# Kayak Acquired



## PhishFish (May 28, 2011)

After keeping my eyes and ears open for a couple of months, I landed a used kayak for $85 with paddles)! Just need to register her and get a pfd or two. Well, that and an anchor and rod holders. It's an Aquaterra Keowee II. Aquaterra is now Perception, and I guess this was a pretty popular model for anglers in it's day. It's a tandem, but the front seat moves on a floor rod to make solo paddling work.

_The Keowee 2 is a two person recreational kayak. The Keowee 2 has a length of 12 feet 10 inches. The kayak weighs 61 lbs. and has a maximum width at the beam of 32.5 inches. The cockpit is 7 feet long with a width of 26 inches.​_
I'm really stoked to get her out on Griggs and see how she floats. :C


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## PhishFish (May 28, 2011)

Any advice on mounting rod holders? I was hoping to go the PVC/milk crate route...


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## ajarvi (Jul 22, 2007)

Congratulations, you are now officially on your way to becoming a yak addict! Welcome to the club, Kayak Fishing Addicts Anonymous lol!


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## Bowhunter57 (Feb 9, 2011)

PhishFish said:


> Any advice on mounting rod holders? I was hoping to go the PVC/milk crate route...


PhishFish,
It's kinda personal choice, but I like my flush mount rod holders. There's nothing above the deck to get broke off and they're both easy to install and affordable.

If you can find a Wally World that's near a lake, often they'll have flush mount rod holders in stock, for $7.96. All you need is a hole saw attachment for your drill, some rivets and a rivet gun. I installed 2 of them in my Old Town Vapor in about 20 minutes.

Also, there are lots of videos on rod holders, carts, etc. for yaks, on You Tube.

There's lots of accessories for yaks! 
Good hunting, Bowhunter57


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## Bowhunter57 (Feb 9, 2011)

PhishFish,
Here are a couple of pics of my Old Town Vapor 10 with the flush mount rod holders and boat cleats that I use to tie off the anchors (3 lb. dumbells).


















Here's a video of a guy installing the flush mount rod holders. He's using a Rotozip, instead of a hole saw attachment on a drill motor. Keep in mind you MUST mark every spot that you're going to drill or cut, because most of the plastics are soft and it's easy to over cut...or cut too much. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv3bN89OqUw

Good hunting, Bowhunter57


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## fishwendel2 (Nov 19, 2007)

Looks good. Man...an ODNR officer will not miss those registration numbers!


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## PhishFish (May 28, 2011)

fishwendel2 said:


> Looks good. Man...an ODNR officer will not miss those registration numbers!


LOL...they're off now, got the alt. registration.


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## PhishFish (May 28, 2011)

PhishFish said:


> LOL...they're off now, got the alt. registration.


Just saw Hunters post and realized you were talking about him. And I thought MY old #s were big!


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## Bubbagon (Mar 8, 2010)

Remember to be cautious of placing anything that might get in the way of your paddle stroke.
I'd think the PVC rod holder would be in my way when paddling, but maybe not.
And on the Vapor, I'd think those cleats would be knucklebusters when paddling; tough to tell from the pic, but they look like they'd catch your knuckles.


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## PhishFish (May 28, 2011)

Bubbagon said:


> Remember to be cautious of placing anything that might get in the way of your paddle stroke.
> I'd think the PVC rod holder would be in my way when paddling, but maybe not.
> And on the Vapor, I'd think those cleats would be knucklebusters when paddling; tough to tell from the pic, but they look like they'd catch your knuckles.


My wife and I took the yak out for our first paddle the other night. I sat in the rear. When I was setting up the rig, I was thinking more about being solo and having the box behind me, but paddling tandem with the crate in front was no big deal. It was no obstacle to paddling, though I learned real quick to keep looking up as I snagged a few log hanging branches with 6.5 foot rods. 

I'll take my first solo float in the next week or two, and plan to spend a lot of time thinking about the logistics of my current setup. I kind of like having access to everything in front of me, and with an opening that big, I'm considering two crates when solo: one for easy access to tackle and tools, another behind me for a trolling/drift rig, rod holder and cooler. I wish the rear seat came out, but it only folds down.

The boat has no paddle holders or OEM rod holders. I have some collapsable paddle clips on order from BPS that I plan to rivit on once I get a feel for where I'll want them. I used a $14 Eagle Claw clamp on rod holder from Dicks on Alum the other day, and while nice, it doesn't have a lot of freedom in positioning, or a leash. I'll be considering other options soon, and may put a couple of flush holders in as well.

Rigging a tandem is tough because I plan to use it about equally fishing with others and going solo. Logistics and placement shift in these situations, and I'm trying to figure out if I should go for a best-in-any-situation rig or have two setups for the two situations. My kayak has two aluminum bars that run near the "people hole" 9there's gotta be a name for that?) that the seats ride on, and it's quite useful for holding onto things. I kept my crate stable by securing it from either side with an old-school small black rubber bungee looped through the holes in the crate and the seat rails. It makes placing the crate in different positions easier than a solo/SIT where default bungee placement is (mostly) your only option.

Wow, I think about this too much!


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## Bowhunter57 (Feb 9, 2011)

Bubbagon said:


> And on the Vapor, I'd think those cleats would be knucklebusters when paddling; tough to tell from the pic, but they look like they'd catch your knuckles.


Bubbagon,
The cleats could be about 6" farther foreward, but I hardly ever catch my paddle on them and have never hit my kuckles.  Scared me, the first time I hit one with my paddle.  Thought for sure that I'd hit my fingers on something.

Good hunting, Bowhunter57


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## CWG (May 12, 2010)

Nice find. Very nice.


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