While my 29-foot Boston Whaler Outrage has ample storage for conventional rods, I found there was no really safe and secure way to store my fly rod vertically on the ladder-leg of my hard-top. Because the reel is located at the bottom of the rod, conventional rod holders don’t work. I devised a two-piece system to hold fly rods, using 11/2″ diameter PVC pipe. The butt section is 10″ long and the tip holder measures 2″. The openings are 7/8″ wide – while below the reel the cut is 1″ long and only 5/8″ wide, providing a secure stop for the foot of the reel at the point where it mounts on the rod. I made “V” cuts on either side of the opening to accommodate the wide fighting butt of my fly rod. The top of the rod holder and tip holder each have a cushion of expandable foam. I masked off both the tip holder and the upper part of the butt section with wax paper and filled them with the foam. After the foam set, I used a utility knife to sculpt a supportive cushion for the respective parts of the rod. I used double-sided hook-and-loop strips to hold the rod in place. To mount the rod-holder pieces to the tubular frame of my hard top, I passed nylon wire-ties through 1/4″ holes drilled very near the back side of the holder. Any farther forward and the wire-tie would block the fighting butt from passing through.
Robert W. Guiry, Floral Park, New York
