| I am going to be putting the plastic rail mount bases on it, then using the clamp on Down Easters. So I will be able to take off the Down Easters very easily and quickly. These are mostly used for sucker rods as I usually troll for about 9 minutes per season!! LOL
using clamp-ons with rails will be fine for suckers like you plan to do, but aren't very good for trolling.
when trolling any hard-pulling baits, the clamps don't hold tight enough on the round rail and the rod holder can easily rotate, even with rubber inserts, etc., especially when it's cold in the fall. for trolling i'd suggest the rail-mounts.
the rails are nice to have even when not using the rod holders, they really help getting in and out of the boat, and make a good hand-hold for back-seat passengers when running across the lake.
i've found the style used on my Tuffy now to be very secure (bolt through) whereas on my previous Ranger i had to remount the rails due to the screws pulling out of the gunnel; this might be less of an issue with an aluminum boat, and you could see if it's possible to substitute bolts instead of the supplied screws to add extra stability.
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