John: Hey Reg!
Reg: Hi John.
John: How are ya?
Reg: Very good.
John: PERKO is a large
manufacturer of marine hardware.
They make a lot of the lights, cleats
as well as rod holders and we're gonna be
getting into that today because I want to install four of them
on the MAKO. They come in different angles.
You've got 90 degree angled rod holders,
you've got 35 degree angled rod holders,
what are they for?
Reg: Well John we've got a 90 degree here.
This is something you'd generally use on a console
for rod storage where space is at a premium.
John: Okay, so you use a 90 for storage?
Reg: Exactly.
John: For actual use...
Reg: We're gonna use this 35 degree
gunnel mount rod holder.
John: Okay.
Now who are some of the big manufacturers
that make the rod holders.
Reg: Well obviously PERKO, Rook,
Lee and we got Taco here.
John: Okay, you've got quite the assortment here but
real quick let's take a look at the different
components that make up a rod holder.
You got the mounting flange,
this is something that you would mount
into a gunnel of a boat.
And you have the tube,
again that is at a 35 degree angle.
You're going to have some type of a rubberized insert,
which protects the rod a little bit.
And then naturally you're gonna have
some kind of a locking pin and I wanna show you this.
Now what the locking pin is for,
is you would take the butt
of your fishing rod.
Take a look at this.
You notice that we have some notches
in the butt of the fishing rod.
It slides into the rod holder
and it locks onto that pin so it can't turn.
So when a fish is peeling that line,
it's gonna come straight off the end of the pole.
And... what I want to talk to you about Reg
is these different manufacturers.
They make these things in the different materials.
We got metal, we got plastic
like this one right here.
Where would you use a plastic rod holder?
Reg: Well plastic would be great on a aluminum boat
or maybe a very small boat we're only using light tackle.
John: Okay so, if you're marlin fishing
you might not wanna use a plastic one?
Reg: No. I'd go with something more in the
stainless steel or bronze.
John: There's a lot of pressure that can be generated
when a big fish is really torquing
on a fishing pole.
So we've got metal. There's some different
types of metal that's out on the market.
We've got chrome plated zinc,
we've got stainless steel
and we've got chrome plated bronze.
Is it a good, better, best situation?
Or does it really matter?
Reg: It matters a little bit. Your more
expensive materials are going to stand up longer
and be a little bit stronger.
John: From my experience if you're gonna be freshwater boating,
I'd go with a chrome plated zinc.
If you're gonna be in brackish water or salt water,
go with the stainless steel
or go with the chrome plated bronze.
They're gonna hold up just a little bit better.
Let me show you something a little bit different.
This is a surface mounted rod holder.
A lot of people up in the Great Lakes
in the northwest where they use downriggers,
will use a surface mounted
rod holder on the boat.
You also have rod holders
that can clamp onto a tower.
You have rod holders
that will clamp onto bow rails.
Uh, something like that but again
Reg I want to be installing them into the gunnel
on our Mako. And what I want to talk about
is how should I be positioning
the rod holder?
Should I have them all coming
straight off the back of the boat?
I've seen it that way. I've also seen where you have
multiple rod holders in a line.
Where one is coming straight off the back and the other one
is kinda cocked out on a 45 degree. What should I do?
Reg: Well John this boat is a little bit smaller boat
(clears throat)
I'd suggest you bring them out to the 45 degrees
and point your lines out.
John: Okay one last thing I want to talk about
is some of these rod holders
are going to drain right through.
So if it rains or if you take a big wave or something like that.
Water is gonna flow though the rod holder
and directly out onto the deck.
You also have rod holders that have
some type of nipple on the bottom.
What's this for?
Reg: Well John, in the case where we might have
a closed liner or maybe even foam filled.
Water may get in there someplace where
we don't want. This gives us an opportunity
to put an hose on here, direct
the water into the bilge someplace
where it's easy to pump out.
John: Okay you can also plug these things which is very cool.
Now the reason I invited Reg to join us
today is his company actually makes
the rod holders for Mako.
Take a look this. This is a Perko rod holder
with a Mako emblem stamped into it.
And you make a lot of rod holders
for a lot of the different manufacturers, don't ya?
Reg: Yes we do.
John: Okay, very very cool.
Reg: Thanks John.
(tablesaw buzzing)
Narrator: Don't cut out! The tool shed here
at Ship Shape TV is just getting open.
We'll be right back.