In my Solo (NS Magic) one of the little things that takes more time than I'd like is assembling and disassembling my rod for portaging. Anything like that annoys my slightly OCD self.

I've tried Bungee Dealee Bob'ing it under the seat, to the thwarts, everything but duct-taping it to Cerberus (see photo - that's the I'm-about-to-eat-you look).


So...minicell has been good to me. If you've been reading the DIY sub here, you'll see my ultralight minicell seat and my world's lightest minicell yoke.

And you probably think I'm a looney. No, I say, that's a Canadian dollar!

Minicell once again is the Way:

My concept was to use minicell as a form to grip and hold my fancy new one-piece rod, it the hopes that it takes me more than one day to break it.

The minicell is easily formed with saws and the Stanley Sureform Scraper. Finest $5 tool this side of a corkscrew.

Minicell also drills well, and large paddle bits bored out the part where the rod handle nests. A little additional carving yields a nice molded match for the rod and reel stem. You can smooth it by sanding and flashing it with a torch. Light touch required with the torch.

I tape off the attachment point on the hull, scuff it up with sandpaper, and attach with weldwood contact cement.

There are three pieces of Minicell cemented to the hull of my Magic; this is the middle one, gripping the ferrule and first guide:

The one towards the rod tip, unlike the first two, does not actually grip the rod. It just cradles it.


The three pieces of minicell are positioned so that the rod and the reel do not actually touch the hull of the boat at any point. The rod only touches minicell. The two parts that grip the rod hold it firmly for portaging.

The other aspect of this build is that the rod is now very accessible for the solo paddler. It's behind me, not in Front (Cerberus Lives Here), and although my ultralight portage pack is also back there, I can reach back and extract the rod one-handed, and replace it one-handed.

Victory!

sns- great idea. While I admire the BDB's, they are still futzy, and I generally get them backwards 80% of the time.

How has this stood up to the shake test? While I believe it will work well, I just think with more usage, the firm fit will widen. Have you thought of putting two micro straps of some sort to ensure if it does come loose, it won't fall out?

THEGrandRapids: "sns- great idea. While I admire the BDB's, they are still futzy, and I generally get them backwards 80% of the time.


How has this stood up to the shake test? While I believe it will work well, I just think with more usage, the firm fit will widen. Have you thought of putting two micro straps of some sort to ensure if it does come loose, it won't fall out?"

Good questions. I finished this today, so it's not seen the portage trail yet.

But I did deliberately shake it hard while carrying it, and it's rock solid right now. Won't hesitate to portage 700 rods with it.

You may however be correct. Long term, will the fit loosen? Don't know. I won't store the rod in-place except while tripping, so hopefully that delays any loosening effect.

Will report back in 30 years. :-)