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PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 7:44 am 
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Posts: 79
Installing GearTracs on Revo11

Anyone out there have any suggestions for installing 12" GTs on the Revo11. Lining up the base plate and drilling mounting holes looks to be a precision operation. Would appreciate any thoughts if you have been successful at it.

Oldguysrule


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 8:41 am 
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Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:48 pm
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Location: Missoula, Montana
Here is a picture of how I have mounted 16" long wide Geartracs on my 13' Revolution. I like this setup. It allows me to position my fish finder and rods where ever I want, and provides a lot of flexibility about how I set up my kayak both from day to day and from one part of a day to another. My rods don't interfere with pedaling at all.

Image

I prefer wide Geartracs to narrow Geartracs, despite the horrific expense of the wide Geartracs, for the following reasons:

1. They are easier to mount. The wide Geartracs are mounted with screws from the outside, which is a lot easier than mounting narrow Geartracs with nuts which go into bolts or a bar on the inside of the gunwale. Before you order any Geartracs, reach through a hatch on your Revolution and feel around under the gunwale in the area where you want to mount the Geartracs. Many areas under the gunwales of a Revolution are pretty narrow and somewhat arched, and the area may contain mounds of plastic which cover cast-in-place nuts, or the tips of the screws which hold down the mesh pockets. If you tried to use a bar with threaded holes to bolt down a narrow Geartrac, you might need to cut out a section of the bar where one of those obstructions is located. Furthermore, unless you are able to get the bolt holes perfectly lined up with the top of the arch, a bar will end up crossing the arched area at an angle, and the bar will consequently end up hitting mostly on its left front corner and right rear corner, or the reverse. So if you buy narrow Geartracs, I suggest that you mount them with fender washers under nuts, rather than with a bar. If some of the nuts end up being located on curved areas under the gunwale, you may need to bend the fender washers to fit those curved areas, which is tough when you're operating blind under the gunwale.

The wide Geartracs are real easy to mount. Set the track on the gunwale and move it around until you find a spot where the maximum number of mounting holes are positioned over plastic. On my 13' Revolution, only two of the mounting holes on a 16" Geartrac end up positioned over the notches on the inside of the cockpit of the kayak, which means that the track is held down with 14 screws, which is plenty. Screw the track down with two screws, drill the rest of the holes through the track, and put in the rest of the screws. The whole process takes about ten minutes, and is way easier than installing custom-bent fender washers and nuts on the underside of the gunwales, which requires considerable contortion.

2. They put less stress on the hull of your kayak. A rod holder and rod put a lot of stress on a Geartrac and the hull of the kayak under the Geartrac, particularly if the rod holder is raised up with an extender. The rod holder and the track in which it is mounted are much like a pry bar or crowbar which is trying to tear out the bolts or screws which hold down the track. In a narrow Geartrac, all of that leverage is exerted between the bolt and the edge of the track, which results in a lot of leverage. In a wide Geartrac, that leverage is spread out over the width between the holes on the right side of the track and the holes on the left side of the track.


Last edited by pmmpete on Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:42 am, edited 2 times in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:48 am 
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pmmpete has good suggestions.
See also this thread for other observations on geartracs and Revo11 including my less than optimal installation:
http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=47435


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:12 am 
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Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:47 am
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Thanks, PMMPETE! Your observations were very enlightening. You have got to love this Forum. Passing on information like this is extremely valuable. I have been spoiled the last four years by owning PAs and a then a PA12. Storage, etc was never a problem and the elevated hand rails were all you needed to mount FF, etc.

My PAs are trailered and I have even installed rollers on the rear of the custom trailer, which with the new Hobie carrier wheels set at the balance points assist me in launching just about every place I want to go. But, I am 76 years old and after extensive heart surgery last year, the PAs are just too heavy for me to just throw on the rig when I just want to go for a few hours of local fishing.

As a Hobie Team member with the option of selecting a new model, I spent several hours with my dealer and decided the Revo11 would be a great unit for my short trips. The lack of easy attachments for all the goodies I use was a head scratcher. Research led me to the concept of the GTs. Thanks to you I now have a comfortable feeling about the install and am over my concern about the obvious stress on the rail and hull.

Tight lines! Oldguysrule


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