DISASTROUS DAY

[salmonking]

Woke up this morning full of hope.the water running at a good height,and a good chance of my first fish of the season,
rod set up on to the rod holders on the car and away i go......
three miles down the road,traveling an est 40 mph,the front rod rest lost its suction,rod blows off the bonnet and before i know it 'snap'...middle section.
After cursing for a few minutes ,i decided to head for kelso and buy a new rod, after explaining what happened,and buying the new rod,tweedside tackle have taken my broken one and hopefully they will get a new middle section(fingers crossed).
Has anyone else experienced their rod holders come off?
My car has not been cleaned for a while but wasn't that dirty, or was it just bad luck?

col.

[lomond]

Yes, I have the magnetic ones. I once had 4 x 15 footers on them, moving to another part of the river to another. Went round the first corner and all 4 slid off onto the road with oncoming traffic just ahead. Luckily the approaching car saw what happened and stopped. Only damage was a broken eye and a few scrapes. Could have been alot worse and expensive !!

I still use the magnetic ones,but only with 1 or 2 rods.

Lomond

[turrifftackle]

I had a customer in today with the exact same experience.
Luckily!! he only broke one of the four rods on the holder.

I believe you must wet them before putting them on (suction ones) and make sure they do not move before you put the rods on.
Some of the new ones do not seem to be as good as the older design.
I have began to move toward R Wheatley holders but they are a bit more expensive than the vac rac ones.

I never advocate driving from home to beat with the holders- only whilst on the beat or between beats if close by.
You really ought to have them fixed by screws if you want to use them over long distances.

Frank

[elwyman]

I have some of the rubber bodied suction ones, bought off ebay.

I think Frank is right in what he says, and also the car needs to be reasonably clean.

I've not had them come off, but once or twice the I've put them on and when I've checked them I've been able to make them slide on the car bonnet. I always check they are tight before putting rods on .

[betanut]

I gave up using any type of rod carrier after I saw 4 new demonstration rods all shatter in spectacular fashion at a well known hotel in Banchory after falling off one Range Rover (not mine) and all smashing into another Range Rover (mine!)
Have seen failures with all 'types' of rod carrier (other than roof rack and bungee cords) so don't use 'em at all these days. Instead, I bought a car with a full length sunroof ;D

[munrokiller]

Absoluetly correct Frank a good spit on the plastic soon gets the suction going. I shudder to remember the old ones that used to attach to the guttering along the roof by a wing nut, and smile at those who buy magnetic holders for an Aluminium bonnet.

Like you, I wouldn't recommend driving too far with them, a few miles at the most. There are those however, who have them permanently stuck on and wouldn't have it any other way. How else would the world know that they were going fishing !

[williegunn]

munrokiller said:

There are those however, who have them permanently stuck on and wouldn't have it any other way. How else would the world know that they were going fishing !

Mine are permantly fixed to the car, the front one is bolted to the bulkhead, the world probably get a hint when they see the rods attached.

[munrokiller]

Malcolm,

My mild attempt at sarcasm ( it's catching ) was directed at those who like to be noticed whether they are fishing or not. Unlike you, they don't however go to the expense of permanent fixtures and are often amazed when their less-permanent carriers go missing in Tesco's - or more likely M & S car parks, along with the Glued-on Salmon or Grouse.

[salmondan]

munrokiller said:

often amazed when they go missing in Tesco's carpark.

Probably only when scottyboy9nro goes out to catch salmon. ;D

[para1]

Can anybody say for sure if this is legal as I know one guy that was stopped by mr plod. He was told to get them inside and given a warning.?

[Bogyoch]

After the horse has bolted: salmosalar.proboards80.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=tackleroom&thread=1163675725&page=1

[kercock]

For a good number of years I have used the Vac-Rac Double , the Ghillies version vacuum ones and I have them on all the working week. They were made originally for a Orvis order , I had them made up with the Vac-rac label on The manufacturer recommended to me that all surfaces must be CLEAN before attaching. He also recommend wiping surfaces with a silicon based "grease" for the best contact. I've had them on complete with rods at speeds that scare even me !,no problem I'd recommend them .

[greenalert]

I have the 2 types, i.e. magnetic & vacuum & can honestly say have had no problems whatsoever with any of them, even driving distances of up to 40 miles @ 60mph with 6 rods attached between the 2 of them

However I have noticed the magnetic type can cause scratches to your car due to the fact that tiny pieces of grit can become attached to them if left in the boot, I would suggest giving them a good rub down with a clean towel prior to affixing them to the car & also rubbing down the car at the point where you are going to attach them to

[colliedog]

I have used vac rac vacuum clamps for sevaral year with no problems so long as I clean the pad and the car and add a bit of spit.

However, I notice that the new vac rac models have a pad of much smaller diameter - given the relationship between the diameter and area of a circle this equates to a much, much smaller surface area sticking the things to your car. Two of my friends had the new model detach more than once recently and couldn't understand why until we compared new with old models - the leverage from the weight of the rods just pulls them off. Therefore I wouldn't recomend the new ones.

All this is becomes irrelevant if you do what I did on the Dee last week and simply prop the rod up against the the rack on the bonnet at lunchtime. After lunch, keen to get going I drove off - fortunately in reverse, saving me (or at least Messers Sage) a hefty repair bill.

CD