RE: Jolly Jay fishing boat
I belive you had stated something about making the rod swivel you may also want to rethink that idea. I am a 4th generation shrimper on the gulf coast galveston to be exact. One thing you want to watch out for is the height of the actual "pole" and not allowing it to swivel. If the fish decides to run to the side and that is the direction the pole swivels to instead of off the stern it will surely roll the boat!! Also I would watch the height of the actual poole itself when we let our nets out we do not pull from the top of our rigging, once out we lower the block from the top of the rig to approx 6' from the deck this helps if we need to make a fast turn if we were to make a fast turn with the block at the top of the rig the chances to roll the boat increase significantly! The foam blocks on the riggers will help some but not as much as you think we use what they call "birds" basically a big weight with wings all they are for is to slow the roll of the boat down especially when in the trough they will not fully prevent a rollover. I would def keep the pole as low as possible wile still allowing for some give and would not allow it to swivel remember easyier to roll then to filp lol! Just my opinion!