Fishing kayak rigging part #3 - Car roof rack and first test

It's been a week I've bought this new kayak and today will be the first day I'm taking it out on the water. But before I can go I need a way to transport it. although it can fit inside my Honda Odyssey 2004 the problem is I can then only take my son on the childseat and my wife would have no space to sit, but most importantly, the kayak is so wide that it will hide my left side view making it a dangerous drive.

My car already has roof rails but no cross bars, seeing their price brand new, I decided to make my own. So I went to Bunnings again, and bought four U bolts and two Cypress pickets, they are 65cm wide and 1.20m long and thick enough to carry the kayak. Back home I started to measure where I should drill the holes for the bolts. All nearly perfect on the first attempt, the holes were just a tad too small so I had to tweak them a bit.

Here is the kayak before going to water:

I couldn't film myself yet as I haven't yet created my camera pole and then my wife was busy running after the little one so that will be for the next time.

Here is a footage of the missus trying giving the kayak its launch inauguration:

After the session, a little shower is required to remove all dirt. I bought a 2m garden hose with a universal tap adapter, very handy.

Next step, the camera pole. I used to do a lot of photography and have this monopod that can be extended. I will be putting my Nikon P7100 inside its underwater case and that will be my action cam hehe. I will check where to mount it, the easiest would be the rod holder that I have attached to the milk crate. We'll see.

Fishing kayak rigging part #1 - Rod extenders and anchor pulley

Before going out trying my new fishing kayak, I need to get some more items and rig it up with some accessories. So today, after work, I headed to Bunnings to buy some PVC tubes and other stuffs. Man, everything is so expensive in Australia! Hic! Oh well, I won't save too much but that's not bad.

I bought some 25mm and 32mm PVC tubes with some tees and caps, trolley wells, axels, bolts, 3mm ropes, snap hooks and 20mm pulley.

For this first update I wanted to build a kayak trolley that would fit inside the scupper holes, an anchor pulley system and couple of extensions for the fitted rod holders.

To my surprise the 25mm tubes were not 25mm! The sticker and painted text is saying 25mm but when I measured the inner diameter it was 30mm? what the ... ? Oh well, will take them back and exchange for 20mm ones then.

So I ended up making the anchor pulley:

The loop at the bottom will be replaced by a metal ring when I'll find one.

A snap hook at the front and back allow me to attach the pulleys to the carrier cords that comes with the kayak.

I now need a metal ring and an anchor.

And the rod holder extensions. I just want the rod to be a bit higher so they won't get too much splashed with water.

The 32mm (I measured 38mm on these..., don't understand the difference between advertised diameter and actual one) PVC tubes slides in perfectly, I added a 45 degrees elbow so the rods would stick out at an angle. Each of the tube sections are about 25cm long.

Fishing kayak rigging part #2 - PVC trolley

So 25mm PVC tube is not really 25mm in internal diameter for god knows what reason...

I went back to Bunnings for an exchange and took the 20mm instead, which are about 23mm...

After an hour of calculating the dimensions, sawing the tubes with multiple adjustments, I finally built my kayak trolley in about an hour.

Here is the result:

I just need to apply some PVC cement to finalize it all. I will also probably buy some pool noodles and wrap it around the horizontal top tube to protect the kayak's hull.

All these DIY creations are not my designs, I found some tutorial on the internet and adapted them to my needs.

My kayak fishing adventures begin

After several months looking around gathering for info and thinking if it would be something for me, I decided, with the approval of the missus, to buy a fishing kayak. I was hesitating between getting an inflatable boat and a kayak with a budget of about $380.

There are pros and cons for each.

The inflatable boat does not require space for storage and would allow more than one person on it. But on the other hand it takes times between parking the car and getting on the water. Being inflatable means there also is a risk of getting punctured. A friend of mine just bought one and it just confirmed that it is not for me.

A kayak does require storage place and for transportation, but I personally feel safer on it. And paddling with a kayak is easier too. For my budget I can only get a single seater 'yak but I'll be on my own most of the time. If the missus wanna join we can always change turn or hire one. 

So there I went going to that warehouse that had a kayak in discount for $320, the reason was people usually don't like its color, camo finish sells quick but not those blue uni-color ones.

The only thing that bugs me a bit is storage. But it was easy enough to take it into the unit in the second bedroom we are using for storage. And owning a Honda Odyssey, the 'yak can fit inside. I'll get a roof rack anyway cuz once inside the car, only me and my son on his child seat can be inside.

Now it's time to get some safety gears. I will build my own flag pole with an old fishing rod, I need a PFD, setup some first aid kit and other stuffs. For those interested in kayak safety, here is a great website:

http://modernkayakfishing.com/articles/safety

I'm lookng forward my first kayak fishing session!

Re-spooling my Alvey reel

After using the 630 A1 "Surf Champion" my cousin gave me, I decides to change the line. The current one is a high visibility yellow fluorescent that I find awesome as I can see it event fishing at night from the beach. So I went for a Talema Super Hi-Vis 6.6 Kg 500m.

The packaging is cool, the spool is in a plastic box you can reuse for tackles.

What surprised me is I wasn't expecting a thin line it's a 14.5 lb and seems like a 6 or 8. Usually 15lb mono are around 0.33 - 0.38mm this line is 0.23mm, good for distance casting.

So as Alvey recommends, I dunked the spool in water before reeling it on the reel. Trying to make the line at an angle facing out for easier unspooling when casting:

That's it, ready to go. One more thing:

Ball bearing swivel and snap swivel for twist management and ease of rig change. The swivels are rater 15 and 10 Kg, more than the line rating but they are the smallest I could find.