Dashboard bar on Kestrel

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Ron Mc
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Re: Drift sock float

Post by Ron Mc »

TexasJim wrote:Neat job, Ron! One thing I did on my drift sock was to attach a yellow oval float to one of the four straps, right at the sock, That makes that strap always float just at the surface of the water, and, it keeps the sock from trying to spin. Plus, if I lose or have to cut loose the drift sock, that float will be visible and I can find and retrieve it. TexasJim
I liked this idea Jim, because a spinning drift sock may not totally foul your rigging, but it can be a pain hauling it in, and trying to take the spin wraps out of it before you re-set it.

Looked around for what I already had - 1mm waxed twine and matching needle for replacing the net-bag on my 40-y-o Brodin trout net; and a couple of beat mansfield maulers.
Laced 2 of the cigar corks to the strap that I want to keel up on my drift sock rigging
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the good waxed twine comes with the sailmaking needle,
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if you have any other uses such as seizing rope ends or leatherwork
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or replacing Brodin net bags
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Last edited by Ron Mc on Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:29 am, edited 3 times in total.
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JW FunGuy
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Re: Dashboard bar on Kestrel

Post by JW FunGuy »

Ron, what’s with the cord and what looks like a cord lock running through the center?
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Ron Mc
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Re: Drift sock float

Post by Ron Mc »

JW FunGuy wrote:Ron, what’s with the cord and what looks like a cord lock running through the center?
Jerry, this particular drift sock has that radius line with a plastic cord lock so you can shape the drift sock opening round or oval.

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there's another shorter one at the goes-out to tighten the exit opening and increase drag
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TexasJim
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Re: Dashboard bar on Kestrel

Post by TexasJim »

Wow! Don't take this personal, Ron, but your sock's not very big! My drift sock is 36" at the big end, and about 5" at the outlet. The best drift I ever had was when my drift sock hung up(unbeknowingst to me) on rotten crab trap! Ha! TexasJim
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Re: Drift sock float

Post by Ron Mc »

made me measure Jim - mine's 20" diameter, 24" flat. Pretty sure I bought it from ACK 10 years ago.
They don't sell this exact drift sock any more, but their own marking on a newer 24" dia version, and also sell an 18" vinyl Yak Gear drift sock. They rate the smaller drift sock for 14' kayaks.

I have one of the 18" drift socks, too, and have it rigged for either the Redfish 10 or Kestrel. The smaller vinyl drift sock folds up to 6"x6"
Lou drifting Rattlesnake Bay
ImageThis boat also doesn't have a trolley, but is short enough to fish with the drift sock rigged to the stern and side handles, and the rigged drift sock stowed in the milk crate, behind the seat, or between your legs.

The 20" dia drift sock packs up pretty neatly, here in the kestrel, and it's also easy to get to in the lap hatch of the Tarpon.
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I'm sure your 36" diameter sock works great - Steve uses one that size in his Hobie - but the size also seems like what you'd want to put out from a mid gunwhale cleat for sideways drifting a power boat.
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Re: Dashboard bar on Kestrel

Post by WC53 »

Your attention to detail is amazing. Now need to go out and organize.

Great work!
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Ron Mc
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Re: Dashboard bar on Kestrel

Post by Ron Mc »

WC53 wrote:Your attention to detail is amazing. Now need to go out and organize.

Great work!
thanks - it's such a pretty and fun boat, I wanted to do a good job
There are also so few places for access to backing because of 3 internal kevlar bulkheads, that I had to attach most of it to existing rigging.
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Taking it to Arroyo City/Green Island/Rattlesnake Bay to mothership in a power boat first week n November.
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SH HX890 VHF/GPS mount

Post by Ron Mc »

I mentioned on my rod holder thread that it's nice Scotty, Ram and others are starting to make interchanging fittings.
Came up with a way to mount Standard Horizons HX890 on a 1" ram ball and move it from boat to boat.

First trick was how to mount the SH SCH-11 bulkhead mounting bracket to a 1" ram ball.
Started with a Scotty 150 ball mount for my "ram" ball and arm.

Decided to bypass the middle man, cannibalize the two ram balls from the Scotty 150 bases, and mount ram balls and SH radio brackets directly to 1/4" delrin pieces.
The delrin base needs 3 holes - one for ball 1/4" fastener, and two #8 guide holes for the bracket.
Delrin saws with a hacksaw (I used a jeweler's saw), sands like crazy, smooths and grinds with a dremel stone, and drills easily.
Also had to replace the Scotty ball socket head 1/4-20 with a pan-head, reverse it, by putting a nylock in the top of the ball, and a lock washer for the ram ball against the delrin to keep the ball from turning.
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Didn't take any photos of the fab steps, but here's the almost finished ram-ball+radio-bracket bolted together on delrin sheet (shaped and dressed later with the dremel).
Since I'm first putting this on the Kestrel dashboard bar, bought two other parts, the Ram short coupler -
I'll be using the long coupler from the Scotty 150 for mounting the radio on two other boats -
Image1/8" thick delrin would be plenty strong for this, but I went with 1/4" to also let me use self-tapping screws for the radio bracket -

