Watercraft
Accessory Review |
Carry more rod combos onboard with the Bac Rac
(continued)

Setup and Performance
cont'd:
Simply go to the rear deck and open the rear compartment and open it up enough
to insert the two sides and drop the compartment down and latch and lock it
place as you normally would do when running. The tension of the compartment door
combined with the fact you are wedging the two aluminum racks in place is enough
to create a rigid platform for your rods.

Rods are further secured with
rubber straps
Installation on both our
Triton and Legend test boats took under 20 seconds each but we ran into a snag
on our Skeeter SX test boat. Unlike the other two boats that have a compartment
that is just in the center of the rear deck our Skeeter had a rear panel that
extended across the entire width of the boat, and was actually a sculpted on
either end. Without the edges on both side of the compartment like the other
boats it was not possible to secure the Bac Rac on this particular boat over the
rear compartment. We concluded that while the Bac Rac will not work on all bass
boats it will work on most.

The prototype Bac Rac had thinner
gaps for the tip side, the final version has large equal gaps on both sides
Once installed the Bac Rac
is able to accommodate rods in the u-shaped cavities. The Bac Rac easily holds
four rods and we had no problems with oversized swimbait sticks. Rods are
further held in place with a rubber security cords.

During our tests we overloaded the
Bac Rac and it handled the extra rigs without issue
During the tests we deliberately overloaded the rack by slotting in two rods
into each slot. The rack was able to handle the extra load and while it was a
little challenging to get the rubber cord over all the rod handles, once they
were secured they held in place just fine. The foam on either side of each edge
on the Bac Rack does a fine job protecting the grips and blanks and we didn’t
experience any problems with damage to the rods themselves.

With the Bac Rac at the very back
of the boat the rods stay out of the way and leave plenty of room on the deck
During testing we fished
and powered the boats like we would normally as if the Bac Rac wasn’t even
there. With each trip we gained more and more confidence that we wouldn’t lose
our rods when plowing through rough water, and by the end of summer even Cal was
happy to strap in his enthusiast rigs.

A look under the overloaded Bac
Rac
While fishing we found it
both quick and easy to draw rods from the Bac Rac and it was actually faster to
just bend down and pull out a rod right below your feet than reach down and pull
one out of the passenger rod ramp. Because the Bac Rac is on the very rear of
the boat it stays pretty much out of the way when fishing. You do lose a little
bit of standing room in the back but for the most part you will never even
notice this while fishing, we found this to be the case even on smaller 18 foot
bass rigs. Another added benefit is sheer added rod carrying capacity, being the
tackle junkies that we are we ended up bringing more rods on each field test and
loaded the boat up more than we have ever before.

Ms. Casey likes the Bac Rac and so
do we
Price & Applications:
The Bac Rac retails for 90 dollars and is available at e-tail sites like Tackle
Warehouse now. This is a reasonable price for a product that is well designed,
built with high quality components and performs well in the field. There isn’t a
solution quite like the Bac Rac, and while it won’t work on every bass boat it
will work on most makes. The Bac Rac is a great choice for backseat anglers and
allows them to make sure they have their arsenal within easy reach even when
they are fishing off a friend’s boat on the weekend or during a tournament. I
have to admit I was skeptical at first about putting my expensive rigs on the
back of the boat so near the motor and splash well but after a few trips out
I’ve become confident that the rack will hold my gear securely.
Ratings:
(We've
re-calibrated our
ratings standard for
2008 and have
included a key at
the bottom of the
following matrix as
a guide):
Bac
Rac
Co-Angler
Rod
Storage
System
Ratings
(?/10)
|
Construction/Quality |
The Bac
Rac is
built
with
high
quality
materials
and the
eva foam
held up
well
during
testing |
8 |
Performance |
Quick
and easy
to
install
on two
out of
our
three
test
boats.
Unfortunately
the Bac
Rac will
not
install
easily
on some
boats
with
non-conventional
rear
compartment
accesses
like on
our
Skeeter
SX which
had a
full lid
which
extended
across
the
entire
width of
the rear
deck |
8.5 |
Price |
A
reasonable
price
for a
well
thought
out
product
that
just
plain
works |
8 |
Features |
Easy to
install
and
portable
with the
included
storage
bag that
doubles
as a
back
pack |
8 |
Design
(Ergonomics) |
Great
marks
here,
the Bac
Rac is
easy to
deploy
and just
as easy
to use |
9 |
Application |
Designed
for bass
boats
the
design
will
work on
some
other
watercraft
but may
require
drilling |
6.5 |
Total
Score
|
8.0 |
Ratings
Key:
1 =
terrible
: 2 =
poor : 3
=
lacking
: 4 =
sub par
: 5 =
mediocre
: 6 =
fair : 7
= good :
8 =
great :
9 =
excellent
: 10 =
unbelievable!
For More
Details
of the
updated
rating
system
visit
our
explanation
here |
Pluses and Minuses:
Plus
Minus
|
J
Easy to
install
on most
boats
and
holds
rods
securely
for
co-anglers |
L
Does not
mount on
boats
that
have
rear
compartment
door
that
extends
across
entire
width of
rear
deck
like our
Skeeter
SX180 |
J
Holds
rods
safely
in rough
water |
|
J
Mounts
in the
back of
the boat and
stays
out of
the way |
|
J
Comes
with
storage
bag that
can be
carried
on your
back |
|
J
Reasonable
price |
|
Conclusion:
There is a lot to like
about the Bac Rac, this cleverly designed watercraft accessory gives co-anglers
the ability to take control of the rear deck and manage their rigs or even
increase their carrying capacity. Though the Bac Rac will not work on every boat
out there it is able to be used on many brands with traditional rear lids, and
unlike many racks the Bac Rac is completely portable and can be moved from boat
to boat and installed in less time than it takes to actually load the rack. The
entire installation takes mere seconds and is done without the aid of any
fasteners or tools and absolutely no drilling is required. Built with high
quality components we experienced no failures or durability concerns and even
tried to stress the rack by overloading it with twice the specified capacity.
The bottom line, if you are looking for a way to add rod capacity to your bass
rig your search has ended, the Bac Rac delivers secure storage without
the hassle of permanent installation.
Looking for the Bac Rac? Try
Tackle Warehouse.

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