Downrigger Mount for Highfield OM640

[BC_explorer]

I would like to set up my Highfield RIB for salmon fishing. Is anyone aware of a downrigger mount that can be fastened to the aft radar tower? I'm hoping to find a solution that can be clamped rather than requiring drilling or welding to the tower.

Thanks!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/S5BybdpR1tvyGRtu7

[kerfoo]

I sent you a message with a few pics. I mounted a plate on the small flat section that joins up with the tubes. I like the location as I can sit on the bench and set it up and the weight stays lower and close to the water so less swing. And it's cheap and easy. Aluminum plate and a few bolts.

You could do if off the radar arch but you'd need the right sized clamps and spacing - I haven't seen anything like that.

[Boydo]

Explorer -- I just took some pics and created a new album of how I mounted a line puller on my boat to the aft tower. I'm too lazy for salmon fishing, shrimping/crabbing and bottom fishing just for the nights dinner is more my thing, so not a downrigger, but a Scotty's down rigger with a long boom could be mounted to the same platform. It took some fussing and modification but it's a clean, functional set-up that doesn't get in the way of anything, easy to rotate out of the way 180 degrees to a solid running position. The the tube mount I used is just a modified rod holder. These are available for various tube sizes. By mounting it on the sloped tube, it can be rotated into a position plumb to where your boat sits on the water. Or you could use one of the more adjustable, though less clean, rod holders I used for rod holders. Automotive hose was used to make a dampening adaptor sleeve in the rod holder tube to get the right diameter hole for the mounting platform down tube. The boom support cord is required for the longer boom I made to clear the boat tube.