Rod-Holder/Outrigger Build

Below are some pictures of the rod-holder outrigger combo that I just built for my kayak.  The kayak is an inexpensive 10 foot SunDolphin Journey.  For about $300 you can buy one of these awesome kayaks.  I fished the kayak unmodified for about a month but realized it would benefit from standing capabilities.  Without outriggers there would be no-way to maintain stability on a kayak of this size.  My initial plan was to make a one-sided outrigger, which I ended up doing last weekend.  Let’s just say there is a lot of R & D that still needs to go into the single-sided outrigger (I will post pics of the design soon).  This new design was much more thought out and conceptualized.  I can’t  remember where, probably a Youtube video or something, but I saw a similar design somewhere that inspired me to build this 2-in-1 kayak rod holder/outrigger.  I used PVC piping for the main frame of the apparatus.  PVC pipe is really fun to work with and it really gives you a mix of strength and weight-savings that you will not find with wood or metal.  Using PVC also makes the outrigger very modular with the ability to add on to the design at a later date if I choose to do so.  With that in mind, I chose not to cement each piece together but instead drill holes that would be filled with stainless steel screws that can be removed and adjusted at any point.

The bill of materials… Spent a total of $16.46. Purchased all of the items online through the Lowe’s pickup program.  Ignore the drawing above.  That is a design for a outboard motor holder that I will be working on soon.

The original design idea!

Heating the pipe. I realized that 90 degree angles were not going to work with the angles of the mounts on the kayak, so this is all I could think of. I don’t own a heat gun, otherwise I would have used one. I think the fumes given off by heated PVC are bad for you.

Oops! A little too much heat on that one.

All of the angled components… 2 elbows, 3 crosses, 2 t’s

This is how the pipes looked after the heating process. I bent them to about 135 degrees. They were probably heated to about 250 before they started getting mushy.

The semi-finished project. I will be testing and tweaking tomorrow.

This is how I attached each piece. This is a good alternative to rubber cement because it allows the pieces to be taken apart and adjusted.

The two base pieces fit snuggly in the rod holders that came with kayak from the factory. I used 1″ pvc for the whole build.

The rods fit nicely in the 1″ cross-sections. Now I have 4 rod holders in this thing! Not that I need that many. I only ever take 2 rods with me. From left to right… St. Croix Legend with a Penn Conquer reel, Penn inshore rod with Quantum Triax reel, and A $20 Dyawa combo from sports authority. Surprisingly, the cheapest rod gets the most use and I have landed more fish on it than all the other ones combined.

The semi-finished Product. Testing and tweaking will take place tomorrow. It was already getting dark by the time I finished the build. Took about 3 hours total.

The kayak waiting on the ramp

The anchor made out of a down rigger weight

The rudder prior to attaching to the outrigger

A standing shot from the water. I was on the very bow of the boat and it was still stable enough for me to stand. I’d say it works pretty well and it doesn’t get in the way like i thought it might. I can make a full paddle stroke without hitting the outrigger floats.