Planer Mast

[grasshopper73]

I was wondering if there is a set height that the planer mast should be. I had some minor difficulty running my boards last year. They seemed to track pretty far back. My mast is at the very front of the bow and up off the deck roughly 5'. Would it help to get the mast higher?

[DEFIANCE1]

As long as your line is not hitting the water it shouldnt affect how far they track behind the boat. A taller mast is nice for sending releases down the line but 5' is pretty tall so I wouldnt think thats your problem. What type of planer boards are you running?

[grasshopper73]

The line doesn't hit the water and the release clips definately slide down fine. The boards are a Cabelas Outsider brand. I got them last year after the set of wooden planer boards I had for years got stolen up on Erie. These boards are poly but the leading edge is closest to the boat rather than the far board. It didnt make sense to me because they were opposite to any Ive ever seen or used. The guy had the original paper work with them and that is the way they are assembled. They run decent but not like my old ones. Im savin up for Otter Boats. They just aren't in the budget right now.

[DEFIANCE1]

Yea it sounds like its just the design of the planer boards. You might be able to add a small amount of weight to get the poly boards to sit deeper in the water so they pull harder. I agree theres nothing like otter boats. Keep you eyes open for a used set.

[hairbone]

These boards are worthless if that is what you have. I have a set of otters on order myself

[grasshopper73]

Exactly what I have! I think it is the boards that is causing the problems. Am going to try to make another set coming up to LO on the 28th so I need to be able to get them done by then.

[Tim Bromund]

Amish Outfitter redwood boards pull harder than otter boats IMO. They claim their plastic ones pull harder yet, but I've never used them. I can attest to how well the redwood boards run as I could barely reel em in with the manual Cisco planer reels (the plastic Wille reels I had previously just folded from the pressure). We'll see how it is this year since I added the motors to make my planer reels electric.

Tim

[W.W.IV.]

Grasshopper,

try reversing the boards, just put eye bolts in and run the port side off the starboard side. You may be able to reassemble them to get what you need.Hope this helps.