- and the Ram diamond-base 1" ball since it was such a clean mount, and I'm going to use the other Scotty ram ball to make a second radio bracket.
Beneath the #10s are 1/4-inch sex bolts, serrated head, which fit snug in the dashboard bar slots.
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The assembled radio mounting bracket on the Kestrel dashboard bar
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and with radio installed - of course I can tilt this all around and move it up and down by 4"
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Also folds up for neat storage
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With this boat, this is pretty much the only place I can mount a radio,
but with both my other boats, it can be mounted either up front or right behind the seat
This photo kind of shows the final set-up
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Last edited by Ron Mc on Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:47 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: SH HX890 VHF/GPS MOUNT

Post by Ron Mc »

Made up another of these. Planning to buy a 2nd radio next month, to aid a 4-man, 5-day mothership trip we have planned in the fall. We'll split 2 kayaks and 2 in the power boat between opposite sides of Green Island, Maybe Stover cove and Oilfield flat, Rattlesnake Bay and east of 3 Islands, etc., dropping kayaks at the wind end of the skinny water, and picking them up at the lee end.

I ran out of no. 8 panheads, so I used the self-tapping screws that came with the SH SCH-11 bulkhead mount. Rock solid in the delrin, and with about 1/16" of the screw tips protruding -
- cast daubs of epoxy over the screw tips to keep it smooth.
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This is the Ram small clamp, and the Scotty 150 arm, which will mount on the center console grab rail on my dad's powerboat.
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These are tough to photograph with the boat hanging sideways on a storage rack, but trying to show the radio mounted behind the seat on a track ball, looking toward the stern
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and looking toward the bow
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Can also mount it at the front of the cockpit.
With my Tarpon, can mount the radio either right behind the seat on the sternwell slidetrax (next to my binoculars), or forward on the cockpit slidetrax.
One thing about the radio right behind the seat, can use it hands-free with the earphone/mic.
Last edited by Ron Mc on Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Kalait
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Re: Dashboard bar on Kestrel

Post by Kalait »

Ron Mc, love your radio mount however I plan to have my radio tethered under the life vest to me. My life vest will have my MMSI number on it as well as kayak. On the kayak, the number will be scribed in painted in reflective paint and clear epoxy covering the area.
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Re: SH HX890 VHF/GPS MOUNT

Post by Ron Mc »

I would do something similar as well offshore, but the radio tethering is not so important in Lower Laguna Madre - in this case, the communication is most important, and seeing each other on the GPS. Can even pull off the life vest for most if not all of this paddling and fishing.

This is staked at the north end of Horse island, a gut from the Arroyo to Rattlesnake Bay, and would be a pick-up point for kayaks on a prevailing SE wind.
Green Island is in the background - the far side will barely float a kayak, though there's very big water across the ICW and a 4' hole before you could paddle (better, motor) to get there. My second MMSI will be for my dad's power boat.
And not planning to take this big boat this trip, but two smaller kayaks to mothership in the power boat.
A 50-lb and 40-lb boat aren't too much trouble to mothership, but certainly less trouble than 80- and 100-lb boats.
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Rattlesnake Bay and most everything against the mainland is too skinny for my Revo buddy to use his Mirage drive.
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The problem with a kayak in LLM is the accessible launch points are outrageous paddles to get to the fishing.
This problem is solved by shuttling (mothership) kayaks in a power boat.
A similar trip (12 years ago now) to Allyn's Lake across big Aransas Bay by power boat.
My dad drift-fished San Jose Island shore, which he's done for months on end, and came back to pick us up at noon.
(Josh, that's Whit again in the yellow OK)
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Last edited by Ron Mc on Mon Sep 02, 2019 11:46 am, edited 11 times in total.
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Kalait
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Re: Dashboard bar on Kestrel

Post by Kalait »

Ron Mc wrote:I would do something similar as well offshore, but the radio tethering is not so important in Lower Laguna Madre - in this case, the communication is most important, and seeing each other on the GPS. Can even pull off the life vest for most if not all of this paddling and fishing.
This is staked at the north end of Horse island, a gut from the Arroyo to Rattlesnake Bay. Green Island is in the background - the far side will barely float a kayak, though there's very big water across the ICW and a 4' hole before you could paddle (better, motor) to get there. My second MMSI will be for my dad's power boat.
And not planning to take this big boat this trip, but two smaller kayaks to mothership in the power boat.
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Rattlesnake Bay and most everything against the mainland is too skinny for my Revo buddy to use his Mirage drive.
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agreed
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Re: Trolley for Kestrel

Post by Ron Mc »

Ron Mc wrote: Image
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Made a couple of really good mods to the Kestrel trolley.
Minor problems that might never happen under drag load, but are annoying tinkering in the garage.
Part of the motivation was also being jealous of the perfect function I got with the new Redfish trolley.

