Share Your Innovations

[FISH11]

FINALLY! After a few months since I told some people I know that I would film how I use the system I designed to unload and load my Solo Skiff, I did that today. I had to film it at home since conditions have kept me from being able to launch at La Jolla and film the process. It was a little harder at home because my driveway has this stupid slant that the construction company that built the house and poured the driveway thought that it needed much more slope than I think should have been needed, even with the extra rain and snow we get up in the mountains. I do believe that I covered most of what was important and if there is any additional information or more specific question, just post what those concerns are. I did forget to mention that all the Scotty bases and all the eyelets and hooks are installed using tri-fold aluminum 3/16" pop rivets. Those work great and I have always used them on my kayaks also. They allow you to mount things were there might not be a way to use pass through stainless steel bolts. The short Hobie H Rails and the swivel seat base are mounted with 1/4" through stainless steel bolts, large washers and nylock nuts. The Yakattack Mighty Mount XL gear track bases are of different lengths and all come with stainless steel screws that just screw into the polypropylene hull of the Solo Skiff. The triple rod holders on the rear are Blacktip triple nylon rod holders and I made a bracket that supports the upper section and are mounted to the Yakattack Mighty Mount XL bases using stainless steel carriage bolts that I ground two sides of the head slightly so they would slide in the gear tracks and also not rotate. They are easily removable by just loosening the nylock nuts and sliding the bolts out of the tracks, if I decide I don't want them on. The use of the ramp system is alot easier on the sand. Using it on boat ramps is also easy when you don't have to deal with boat wakes, no different then when using a boat trailer. Hope this helps all you guys that have one or are waiting for a Solo Skiff' Tight Lines.

[dsafety]

A little over 11 years ago, I wrote the first post in the Share Your Innovations thread. It was a rainy day, just like today and I was just beginning to discover how rewarding it can be to modify my kayak so it works better.

Before responding to Mark's fabulous post on his Solo Skiff mods, I checked out the stats that this thread has accumulated over the years. 802 replies and 569,608 views. Wow! To everyone who has participated in this thread, thank you for all the wonderful advice.

Back to Mark's video. It deserves another WOW! Very impressive stuff. Everything that Mark shows us in this video is well conceived, well designed and very innovative. IMO, it is one of the best posts that has appeared in this thread. Well done Mark.

While watching the video, I thought of one additional small mod that might be worth considering. It occurred to me that as often as Mark launches and retrieves his Solo, one spot on the hull may be getting extra exposure to wear and tear. Every time the hull is winched onto his truck, a small spot on the bottom of the hull is constantly being abraded away by the beach sand.

What if you created some kind of a pad, wheel or roller that could be strapped to the bow to protect this part of the hull from abrasion? Just a thought.

See you on the water my friend.

Bob

[FISH11]

Thank You for the kind words Bob. Yes I do monitor the lower edge of the bow were the hull makes contact with the sand and have not had any real wear at that point but it is something I do keep an eye on. I know it can certainly be an issue. My friend Mikey (sd fish and sips) had that very problem and ended up plastic welding that area on his Solo Skiff and adding a piece of PVC to reinforce that area. In his case though, I think most of that wear was due to how often he launches from concrete boat ramps and not from loading but due to having a habit of landing on the ramp while still on the Solo Skiff and then walking off the bow once it had slid onto the ramp. He posted a uTube video on making that repair recently on his uTube channel SD FISH AND SIPS. I noticed years ago how extremely rough the concrete surface on the ramps is (for improved traction for car/truck tires). So I never drag or let my kayak or Solo Skiff slide or that surface. When loading my Solo Skiff onto my truck bed and extender on a boat ramp the bow is still in the water and floating so it never makes contact with the concrete. When I land on the ramp I stop and get out in 1' of water and lift the Solo or Kayak and pull it up far enough so that boat wakes don't move it around. It is absolutely something guys should be aware off, just like owning a fiberglass boat, you would never want the bow/keel area to contact the concrete. Thank You Bob for having started the Share Your Innovations Thread it is certainly the most viewed thread on BWE. Hope the weather improves so we can see each other on the water soon. Tight Lines!

