Finally got around to installing an anchor trolley on my Nucanoe Flint kayak. Most of the lakes I fish often have some breeze. And while it sometimes is nice to use the wind pushing you to cover a section of water, more often than not, it ends up pushing you into or away from the water you want to cast to. An anchor trolley aims to solve this by giving you multiple places up and down your kayak to place the anchor, and thus, affect how the boat hangs downwind. This graphic explains it better than I can:
Back in the day, people DIY'd their trolley setup, and I'm sure you still could with a trip to the hardware store and a little thinking. But these days, companies such as YakAttack, YakGear and others make ready made kits that have all the pieces and parts you need.
I went with the YakAttack Leverloc anchor trolley as I'm generally a fan of YakAttack stuff.
Amazon product ASIN B016LF5CI2
They also make a "heavy duty" version that uses backing plates instead of the self tapping screws that the standard version uses. But I don't have easy access to the inner hull of my kayak, so backing plates wouldn't have been useful. As the standard version seemed pretty well reviewed, I figured it was good enough.
There are a number of videos on YouTube that go through how to install an anchor trolley, including this one from YakAttack themselves. It's fairly simple, two pulleys on either end, a couple of line guides, and a locking/cam device in the middle. Send some paracord through the whole thing and tie each end of the cord onto a ring of some sort.
I admit, I dislike drilling holes in my kayak. Holes and boats have an adversarial relationship, as far as I'm concerned. And the Nucanoe Flint is a little trickier to get the right placement for the pulleys etc than other boats might be due to the fact that it has a combo handle/paddle holder on each side right in the middle. So the trick is to figure out how to not have the lines get in the way of that. The Nucanue instructions say to mount all pieces above the "part line" (the horizontal line where the side of the kayak starts to transition into the deck) and the leverloc forward of the seat. But I talked to someone at Nucanoe who suggested putting everything below the part line, as there was plenty of room before the waterline. And if you look on the Nucanoe Flint Facebook group (I hate searching for anything on FB), you'll see people doing varying combos of high/low. Leverloc in the center below the partline/handle and pulleys just over the top of the line.
I ended up just going with the Nucanoe instructions. I did use some blue painters tape to mock everything up and see if it looked it it would avoid the handle successfully and if I could reach the lever while seated in the kayak. I couldn't pull the cord tight, since blue tape doesn't stick very well to anything. But it was enough to give me an idea. I also decided to put the anchor trolley on the right side since I'd prefer to cast across my body to the left rather than backhand to the right (and I tend to land fish on the left). But that's a decision everyone has to make for themselves. I've ever seen guys with trolleys on both sides of their kayaks.
Having just finished it last night, I haven't gotten to give it a try yet. But I'm looking forward to not getting blown across the lake. I'll update the post with results.
NOTE: I don't know that this thread will be all that interesting to most folks. But there's a real lack of info on the internet about installing an anchor trolley on a Flint. So I figured this might help someone searching on Google down the road.
Back in the day, people DIY'd their trolley setup, and I'm sure you still could with a trip to the hardware store and a little thinking. But these days, companies such as YakAttack, YakGear and others make ready made kits that have all the pieces and parts you need.
I went with the YakAttack Leverloc anchor trolley as I'm generally a fan of YakAttack stuff.
Amazon product ASIN B016LF5CI2
They also make a "heavy duty" version that uses backing plates instead of the self tapping screws that the standard version uses. But I don't have easy access to the inner hull of my kayak, so backing plates wouldn't have been useful. As the standard version seemed pretty well reviewed, I figured it was good enough.
There are a number of videos on YouTube that go through how to install an anchor trolley, including this one from YakAttack themselves. It's fairly simple, two pulleys on either end, a couple of line guides, and a locking/cam device in the middle. Send some paracord through the whole thing and tie each end of the cord onto a ring of some sort.
I admit, I dislike drilling holes in my kayak. Holes and boats have an adversarial relationship, as far as I'm concerned. And the Nucanoe Flint is a little trickier to get the right placement for the pulleys etc than other boats might be due to the fact that it has a combo handle/paddle holder on each side right in the middle. So the trick is to figure out how to not have the lines get in the way of that. The Nucanue instructions say to mount all pieces above the "part line" (the horizontal line where the side of the kayak starts to transition into the deck) and the leverloc forward of the seat. But I talked to someone at Nucanoe who suggested putting everything below the part line, as there was plenty of room before the waterline. And if you look on the Nucanoe Flint Facebook group (I hate searching for anything on FB), you'll see people doing varying combos of high/low. Leverloc in the center below the partline/handle and pulleys just over the top of the line.
I ended up just going with the Nucanoe instructions. I did use some blue painters tape to mock everything up and see if it looked it it would avoid the handle successfully and if I could reach the lever while seated in the kayak. I couldn't pull the cord tight, since blue tape doesn't stick very well to anything. But it was enough to give me an idea. I also decided to put the anchor trolley on the right side since I'd prefer to cast across my body to the left rather than backhand to the right (and I tend to land fish on the left). But that's a decision everyone has to make for themselves. I've ever seen guys with trolleys on both sides of their kayaks.
Having just finished it last night, I haven't gotten to give it a try yet. But I'm looking forward to not getting blown across the lake. I'll update the post with results.
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NOTE: I don't know that this thread will be all that interesting to most folks. But there's a real lack of info on the internet about installing an anchor trolley on a Flint. So I figured this might help someone searching on Google down the road.