On the way to the stern, without help from seat and thigh strap snaphooks perfectly adjusted in the padeye , the bottom trolley line would jump over the fairlead about half the time. This doesn't keep it from deploying, but could be a problem trying to recover a drift sock.
Worse, occasionally the ring would bind in the hooks for the sternwell net, which totally locks up the trolley - sometimes they go over the top and clear, other times they go right into the hook and lock - again, that might never happen under a drag load.

At the first pad eye, was able to add a yak gear line guide, which totally solved the line jumping problem.
Image Had to swap the M4 panhead for a longer flathead - No. 8 swaps fine.
Though when I first installed this, the line guide itself became a trolley lock, because it was sitting so low in the pad eye recessed boss that it caught the trolley line and squeezed the knots.
Solved that with a pair of half-inch dia., 1/8" thick, No 8 spacers, and used the dremel to dial a key in the bottom spacer for the pad eye loop - now everything glides independent of the big snaphooks in the pad eye.
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The second problem of the ring knots locking in the sternwell netting bungee hooks, I solved by permanently swinging the scotty hook outward to change the alignment of the bottom line so it missed those bungee hooks.
I had delrin stock leftover to tinker, so I made a shim that snaps into place, with a track gouged for the scotty hook, and wide keys gouged for the stern pad eye loop and also so the lift lines never contact the shim.
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Like I said, it snaps and locks into place - you can't remove it without first disconnecting the bow end of the trolley to relax the light bungee tension
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and changes the path of the trolley bottom line just enough to miss the bungee hooks
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all slick here
As busy as this pad eye looks, it will still clear a 4mm stainless snaphook for tying down the boat
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Re: SH HX890 VHF/GPS MOUNT

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Ron Mc wrote: Image
This is the Ram small clamp, and the Scotty 150 arm, which will mount on the center console grab rail on my dad's powerboat.
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Ran into shortcomings on the Scotty socket arm combined with the Ram track ball, and the clamp ball above, partly caused by a large bore in the rubber ball, and the nylok seated deep in the bore.
Image combined with the 5" Scotty socket arm, the bored Ram rubber ball collapses and doesn't support the weight of the radio and probably not a rod, while the Scotty track ball combined with Scotty arm is plenty stout
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not easy to see but no problems with the Ram socket arm combined with the Ram track ball - this is also a stout combo and seems to support any usable weight, even with light tightening on the clamp
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Also didn't like the way either track ball worked in Wilderness slidetrax, so drilled out the #10 guide holes in a pair of Ram solid-ball diamond-base mounts on my Tarpon, mounting to Harmony track nuts (the last 4 in my spares) with 316 1/2" long 1/4-20 buttonheads
Imagethe 1-inch balls are so unobtrusive, if you're not using them, you don't care that they're there

This works great, have an alternate mount up front. From the rear mount, can use the radio hands-free with an earphone-mic
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RE: SH HX890 VHF/GPS MOUNT

Post by Ron Mc »

OK, this post is only about fun with camera, but I'll make it useful by talking once more about how to drill holes in your boat.
I bought one more Scotty 151, mostly because I wanted the superior Scotty track ball. But it also came with a useful Scotty ball-mounted gearhead, and a 1" Scotty track.
I would buy just the Scotty 158 track balls, but Scotty hasn't distributed this part and doesn't plan to before winter - I need my rigging sooner, and it was cheaper to buy the discounted 151 with Amazon Prime than special-order two of the balls from Scotty in Canada.
Drilled the first holes ever in my 10+y-o Tarpon, and this seemed the best thing to do with the 1" track.
There's an ersatz spot in the center of the console that's a great place to mount the 1" track and gives me a 3rd option for a place to put the radio, or even a rod holder (fish finder, etc).
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I did the same way I always drill holes, mounted the part with foam poster tape, especially under the mount holes.
Began with a 1/32" bit, easy to center in the mount holes with the help of the poster tape, removed the part and tape, and sequentially bored out the holes to 5/32" for No. 10 machine screws.
Self-tapped the machine screw threads into the driled holes of the hull.
I dipped each of the screws into marine sealant before running them in the hull and seating the part on the outside - snug, but not enough torque to damage the plastic threads I just tapped.
On the inside, wetted the rubber side of my pressure-seal washers with marine sealant, and ran up my nyloks, applying all torque from the inside, while holding the machine screws firm on the outside.
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To get the photo, hung my camera from the bottom end of the tripod post, inside the Tarpon front hatch, and focused with a mirror.
Of course shot was fully stopped down with a timer and flash diffuser.

If you need fasteners, Bolt Depot has them all, 316 stainless, sells piecemeal, no order is too small, they treat every small order with respect, and USPS first class mail from Nashua, NH, seems to get to SATX overnight every time.

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