Re-mounting Big Jon's Planer Reels

[Big Water]

Since getting my new boat, I'm looking at a way to take my old Big John Planer Mast components and mounting them on the new boat. I think I can take the reels off of the mast and mount them directly to the 1" rail than runs around the perimeter of the boat roof (see image), but my question is whether the metal guides posts with eyes attached to the reel assembly will be strong enough to just feed the planer line straight off of the reel to the otter boards. I suppose I could also mount the pulleys further down the rail, but wondered if you thought that was necessary to mount the pulleys to support the board pull. Thanks for any advice.

[FSNmachine]

I run mine straight off the bow rails without pulleys. It all works great. The only problem I have is coming into a dock that has a post sticking straight up and more than 4 feet above the water. I could and have hit the planer reel. If you mount them on the roof you won't have that problem.

[momay4000]

You don't need the pulleys to support board pull - the steel eye above the reel will support them just fine. In my opinion, the pulleys simply make it easier to retrieve the boards and more importantly allow you to mount the reel at chest height but have the pulley at a higher point (say 4-6 feet up on the top of a mast or roof of your helm) so the tow line doesn't run through the water.

Good luck,

- Chris

[ReelPower]

Pulleys reduce the force required to retrieve. Your rig is so $&@&$ sweet you should look at cisco fishing systems high torque electric aluminum reels and pulleys. Can't be beat and remote controlled. Pulling big boards by hand reel gets old fast and the good boards/line will bust plastic reels eventually. My cisco reels are run off the vertical hard top handrail and the big jon pulleys off the horizontal hard top handrail with remote controls at the back of the hardtop/cabin for mates to have good line control when pulling boards.

[Chromemagnum]

Nice boat! What make is it?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Big Water]

Nice boat! What make is it?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Thanks, it's a Hewescraft Pacific Cruiser. A west coast boat. I wanted a larger aluminum boat with amenities, so this fit the ticket.

Pulleys reduce the force required to retrieve. Your rig is so $&@&$ sweet you should look at cisco fishing systems high torque electric aluminum reels and pulleys. Can't be beat and remote controlled. Pulling big boards by hand reel gets old fast and the good boards/line will bust plastic reels eventually. My cisco reels are run off the vertical hard top handrail and the big jon pulleys off the horizontal hard top handrail with remote controls at the back of the hardtop/cabin for mates to have good line control when pulling boards.

After looking over a few boats at the dock, I saw one that actually had Walker downriggers mounted in a way that they were being used as planer retrievers. Think I'm going to find a way to take my old Walkers and mount them to a pulley on the rail for an electronic system. Need to get those boards out to increase my spread and clean things up.