So Ive been meaning to share this for awhile, for others who might be thinking about Power Poles and a Sabre FTD. Im just now finally getting around to sharing pics…been too busy fishing!First off, a huge thanks to everyone who offered advice and information when I was trying to make my decision; it was immensely helpful. And an extra special thanks to xpress spanky who took to time to take measurements off of his rig while I was trying to see if the poles would actually fit in my boat bump-out in my garage.And now, the saga…This spring I decided to bite the bullet and add some shallow water anchoring to my Sabre FTD. I did a ton of research and was initially set on getting one of the new 3 stage 8 Talons. But then, my curiosity was raised by a 3 way Power Pole “price” war between 3 dealers over at BBC. So for kicks, I got prices from the 3 dealers and was surprised by the price comparison between Power Poles and Talons. After a bunch more research, I decided on snagging a pair of Sportsman IIs. It ended up not being a whole lot more to get a pair of the Sportsman IIs than to get a single 8 Talon. I was a little unsure about the hydraulic pumps, but again, after lots of research, it seemed like problems/issues were pretty even between the Power Poles and the Talons. I was all set to order from Hydrilla Gear when I mentioned in passing that I was getting a pair to my local tackle shop. Lo and behold he had recently become a dealer and was able to match the best price that I found.Before the install, I fixed a couple of pumps that werent working (which was a whole other saga) and upgraded to an Interstate 31-xhd, so that I wouldnt have to do anything in the bilge for awhile. The install itself was a bit of a pain in the butt…but only because of my own mistake. About the only complaint I have about my Sabre FTD (which I absolutely loooooooove) is the access to the bilge and the amount of room in the bilge itself. I did not want to mount the pumps in rear storage, I was bound and determined to fit them into the bilge. Unfortunately, with three 31 series batteries and an oil tank, there was nowhere to mount them. My bright idea was to fabricate a mount out of aluminum angle iron that would allow me to mount the pumps to the trolling battery cage. When we began the install, my buddy who was helping me said, “Man, its too bad we cant move that oil tank, then you could screw the pump brackets down and wed be set.” To which I replied, “Yeah, but you cant. The only way to rotate it is outside of the bilge. It should fit, but theres no way to get it turned down in the bilge.” Flash forward 6 hours, multiple failed attempts at fabricating a bracket, 3 trips to the hardware store, and a litany of cursing. Again my friend says, “If we could only move that oil tank. If it measures, theres a way to fit it.” Again I replied, “But we cant. You cant rotate it because of the seat po….” Which is when I realized that I could take the post out, rotate the oil tank, and have plenty of room to mount the pump brackets. Doh! Dope slap!!! After that, it took about 2 hours to mount the pumps, install the brackets, mount the poles, and prime the lines. As a heads up for anyone not wanting to drill into their gel coat, we routed the hydraulic lines through the rigging hose, and cut them to the same exact length. It took a few trips on the water, in order to fully deploy them, to get the lines completely bled, and the C-monster app was crucial in terms of getting them in sync. I tried using the program button on the pumps to sync them, but couldnt get them sorted out. In bleeding the lines, I also learned that my included master power wasnt rated high enough (I tripped the breaker a few times). Apparently, the pumps know when to shut off through electrical resistance, so the rating of the master power switch is pretty important. So I grabbed the 60amp kit that Hydrilla gear sells, and which required building a bracket to mount it to my battery cage (finally all that aluminium angle iron pays off!) I also added the 2 big button footswitches, which are awesome. The fob is fine, but being able to drop the poles while fighting a fish or trying to unsnag a lure makes the footswiches vital to me.And some pics…Pumps mounted in bilge (after rotating oil tank/bracket): Close-up of new master switch and bracket: I didnt want to mount the footswitches to my deck, as I tend to stand about as close to the front of the boat as I can pretty regularly. So I built a small riser so that theyd fit into the trolling motor/electronics recess. The top of the buttons sit just below the height of the deck, so its a bit harder to accidently step on them. I started by making a template out of cardboard to make sure I had the curve right. I ended up building the riser out of cedar since its moisture and rot resistant. I also coated it with Plasti-dip. I was going to use some woodworking jig plastic, but it was a bit too hard to work with. If I had to do it again, I might get a piece of composite decking and spray paint it. I did it two layers because I had some pre-existing screw holes I wanted to use while at the same time hiding the screws under the buttons. So the bottom layer got screwed down, then the top layer was screwed down, and then the buttons attached to that. Layer 1: Layer 2: Final install: Detail: Last edited by somata on June 14th, 2016, 9:47 am, edited 2 times in total.2011 Sabre FTD w/ Mercury 150 Pro XS, Power Pole Sportsman 2s, Humminbird 898 w/ 360 and 858 at bow, 898 at ConsoleFor lots of BCB love, follow me on instagram: @professorbeard
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