I bought a like new 15 Caracal at the end of October. The boat is awesome and I am thrilled with it on all fronts with one exception. A big surprise for me was the center rid box. It is supposed to hold 15 rods. Mine will hold only 10 as the open space below the rod tubes only allows another 24 inches max before hitting the solid front retainer for the rod tubes. On mine there is no clearance beneath the rod tube retainer up front. See picture. I have no rods shorter than 66″ but cannot even get a 6er in the bottom row. Ive talked to 3 other caracal owners and 1 other guy has same situation. BCB, what are my options? I really need this box to hold 15 rods. Like I said, really a surprise as I never even thought to look under those tubes. I suppose I could remove the rod tubes entirely which I dont want to do. Is it possible the wrong front rod tube retainer used in the build process? Possibly I could remove the front retainer and cut 3/4″ off of the bottom with a jig saw to give a slot for the rod tips? It seems like reaching the front retainer to unscrew also might be a challenge? If it matters, my boat was manufactured in May 2015. Last edited by TAKFishing on December 20th, 2015, 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
