Mounting tanks on recessed gunwales/freeboard

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Hetland

Contributor
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Location
Gulf of Mexico
# of dives
500 - 999
I have a dual console with recessed gunwales. The exposed portion is padded, and the recessed portion is desined to take fishing rods, boathooks, etc. I'd like to mount my tanks vertically on the freeboard, but because of the height of the padding/recess, I can't figure an easy way to make it work... any suggestions?

see example here:
E200-gal5_04.jpg
 
My Grady was the same way. I used roll control mounted to teak. Then I used stainless "L" brackets and mounted those to the recessed rod holders. I can put four tanks on each side, still use the rod holders for wash brushes and such, (I don't fish) and with the fold down brackets, the whole assembly doesn't even stick out further then the pads. The tank shoulders do touch the pads but after a whole season there is no wear to speak of on the pads. They held up in some pretty rough seas so I'm pretty happy with the installation.
 
I did almost the same thing as above. I had just enough fiberglass to screw into under the padding. I padded the roll control out with starboard and used starboard for backing and thru-bolted everything. When not diving the brackets fold down out of the way for fishing. These hold in very rough conditions and you can actually strap in geared up tanks depending on bc strap location.
 
Our boat is identical to the one pictured in its recessed gunwale/padded rail setup. Can anybody post photographs of what they've done with these brackets, please?
 
I've found that the bolsters do lift off. (TSandM, if it's a Sea Hunt, lift directly up on the pads) It's funny, I've had the boat for about 2 years and never figured this out on my own :dork:

I think that I will look at mounting an aluminum roll control strip just under the pad by first mounting starboard behind the transom lip, then mounting the strip to the starboard. now that I can remove the bolsters, I won't have to mess with the cushion to get the brace mounted.

Thanks for the responses guys and gals. I would also be interested in seeing any pics of your set-ups.

-h
 

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