rigging a fishing kayak

I purchased a used SOT kayak and want to rig it for fishing. Do I need to purchase pop rivets and a pop rivet tool to outfit it?

Well nuts
My preference when outfitting kayaks is to use well nuts. It can be a little intimidating drilling that big hole for the gasket/nut but they hold much better and create a water tight seal.

Rivets Are Pretty Good Depending…
on whether the application is for high stess/load vs low stress/load. The latter would be something like bungee cords to hold things down. A higher load would be perimeter lines to hold onto if you find yourself off the boat, swimming in rough conditions.



This particular rivet is designed for heavier loads by spreading out more (than the rivets usually found at hardware stores) to ensure not pulling out.



http://topkayaker.net/topkayakershop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_16&products_id=612



http://Topkayaker.net has good ideas about outfitting SOTs, as this site for fishing SOTs:



http://kayakfishinggear.com/riggedfishingkayaks.aspx



sing

Rigging a fishing Kayak
Thanks for the advice. Topkayaker.net is a great resource. It shows me how to use the well nuts and the rivets. I must admit, I wouldn’t even dream of drilling a hole on my touring kayak. But I can’t wait to get started on this used SOT. I am going to have a blast designing it!

Ask on the p.nut Fishing Forum.

Fasteners

– Last Updated: Jan-15-10 8:33 PM EST –

I prefer stainless bolts and nylock nuts if you can get to both sides. Make sure when drilling for well nuts to drill the smallest hole possible, so that the nut will just slip through the hole. Personally, I prefer plastic rivets to the well nuts, but both will do.

I was going to recommend . . .
Hook1 - www.kayakfishinggear.com but their website seems to be down tonight. They have great kayak fishing gear and outfitting hardware at good prices,so I hope they are still around.

I agree with Chethro…
stainless steel nuts and bolts would be my personal choice, but they require that you can get to the area from inside the hull.



Hi Chethro…it’s Luna!

Overkill…

– Last Updated: Jan-16-10 7:53 AM EST –

bolts/nuts would be great for load bearing applications like thigh straps and handgrips (for lifting the kayak). Big downside as you noted, is having access to the inside of the SOT which is very limited in most SOTs, except right near the hatch area, given the contours of the boat. I would have preferred to use bolts/nuts for installation of the (mid boat) handle grips but could not get anywhere near the area with a nut.

For perimeter lines, with more stress and load than bungee cord applications, the best option is the specialized "load spread" rivets. Again for the lack of access. Heck, I use these for the handle grips on both of my SOTs. I routinely pick up the SOTs by the handle grip to car top. Have not yet have any loosening of the spread load rivet, never mind pop-out failure.

sing