Storage solutions for a Native Ultimate 12

The open hull design of a Native Ultimate 12 allows an angler more quick storage than a traditional SOT design. Because the seat is raised above a storage tray, you can tuck things underneath the seat itself, to the left and right of where you’re seated, and behind the seat. On a typical outing I’ll have a big fly box in the tray to my right and a small lure binder to my left. Behind me will be my anchor and line, along with a small soft sided cooler tucked under my fish finder up front. Back when I had my SOT, all of those things would be piled in my milk crate and in my tankwell. In my T140, reaching everything was somewhat difficult, but transporting everything was easy. Early on I found that with my U12 the opposite was true – all of my tackle was easy to reach, but organizing and transporting everything without my milk crate was difficult.

Because I have both bow and stern skirts on my boat (along with the housing for the skeg in the stern) having a permanent place for a full-size milk crate for me was problematic. Some other solution was necessary. It’s taken me a few different set-ups, but I think that I’ve finally decided on a solution that works for me. I’m sure that other people have other methods of transporting and organizing gear, but this is what I’ve done so far.

My first solution was based around what I’ll call a half-crate. This was a plastic crate from my dad’s shotgun shell reloading days. I’ve had it forever: through high school and college and all of the crummy apartments between then and now. This crate is about half the height of a standard milk crate so it fits under the stern cross bar on a U12 nearly perfectly. I mounted a rod holder to it with zip ties and glued some soft rubber carpet gripper to the bottom of the crate. The result was a nicely sized drawer that could fit snugly behind the set and beneath the cross bar. The rod holders were in the open area behind the seat while the crate extended underneath the stern skirt. The half crate made transporting stuff from my house to my truck, and then from my truck into my kayak pretty easy. It also obviously gave me some rod storage behind the seat.

The problem with this setup was that there just wasn’t a whole lot of room back behind the seat. For one thing, I was worried that the crate was about 1/8″ too tall to fit beneath the crossbar – it fit underneath it snugly, but the plastic from both pieces had to stretch a little bit. It was also a little too tight to have spinning rods directly behind the seat. They fit back there, but just barely. After I installed the RAM tubes on the rear cross bar, I stopped using the vertical storage for rods, keeping the anchor, pliers, and lip-gripper there instead. It was a pretty good system, but I wasn’t 100% sold on it.

I eventually settled on an even simpler solution, a large mesh duffle bag from REI. It’s a simple mesh bag that you can almost see through, and it only cost $25.00. I could fit everything in it and then simply unload it into the kayak when I was ready to launch. Having everything in one large duffel bag also helped with packing up everything for quick trips. These mesh bags come in three sizes(M, L, XL) and fold into a small pocket for easy storage once you’re on the water. I own the large model and inside it I can fit all of the items below with room top spare.

• Life Jacket
• Soft sided cooler (which also has storage pockets for bug spray, suntan lotion, and obviously lunch and drinks)
• Fish finder unit
• Lights – stern light, head lamp, and velcro mounted LED that goes under a gunwale
• Fly boxes
• Small lure binder – plastics, jig heads, fish bites, terminal tackle
• Anchors (1.5lb and 10lb) w/ 50′ of line
• Stripping basket
• Drawstring mesh bag
• Spare rope
• Large soft sided cooler for catch
• Pliers
• Berkley Lip Gripper
• Waterproof electronics bag for cell phone and digital camera
• VHF radio
• Rod holders – 2 RAM tubes and a Scotty fly rod holder

What I like about this system is that pretty much everything unpacks from the bag to a specific place on the kayak, and that whatever stays in the bag just gets tucked under the bow skirt. In the words of Ric Burnley, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”

Another benefit of having everything in a simple large duffle bag is that trips to and from the car are kept to a minimum. This translates to less time loading and unpacking, and more time fishing. Weight is also distributed more evenly. Instead of loading and unloading a heavily weighted and rigged kayak from my truck, I unload a 58 lb boat without anything to weigh it down or come loose. The only piece of gear that stays in the kayak at all times is a dry bag stored snugly under the stern skirt that holds a towel, a change of clothes, a small tarp, and a first aid kit.