I want to build some rod tubes in my boat, any innovative ideas?

[STRETCH1]

I want to put some rod tubes in my boat. It has just an empty space right now. I see the golf club tubes are kind of expensive. Any ideas how to make one cheap or any new innovative ideas?

[alanhore]

Have seen guys use thin wall pvc and a heat gun to expand one end so it wont slide through your header board.

[KYRANGERMAN]

Years ago I purchased some rod tubes, similar to these:
https://thmarinesupplies.com/product...s-and-end-caps



I then purchased 4 of these:
https://www.cabinetparts.com/p/revas...RoC5bMQAvD_BwE

I screwed them to the back of my rod locker and use small bungee cords to hold the rods in place. Works pretty well except the butt end of the rod will fall out of the tray sometimes in really rough water.

[Smallie_Hawgin]

I am planning something similar, but intend to use this (or similar), roll the edge with a trailer ball and heat gun. https://flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?p...n&ppinc=detail

[Dave A]

Best idea i had was taking mine out, like it much better without them.

[brucekgreen]

I used white pvc water pipe

[bqtoot]

I took my rod tubes out but left the rod butt end support installed and switched to rod socks instead. Works much better for me. In some rod lockers, if the tubes are not mounted far enough forward you have to bend the rod a little to get the rods into the tubes. Also be careful of the eyelets on each rod as you slide them in. They can get caught on the edge of the tubes.

[Rusty Baron]

look at golf shops they have different size tubes for golf bags that work good.

[wmitch2]

I would think that the PVC pipe would be too stiff. I'd go with the Golf Club tubes.

[XingEyeballs]

I redid an aluminum boat with a casting deck for my first boat. Made rod tubes with 2” PVC and make sure you glue caps on the far end to prevent the last guide from getting hooked. I reamed the other end and glued couplings on to give it a smoother end to slide the rod in. Used 1 1/2” PVC caps for the rod butts to set in. Worked really well.

[blkfalc4]

I get em from Ranger boats, small precurve, tapered and closed. Inexpensive also.

[FES313]

I think I still have the tubes out of my boat if anybody wants them.

[Lee W]

I use schedule 10 PVC and have an escutcheon plate (plumbing section at Lowes or Home Depot) mounted to a short piece of 2X4. I use a heat gun to heat the end of the PVC while I rotate and push down on the escutcheon plate. You can do a simple flare or keep heating and pushing and it will flip over on itself. The whole process takes maybe 30 seconds.

Start with a piece longer than you will need because you will overheat the end until you get the hang of it. If you mess it up just cut an inch or two off and do it again.

[Mike2718]

The golf tubes are $2.19 at Academy Sports & Outdoors. If you don’t live in an area that has an Academy, you can order them at www.academy.com and shipping is free if the order is at least $25. Walmart used to have them years ago for $1 or $2. I’m not sure if they have them anymore. I made my own “rack” years ago on one of my previous boats. I just used a couple of big chopping boards from Walmart. They have some that are very big and black so they look nice. I drilled holes in the chopping board and pushed the tubes all the way up to lip of the chopping board then attached the chopping board to the boat. I made the holes so the tubes fit very snugly. I had to use some force to get them all the way on. I then “tie wrapped” the other end so they stayed together. For the “butt” end, I made 3 very long oval openings almost the complete width of the chopping board. I made one almost on the bottom, one in the “middle” and one towards the top. This way I had 3 layers of rods and could slide them over easily to get to the middle and bottom row. I also installed a bungee cord across the middle and top row so the rods wouldn’t slide out. For the top row, you have to make the hole low enough so you can still close the lid. I made a couple of prototypes out of cardboard then pegboard before I finally used the chopping boards. It worked very well. If you carry more than 15 rods, it may be better to use rod sleeves.

[skeeter202]

I built one for a friend and cut the piece that holds the handles and the piece that holds the golf tubes out of the white butcher block you can buy at Walmart or sam's .staggered holes and drilled a little smaller than tubes to hold. Worked great ,would post pics but he left the state .forgot one thing cut to match design of rodbox then screwed top of box in front and back

[SWbass]

I'm not a fan of digging a rod out of the bottom tubes in a full rod locker so I use my side carpeted lockers with rod socks and reel covers, I use different color rod socks for quick and easier rod identification, but my buddy loves the thought of having his rods in my center rod locker with tubes.

also if you check for two inch ID flexible tubing on Amazon you might get a bulk or length price that could be cheaper, just rest the bottom one on the floor of your locker and tape or wire them together

[BASSATTACK83]

Not sure what boat you have but I just removed some from a Bass at Pantera I would sell if interested.

[Wild Heethen]

Best idea i had was taking mine out, like it much better without them.

Same here. If I could get the ones out of my Ranger without destroying them, I would give them to him free. Hated them every day I've owned the boat.

[CastingCall]

I made a rear "moose antler" style rack and front mount for tubes from HPDE cutting board.


v1.0 of the front rack with rod tubes:


Ultimately, I hated the front tubes, so I removed them in v2.0, and cut four large horizontal slots in the mounting board instead.
Along with rod sleeves, the slots allow much easier insertion and retrieval of rod tips!
I did keep the top right two holes in the front rack, enlarged them, and used 2" black plastic irrigation pipe for those that run all the way to the tip of the bow - to hold a couple of 8-1/2' rods without them tangling in the bow wiring.

Another idea for holding rod butts using same cutting board material. This one on the port rod ramp: