thats why i keep cutting my line i mounted the riggers up front!its a 21 foot walk around the back is all open it has a 8-4 foot beam there is 4 gimbal rod holders already in the stern I might add 2 more i was thinking of using one of them to mount my downriggers to for a clean back for fly fishing out of .yeah my winter is going to be expensive as well the dealer offered to store my boat but i said no I want it home to play with .what do you have for a boat? I went out this spring some and caught a few but my 19 footer was really bouncy and when i went into the ocean it would take on water over the bow some my fiance got soaked going out to the isles a few weeks ago so i started looking for a better hull.
thanks
i added swivel mounts to my downrigger along with an electric fishlander side rigger(4 foot boom). really like the electric. you didnt mention planer boards and reels, my best fish came off planers in the spring, and its starting to work well now. lots of rod holders to get things out of the way, my lobster styl boat just has a loop of rope tied to the roof column, but i can slide 6-8 rods easily in there to keep them out of the way
Jeff - check out the showboats section of the site and you can see how Travis, Fishlessman, slipknot, popeye and others have laid out their boats. From pics and the threads I recall most people are mounting their "main" riggers and rod holders for leadcore as far to the stern as practical. I mounted my riggers about a 1/4 length ahead of stern for convenience and to allow me room to run leadcore rigs directly astern (and for future possible second set of riggers). For planers, people have mounted a mast near the bow which keeps the planers / lines etc. way away from all the clutter in the back (check out Travis Cool Water II picture). I'm going to add a (removable) planer mast to the bow of my boat this winter...good luck and have fun with the new boat.
Just guessing that your boats transom is set up similar to mine... I would think you would want to mount your riggers just forward of it on the side gunwales. Doing this will allow easier access to crank up a manual downrigger. Putting manuals too close to the back corner may make it difficult to use with one hand or the other. If they are Scotty manuals it may not matter as their cranks are on top... but others are on the side.
The only other thing I can think of that may help... If you plan to run planer boards/otter boats, mount a couple rod holders as far forward as possible, while still allowing you to see the rods from the drivers seat. This way your leadcore setups you have going out to the planer line are out of the way of fighting a fish in the rear of the boat. Mine are mounted about 4' forward of the riggers. Actually, I'm going to mount a couple rod holders to my rear hardtop support posts this winter to help move the lines forward even more.
Always nice to have extra room to maneuver a fish into the net. You never know what type of acrobatics they'll do when they are around other lines. Never fun when you have to untangle lines and/or replace leaders due to a lack of space.
