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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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