John E Powell

Where are they located?

Torpedo 19 strand, spend the few dollars more. It's easier on the guides and it gives you a warning if it gets damaged (it will form a small bird's nest where it's damaged); 7 strand wire can be difficult to see damage and you end up losing the dipsy, flasher, fly, and a couple ball bearing swivels. They both can fail, the 19 strand variety just gives you the better chance of saving the rest of your gear..

The "fishing vessel" is commonly misunderstood because it is not specifically defined in the regs. Recreational boats (which include 6 pack charter boats) are not fishing vessels. Think of commercial trawlers, draggers, net tenders, and processing vessels whose hulls or rigging would pose a hazard to commercial navigation or wildlife if either or both would run aground. Your planer board or downrigger would not be a hazard.

Paul, Volume wise (with respect to reel capacity), there's no real depth advantage to the 60lb copper over longer lengths of 45 or 32. What many people don't consider though is that at any given desired depth, you need less line out with heavier 60lb copper (compared to 45 or 32) which correlates directly to less cranks of the reel, which is the complaint most people express. A reel with a high speed retrieve (and less torque) pulling in a longer length of lighter copper can actually be more work than using a reel with a standard retrieve (and more torque) pulling in a shorter length of heavier copper. Based solely on studying the Blood Run depth charts and plugging the depth and diameter info into a spreadsheet to calculate the volumetric efficiency and retrieve per crank of some typical copper reels, one could make a case for getting the best of all worlds by using the 32 for shorter length up to 200-250ft and 60lb for all deeper depths. The more common 45 doesn't perform with the same volumetric efficiency as the lighter and heavier coppers.

It's my understanding, and I could be wrong, that the bases and boom ends that have experienced problems were items sourced from a third party that cut corners. I have to wonder how many people badmouthing Cannon have contacted Cannon and been turned down on a replacement part? In my rather large circle of fishing friends I don't know of a single person who didn't get their problem resolved to their satisfaction. When I experienced a problem with one of my boom ends, Cannon sent me free replacements for all my registered riggers.

I don't have a picture handy but I made one from some mahogany on my previous boat. if you have access to at least a jig saw (or band saw) and a large forstner bit (and a 1/2" drill or drill press) and a router with a roundover bit, it's pretty easy to do. The trick was to create a full size template out of cardboard to match the underside of your cabin top. Start out by hot melt glueing up some cardboard box sections in the approximate profile of the underside of your cabin roof. Then hot melt glue a strip of 1x3 along the bottom edge to support the cardboard to help keep it's shape. With someone helping to hold this up to your ceiling, rough trim the cardboard where it makes contact and/or hot glue smaller pieces where there are larger sized gaps. Once it's reasonably close, say within 1/2 inch all along the edge, use a compass with a marker installed to scribe (trace) the shape of your roof to the cardboard. Make sure to hold the point against your roof and keep the compass marker directly under the point as you trace the shape. Carefully cut the shape of your ceiling following the line and then check your work. Trim or add (hot glue more cardboard) where needed till it fits all along the roofline. Do this for both the front and rear where you want to store the rods. Trace the shapes on your material and cut it out. Check the fit and adjust any area that is more than 1/16" off. This will get epoxied to your roof once you get it fit and cut out all the rod supports with the forstner bit and jigsaw. Route the edges and sand. Get all this done and make any final adjustments before you fabricate the two side supports under each end. You create the sides with the same template technique. You can take a design cue from commercial made wood rod racks, but keep in mind your reel size, the commercial units space the rods too close to handle most large frame copper reels. If you have any carpeting or fabric liner, that will need to be trimmed so you can epoxy to the ceiling. If you or a friend is reasonably handy you should be able to construct a set over a weekend, finishing will, of course, add to the time to complete the job. Depending on how many rods you need to hang and how much room you have, it may be necessary to lay out alternating reel and tip ends. My recommendation is to try and avoid doing this unless you absolutely need that many rods hung. unless you have a very spacious cabin where you have room to turn your rods around, it will mean 1/2 your rods will have to be fed butt first into your cabin. This is a pain to do, it's far easier to feed rods tip first into your cabin.

The swivel base pictured looks like an older style. If any of you purchase a new replacement base, the current revised style is Cannon part # 3991913. In my opinion, I wouldn't buy one of the older styles lots of places are selling online. You're likely to face a similar problem down the road. Here's a picture of the new upgraded base: http://www.fish307.com/cannon-low-profile-swivel-base/

Hmm okay, that explains it, my eyes are not the best anymore. Sent from my iPad using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Ok I have to ask... Is there something structural that prevents the center rigger from being mounted in the center? I can't see anything looking at the pics on my small cell phone screen. What is that under the transom cap in photo 11?