It’s broadly accepted that rafts are consultants at breaking fly rods. With out correct, protecting storage for rods, raft house owners sometimes find yourself improvising by laying rods throughout their raft frames, stashing them out of the best way(ish) within the bow or stern, or storing them half damaged down someplace resembling protected. However chaos has a method of discovering its method right into a small, inflatable boat floating down a river and unprotected rods hanging out in a raft have a transparent path to breakage, whether or not by getting stepped on by anglers shifting out and in of the boat, by an errant oar, by means of affect with bushes, rocks, or deadfall, and so forth. In consequence, a handful of fly rod holders for rafts have popped up over time, serving to raft house owners preserve their spare rods intact from launch to takeout. Most just lately, Riversmith, the Colorado outfit recognized greatest for its rooftop rod carriers for automobiles and vans, launched its entry into the raft rod holder market — the Riversmith Swiftcast.
Made utilizing a mix of aluminum, chrome steel, and excessive tensile-strength polymer, the Swiftcast is designed to be weather-resistant and light-weight. Maybe extra importantly, Riversmith appears to have centered intently on designing the Swiftcast to be modular — to make it appropriate with a variety of various raft manufacturers, sizes, and configurations.
“We’re anglers and river rafters so we all know the challenges that anglers face on and off the water. The superior factor is although, in the event you cease and take heed to the fly fishing neighborhood they’ll inform you instantly which issues want fixing versus these we are able to reside with,” mentioned Jason Thomas, Director of Design and Product Growth at Riversmith. “The necessity for a common rod service for rafts was clear – people have been attempting to resolve the issue on their very own for years now. With a yr and a half of growth below its belt, the Swiftcast solves this downside for all raft anglers, it doesn’t matter what measurement or configuration boat they’ve. It was designed to go well with and assist shield what’s most essential to our prospects – their time spent on the water, their gear and total expertise fishing.”
Riversmith signifies that the Swiftcast is appropriate with rafts as quick as 8 toes in size and even these longer than 15 toes in size. Along with designing its new rod holder to accommodate totally different raft lengths, Riversmith additionally took care to handle differing raft shapes by permitting its modular sections to be rotated to match the form of the raft it’s being mounted to. For people who have discovered extra inflexible options from different producers irritating to mount flush to their raft’s physique, this could function a welcome function.
Picture: Riversmith.
The Riversmith Swiftcast can also be designed to be mounted in pairs, both inline (identical facet of the raft) or bi-directional (reverse sides of the raft). Entrance or rear-facing mounting can also be potential, permitting for a configuration the place anglers in each the bow and stern of the boat can have easy accessibility to rod storage.
Riversmith’s new rod holder additionally gives a number of different notable options, together with an open-bottom reel field to permit water to empty out and a tapered “nostril cone” that guides rod suggestions safely from the straight-line channel part of the Swiftcast to the curved part that wraps across the raft body.
The Riversmith Swiftcast Rod Holder is offered instantly from Riversmith and licensed retailers. Retail value is $349.99. Extension tubes for longer rafts are priced at $34.99 (12 inch) and $59.99 (24 inch).
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