Rod Storage on Revo

I have been fishing a PA for almost a year and I love it. The storage, comfort and stability are second to none. However I have always had it in my mind to buy a Revo for Surf launches, mother ship launches or launching off rough terrain where I don't want deal with a 140 plus lb boat. I am not getting rid of the PA, the Revo will be a second boat (for my wife haha).
My question is this, is there enough room below the deck to store rods when surf launching and landing (I fish one piece seven footers)? If not do you bungee your rods to the deck in case of capsizing to avoid snapping off 100 plus dollar rods?

I don't fish but we have a Revolution. Seven foot rods would be no problem to store below deck, and I think you'll like the ability of the Revolution to handle the surf.

_________________

I have a revo and just stick 2 rods in the rod holders behind the seat. They are leashed so I have no fear of losing them if I dump.

To access this storage would you go through the front hatch or other hatch?

I am less concerned with losing the rods in the rod holder as I am breaking them off in a roll over in shallow surf. I will have everything tied down in one form or another in a surf launch.

I would use the front hatch. You just have to run the rods on either side of the mirage drive, and you've pretty much got the length of the boat to place them. I've seen someone put a single rod in a Revolution before, and I know it will fit more, but when he placed it in the boat, he placed it from the front. It went in easily, so unless you have some sort of fancy fishing rod that can't be bent, it should go in easily.

The front hatch is very easy to get to while out on the water, the rear hatch would be very difficult to get to, and I'm not sure that the centre hatch would work for 7 foot rods.

Hope that helps

_________________

That was the info I was looking for, thanks augaug.

Hi Tybee,

you can squeeze a 7' rod through the front hatch on the Revo if you don't care too much about your rod. You need to bend the rod a fair bit as you insert it / retrieve it. I have only tried this with my cheap rods for land transport. Although there is good on water access to the front hatch I wouldn't fancy trying to thread a 7' rod through the front hatch on the water. I mostly fish with one piece rods but I have a set of two piece rods for my occasional surf launches. If I was launching through the surf on a regular basis I would add a SA ski with a rod chute to my fleet.

Cheers
Grant

Hoit probably knows fishing better then I do! So maybe the guy that I saw putting his rod in had a cheap rod. If your dealer is anything like mine, I'm sure they'd let you try to put the rod in before you buy.

_________________

The Hobie Quest is very similar to the Hobie Revolution (without mirage drive) in this Hobie video, there is a section where one guy puts a rod into the centre hatch of a Hobie kayak, and at the very end, the other person puts a rod in the front hatch of a Hobie Quest. The video is under 2 minutes long, and it should give you a pretty good idea of what you are dealing with on the Revolution.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5iEPe3AOrg&NR=1[/youtube]

_________________

i use the paddle holder with the reel next to the built in rod holder. i use a small bungee and round reel to my cart. i did this 2 weeks ago when it was thundering....

_________________
John

I fish the revo offshore 2-3times a week, launching and landing thru the surf with 4 or 5 rods, 6'-9'....easily $200-300each......Practice!!!

You'll be suprised how good at navigating the surf you'll get in just a few hours of practice....while you're at it practice re-boarding and get comfortable in the water with all your fishing gear on (waders or whaterever)....you probably won't even worry about leashing your rods again, let alone stowing them.

I haven't tried stowing them in a Revo but I do do it inside my Adventure, lighter 1 to 3 kg rods with a short but will fit through the center hatch with a bit of flexing and some pressure to the thicker part of the blank being necessary. They will slide easily in from the front hatch, heavier rods and rods with longer buts need to go in through the front hatch as the buts will not flex and the entry angle is to great for the space available (Very high risk of breakage) that's if it does fit through the center.
Another issue is the rods eyes catching on rudder/steering lines, tackle boxes other rods, etc inside the hull and bending them or damaging the control line's etc when trying to retrieve them. To overcome that I used two 40mm (about 2") pvc pipes, I used a heat gun and wine bottle to flare one end to assist easy entry and to stop the line chaffing on the edge of the pipe (ow I stowed mine reels on when going through the front hatch) and then slide them in first, one of my rods the bottom eye was to big so I heated one side of the PVC pipe for about 6" more than needed and then pushed a shovel handle down while applying upward pressure and stretching the pipe till it was wide enough.

They worked great until someone thought the were waste from another job and cut them into garden steaks . They were only good for one rod each unless the reels were taken off and all rods inserted together then I could squeeze 3 each depending on rods.

The biggest issue was getting them in/out when on the water, If I didn't have the AI I could straddle the hull and shimmy down (hard getting past my sounder) but it was very tippy, getting into the water with my dive fins on from the get go was the easiest way to deal with them, a pair of cheap/small fins help a lot with stability when straddling as well. Much easier to get your buddy if you are out with one, to get them in/out for you.

I have used the front hatch method for transporting rods occasionally. I am careful about my guides as I am doing it and never really worried about bending the rod.... in fact most days out fishing I am very happy to see a bent rod

_________________
Roger
http://www.aldenofsunapee.com/
http://www.NEKF.com/

I attach one rod to one paddle holder bungee...the other rod goes on the other bungee. Rod will lie flush and out of the way.