downrigger location & opinions on best puller.

I read about a Scotty base breaking off with his pot puller attached.......have a leash attached from your puller to a cleat or something solid that’s easy to cut free if needed.
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I read that....and I wondered. I have a Scotty base with my Brutus; and indeed I did break it once (thankfully I did have a lanyard attached to it, so I didn't lose the puller). However, it broke because the trap was hung up on the bottom, and the boat was in a decent current. Basically the trap was an anchor attached to the boat via the Brutus. At the time, when I saw the puller under strain, I just thought there was a lot of drag on the deep pot. Then suddenly POP!.....the plastic Scotty mount broke in half and the puller went over the side. Eventually I figured out the pot was stuck on the bottom; I released it by backing over the pot location and pulling it in the opposite direction as the current flow. I spent the next 2 hours pulling up the pot on a 400' line by hand (not easy for a guy in his 70s single handing :wink: :D ).

I have not had any other trouble with the Scotty mount, and I've had some powerful pulls including another couple of stuck pots (but now I recognize the situation). So I question the speculation that the Scotty mount is poorly designed.
 
I only have the actual Scotty mount, well, mounted. No pivot base. It's thru bolted with a large piece of Starboard/fender washers under the gunwale. Piece of Starboard is on top since the gunwale is slightly arched; the puller rocks back/forth. To break off, it would have to be some horrendous amount of torque. I don't see it happening unless the plastic somehow degrades due to UV.

Not the best pic, but everything outside is wet...as usual.

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php
 
localboy,

My mount is not pivot either. Mine is the same model as the one in your photo; however, it is bolted into another Scotty piece that is clamped to the rail. Certainly my setup would be easier to break than yours; however, it wasn't the the mounting system that gave way, it was the Scotty piece clamped to the rail to which was bolted the upside-down U "channel" thru which the Brutus mounting pin goes (same as in your photo) that broke. It broke right thru the holes in that mounting plate (a risk you don't have in your setup). I'll try to get a photo up.

The torque that broke mine was large (as I say, the hauler was holding the entire boat to what was essentially an anchor in a fairly strong current -- maybe 2 knots). I don't think it was the absolute amount of force that broke it, so much as it was that the force was "amplified" via the Brutus acting as a lever arm, plus the fact that the torque was being applied at an odd angle.

It was my first time out with the hauler and luckily a friend suggested that I tie the hauler to the boat with a lanyard. His suggestion saved my hauler :wink: .

IMG_2513.sized.jpg
 
Tosca,
I know the part you speak of that broke and your explanation is probably why others have had their mounts break!
As far as stuck pots - I found that if you pull the slack out of the pot line and tie it to the rear cleat of your boat the motion of the ocean rocking the boat will slowly unstick the pot without having to pull it with the boats motor power. :thup
 
Devil's Hound,

That's an interesting idea. I'll try that next time.

In the situation I described above that method would not have been possible because the boat was in the clutches of that current. The pressure on the boat was immense. I was lucky not to have had a bigger disaster.

That situation was only my 2nd time out shrimping. I've learned a lot since then. Frankly, I just don't "allow" myself to get surprised by current like that anymore. I've learned that current tables are pretty useless near land since the eddies and so forth can make a supposed slack into near max current just 1/4 mile away. Now I go early and "get the lay of the land"......err......"water".
 
smckean,
I had a home-made version of that mount. I had planned on it being removable. The one time I used it while shrimping, I did not like the torque/forces it applied to the cockpit railing, so I removed it and installed it as shown above. I personally think the railing is too high and not designed for something like that. It could probably work for a down-rigger application but not for pulling heavy shrimp gear in currents, as you encountered. Just my opinion. I sold the Scotty base.
 
I did not like the torque/forces it applied to the cockpit railing....
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Yeah, I know what you mean. I get concerned from time to time, but even tho it moves around, there never "seems" to be too much pressure. Note I installed it with a piece of vertical starboard that takes most of the forces down from the mount to the gunnel greatly diminishing the remaining pressure on the rail itself. So far so good..... :thup
 
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