the tubes, on top of the tubes. To the underside of the plywood, he attached a loop of PVC fabric similar to what the boat was made of. You can buy large pieces of this material at Industrial Plastics and Paint in Victoria. Here is the key... The loop of fabric is as wide as the plywood, and long enough that it can go along the insides of tubes, under the floor, and back up the inside of the other tube. He then attached this strip of fabric to the underside of the plywood with PL Premium and screwed a second piece of wood to the bottom. The first piece creating a sort of sandwich of wood, fabric, wood. The second piece of wood needs to fit between the tubes without causing chaffing. After you are done, you have a plank with a big loop of fabric hanging off the bottom.

Mouth the DRs to the plank. When you set up the boat, the loop of fabric goes under the floor and kind of presses along the insides of the tubes. It is tensioned by inflating the boat. This takes a
Little fiddling around to get the loop length just right, but once you do, you permanently attach it with the second board screwed and glued to the first one. It provides an incredibly stable and tight platform. I was very impressed.


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[mkulak]

Here is my setup.. The boat is a 15ft inflatable and I run 2 scotty downriggers... One is not shown in this picture due to the boat at the dock.

Works very well.. I use it along west van and in Aloutte Lake for Trout and Kokanee.

 

[Riverdog]

I have a SeaMax inflatable 10' Ocean model.... has a good transom. Just wondering if anyone has tried attaching the short arm manual crank Scotty downrigger to the transom and whether that worked or not for salmon fishing. Otherwise to get down 30' or so I am better just to go with a diver board like Deep Six etc.
... .. thanks

I have a 9 ft zodiac with a 8 hp Yamaha on the back. I tried the divers and for some it might work, for me the flasher seemed to trip the diver more then I would have liked. I was given to older Scotty manual crank downriggers and decided to try one out. I bought a 1x6 board 6 feet long and cut it to the length between the 2 benches (so the board sits to the left side of both benches front the back ) then I cut a 2x6 and made a 6x6 square and screwed it to the board so it sits over the farthest forward bench (about 3 inches from the end of the board). I did this to bring the height of the board closer to the height of the pontoon. I then bolted one more board to the 2x6 but it went out towards the side of the boat over the pontoon. This got the downrigger a little farther out. By perches are spaced 4 ft apart so at the 2 ft mark I placed an adjustable Scotty rod holder. I have four 3 inch C-clamps that clamp to the benches and the board, it holds down really well. I placed it on the left because I have left hand steering. I also screwed down a cheap ruler toward the back of the board, a cannonball holder, and a couple of fold down cup holders front and back. The rod position is perfect, lots of room for the handle and easy to position. The downrigger sits more foreward and out of the boat for a passenger and the set up as a whole really doesn’t take up to much room.

cheers. Go get em!

 

[Sharphooks]

I’ve been using downriggers on inflatables for years. All my inflatables are Avons which have seat straps glued to the pontoons. I took a piece of starboard that sat in the seat strap. To the top of the starboard I attached marine plywood brackets that matched the curvature of the pontoons, then attached the SCotty bases to the top of those brackets

I did find, however, that if you’re going deep it puts alot of pressure on the bracket....to keep it snugly in place in the seat strap, I attached stainless wire to the base so I could attached it to an eye bolt in the floor of the inflatable

My application kept things neat and tidy....I did not want pieces of wood going across the gunnel etc which explains the use of the seat straps. On my Avon R2.80, it only has one seat (which I sit on) so I glued a seat strap on the pontoon just forward of the transom. Works fine

 

[Riverdog]

I’ve been using downriggers on inflatables for years. All my inflatables are Avons which have seat straps glued to the pontoons. I took a piece of starboard that sat in the seat strap. To the top of the starboard I attached marine plywood brackets that matched the curvature of the pontoons, then attached the SCotty bases to the top of those brackets

I did find, however, that if you’re going deep it puts alot of pressure on the bracket....to keep it snugly in place in the seat strap, I attached stainless wire to the base so I could attached it to an eye bolt in the floor of the inflatable

My application kept things neat and tidy....I did not want pieces of wood going across the gunnel etc which explains the use of the seat straps. On my Avon R2.80, it only has one seat (which I sit on) so I glued a seat strap on the pontoon just forward of the transom. Works fine

That sounds pretty awesome as well! I might look into something like that for my boat down the road. The set up I have is fine for now, as I mentioned it’s placed on the port side and the motor is left hand steering so it’s hardly noticeable “room wise”, more of an eye sore really. Plus, it is easily removed in a minute or two so I can fold the boat up for storage or if I’m heading out on a trip and need the room.