[SoCalEDC]

Mark, in regards to the potential wear point on the bottom of the hull, I have been researching methods of prevention as I have a fiberglass kayak on order. Some of the nor cal guys use helicopter blade tape since their sand and beaches are a little more rocky than ours. Its not cheap but it seems to do the trick for keeping the fiberglass from getting beat up if it incidentally drags across concrete/rock/etc. Its 14 mils thick which is a little less than 1/64", or about the thickness of 3 sheets of printer paper.

https://www.amazon.com/ISC-Racers-Ta.../dp/B004FKND3W

[jruiz]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

Mark, in regards to the potential wear point on the bottom of the hull, I have been researching methods of prevention as I have a fiberglass kayak on order. Some of the nor cal guys use helicopter blade tape since their sand and beaches are a little more rocky than ours. Its not cheap but it seems to do the trick for keeping the fiberglass from getting beat up if it incidentally drags across concrete/rock/etc. Its 14 mils thick which is a little less than 1/64", or about the thickness of 3 sheets of printer paper.

https://www.amazon.com/ISC-Racers-Ta.../dp/B004FKND3W

This is what i've used
https://www.keeleazy.com/

[AlwaysFishing]

Mark,
I watched Alan Batista's video on using Kydex to make a keelguard for my Solo. Pretty simple to do and it protects the Solo well. I used Kydex to protect my Topwater as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9wYd5o1BIU

-Quang

Originally Posted by FISH11

Thank You for the kind words Bob. Yes I do monitor the lower edge of the bow were the hull makes contact with the sand and have not had any real wear at that point but it is something I do keep an eye on. I know it can certainly be an issue. My friend Mikey (sd fish and sips) had that very problem and ended up plastic welding that area on his Solo Skiff and adding a piece of PVC to reinforce that area. In his case though, I think most of that wear was due to how often he launches from concrete boat ramps and not from loading but due to having a habit of landing on the ramp while still on the Solo Skiff and then walking off the bow once it had slid onto the ramp. He posted a uTube video on making that repair recently on his uTube channel SD FISH AND SIPS. I noticed years ago how extremely rough the concrete surface on the ramps is (for improved traction for car/truck tires). So I never drag or let my kayak or Solo Skiff slide or that surface. When loading my Solo Skiff onto my truck bed and extender on a boat ramp the bow is still in the water and floating so it never makes contact with the concrete. When I land on the ramp I stop and get out in 1' of water and lift the Solo or Kayak and pull it up far enough so that boat wakes don't move it around. It is absolutely something guys should be aware off, just like owning a fiberglass boat, you would never want the bow/keel area to contact the concrete. Thank You Bob for having started the Share Your Innovations Thread it is certainly the most viewed thread on BWE. Hope the weather improves so we can see each other on the water soon. Tight Lines!

[JohnMckroidJr]

I bought the container at Dollar Tree (probably find it at a 99cent store in SoCal). The plastic cuts like butter with a hand grinder(less vibration than using a reciprocation saw). Long straight cuts were done with a circular saw using a masonry blade. A belt sander laid upsidedown on the ground with the trigger locked "on", can be used for smoothing out any rough edges in the plastic. Circular holes were done with a drill. The finished design was sprayed with either paint or Plasti Dip for UV protection and glare reduction. The one on the left goes to a Dragonfly 7 and attaches with velcro. The Element 7 is screwed in on all 4 corners.

[FISH11]

Originally Posted by AlwaysFishing

Mark,
I watched Alan Batista's video on using Kydex to make a keelguard for my Solo. Pretty simple to do and it protects the Solo well. I used Kydex to protect my Topwater as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9wYd5o1BIU

-Quang

Thanks Quang , That looks like a good product and easy to work with.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Everytime I had to use the Hobie Latrine(mirage drive opening), I was getting annoyed by my fishfinder shade rubbing up against my side. So I decided to make a PVC mod to be able to swivel it outboard to give me more space as needed.


It reminds me a little of a cactus. The base is made out of cutting boards, the stainless steel was a piece from the transom mount that came with my fishfinder. In the finalized version, I swapped out the ball mount for a socket as with an arm connected it was going to be too high.



By loosening the wing nut on the top, I can swivel the arm out when needed.
It is stable and serves its function well.

[watergo]

looks impressive!