Old Town Trip 10 Kayak Tweak

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

First, if your kayak cost over five hundred bucks, you can skip this. Second, this may only be of interest to the seven other people in the world who, for one reason or another, have purchased or are considering purchasing an Old Town Trip 10 DLX kayak.  If you're curious about my rationale for choosing this particular yak, let me know.  If you want more specifics on my dashboard, let me know. Finally, for those seven broke people with Trip 10s, I am tossing in a pic of my milk crate mod and will be happy to discuss it in a future article or individually if you message me. I suggest messaging me only because this is probably going to interest only a small number of folks and I don't want to tie up the forum with this.  Hope you enjoy.

 

The first pic shows the Trip 10 as is ... well, except for the anchor trolleys I installed. Bless you, all you YouTubers!  Also shown are my "dashboard", a fine blue bungee cord, and one of the ubiquitous Plano 3700 tackle boxes.

 

The second pic shows my judicious application of Velcro to the tackle box and my "dashboard". Why the Velcro?  I have multiple tackle boxes for various fishing styles and I can swap them in and out for worms, jigs, flukes, crankbaits, or a conglomeration!  All are easy to reach and won't go overboard on an enthusiastic hook set. This concept also focuses me when I go fishing under a given set of conditions. Also just makes it easier for my aging self to get at stuff I need.

 

The third pic shows things in place.

 

The fourth pic is a closeup showing the bungee cord holding everything in place. Also provides quick installation and removal. It also shows the paddle holder I added to the "dashboard" since the manufacturer's athwartships paddle holders are used to hold the dashboard. (Also keeps the paddle from banging around on a hook set!)

 

Finally, I threw in a pic of my crate and rodholder setup. If anyone is interested in why I did it the way I did, I will just say that the commercially-available rod holders did not meet my requirements.  I'll be happy to do another blurb about the crate. Don't know how many broke Trip 10 fishermen are out there who would be interested

 

[flyingmonkie]

Cool stuff!

 

PS, nothing wrong with a cheap Yak.  I have the Old Town Angler 10 and love, love, LOVE it.  Easy to maneuver and pretty comfy for fishing trips, and roomy enough I can put my two little girls up front and go for a paddle.

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

flyingmonkey: I had so many requirements due to my age, limited space for kayak storage, and a small vehicle, for car-topping that I doubted I'd ever find a suitable yak. Saw a lot of inexpensive small yaks that just didn't appear to be durable even though they were lighter. I've never regretted my choice - it's still going strong and this is it's third year of use.  Now if the danged thing just came with a bass magnet it would be perfect!