Gorilla Locking Rod Rack
among the clever,
useful accessories on display.
By
Steve Waters Staff
Writer
Fort
Lauderdale · The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show
is known for its big boats, and there is no shortage of
them at the 44th annual show, which opened Thursday at six
sites.
According to Kaye Pearson of Yachting Promotions Inc.,
which produces the show for the Marine Industries
Association of South Florida, there are 231 superyachts,
defined as boats 80 feet and longer. He said that two of
the boats along the Intracoastal Waterway at the Bahia Mar
Yachting Center are priced at $50 million.
Big boats also are at Hall of Fame Marina and Las Olas
Marina, which are connected by floating docks to Bahia
Mar, Pier 66 Marina and Marriott Portside Marina, which
has the biggest boat of the show, the 268-foot Bart
Roberts.
The Broward County Convention Center is packed with boats
40 feet and under, as is the Sailfish Pavilion across from
the center. There are also plenty of accessories, from
depthfinders and chart plotters to diesel engines and
outboard motors to fighting chairs and dive gear.
Some of the neatest things at the show are the new,
innovative items that leave show-goers wondering,
"Why didn't someone think of that before?"
One such item is the Gorilla Locking Rod Rack, which is
making its debut at the Bill Boyd's Tackle Shop booth at
Bahia Mar. The rack, which can be installed under a T-top,
under a gunwale or on a console, allows anglers to leave
their fishing rods on a boat without having to worry about
them being stolen.
The rod rack was designed by John Kujawa of Delray Beach.
According to his sister, Liz Bold, who is the sales
manager for the new company, Kujawa bought a Mako 295 a
couple of years ago and went shopping for a secure rod
storage system.
"He had nice fishing rods," Bold said. "He
looked for a while, but he couldn't find anything. So he
made something up and stuck it on his boat. His friends
were like, `Wow, that's great. We'll take one.' So he made
a prototype. It's been about a year in the making."
Kujawa has an engineering degree from Stanford and worked
in the computer industry, helping to develop software and
related products, among other things. He likes to take his
boat to the Bahamas, and he was looking for something that
would let him leave his fishing rods on the boat rather
than hauling them into his hotel room every afternoon and
lugging them back to the boat the next morning.
Kujawa ended up designing his own lockable rod rack. He
was meticulous, taking measurements of hundreds of fishing
reels so he could build a rack that would accommodate most
all of them, from Shimano TLDs to Penn International 50s.
The rack is made of marine grade cast aluminum with a
stainless steel bar that, when secured with a padlock,
prevents the rods from being removed from the rack. The
metal parts have a thermoplastic coating to keep them from
scratching the rods and reels. The hardware to install the
rack is included.
Kujawa also was clever, designing the rack so that when it
is locked, a thief cannot remove the screws that secure
the rack to the boat or the T-top, and the reels cannot be
unscrewed from the rods.
A rack that holds four conventional outfits retails for
$195. A two-rod rack lists for $149. Kujawa is in the
process of designing a rack for spinning rods.
If you're looking for something to fish with your outfits,
the Bill Boyd's booth has Aloha Lures. Built by Erik
Rusnak of Hawaii, the lures started out as a hobby for his
personal fishing, until his friends started asking him to
make lures for them.
Proven fish producers in Hawaii, Rusnak is confident his
lures will do just as well off Florida and the Bahamas.
"The thing that separates my lure from others is the
mirrors [in the head of the lures]," he said.
"They produce a lot of flash, and mirror lures raise
fish."
Numerous exhibitors offer boats that can get you out to
the waters where big billfish and tuna lurk. Wellcraft
introduced six new fishing boats at the show -- two at
Bahia Mar, four at the convention center -- ranging from
the 20-foot, 4-inch 200 Fisherman bay boat to the flagship
390 Coastal, a sportfisherman that measures 44-7.
According to Irwin Jacobs, chairman of Genmar Holdings
Inc., which owns Wellcraft, the new models are part of
Wellcraft's commitment to building fishing boats.
"This company is known more for fishing than anything
else," Jacobs said. "That's our heritage and
that's our future.
Dusky Marine of Dania Beach doesn't have any new models,
but its boats at Bahia Mar have a new look: colored hulls,
which came about because of customer demand.
"Over 50 percent of my hulls are colored now,"
Dusky's Michael Brown said. "Last year it was about
25 percent."
Colors of the boats at the show include dark blue, light
yellow and light green. Rather than air-brushing on the
color like some manufacturers, which leaves the hull
susceptible to dings from gaffs and swordfish bills, Dusky
uses a special colored gel coat that results in a
scratch-resistant, uniform color
"We'll do it any color they want," Brown added.
"We even did one that I call Hazard Yellow."
Steve Waters can be reached at swaters@sun-sentinel.com or
at 954-356-4648.
