Rigging a Native Ultimate 12 is a subtle affair. At first I was intimidated with all of the open space, the lack of below deck storage, and the absence of a console or deck. But that’s the point! If I had wanted a SOT, I should’ve bought a SOT. I wanted to keep the design clean, but still have all of the storage and functionality that I was used to from a SOT. So I knew that the best job would be simple, and one that looked like not much was done.

I lived in a studio apartment for a while and one trick to living in a small space is to make each piece of furniture serve multiple purposes. A bed can be seating. A table can be a desk. The same principle holds true in kayak rigging. Because of the minimalist design of the Ultimate, I wanted each add-on to ideally serve more than one purpose. The bow and stern skirts keep water out and also provide storage. The bow skirt also serves as my paddle holder. I tuck a small wooden trout net in the rear skirt netting too sometimes.

Mounting the bow and stern skirts also gives you a good idea of where you should drill to mount things - mainly for the stern rod holders. Up front, I used the existing bungee -cord clip as a starting point to mount a ram electronics mount. My fish finder a Humminbird Matrix 12 is mounted here at a central location – close enough to see but out of the way of my paddle and legs. Beneath the fish finder base I have foam mounted for a quick place to stow jig heads, flies and crankbaits.

I attached two deck loops to the inside screws of the anchor trolley and tied a fanny pack off here. Inside, I put the battery to the fish finder. It is wrapped in bubble wrap and inside a ziplock bag. It’s easy to get to, it’s off the floor, and it remains stationary during loading and unloading. Because it is flush against the floatation foam, there is still ample storage room beneath the bow skirt for other items.

I mounted an anchor trolley on both sides of the boat. There is a 6” doubled section of bungee shock cord on the bow and stern ends. I am planning on replacing the black nylon cord with the reflective kind – sticking with the theme of double duty accessories – the cord for an anchor trolley also serves as a night safety feature.

To organize my anchor line I use a plastic line keeper that I found in a kite store. This has been the best anchor line solution that I’ve seen yet. Plus the guy sold it to me for $1 and you can’t beat that.

Moving back, I mounted a Scotty flush mount on the right gunwale so I could swap out a fly rod holder or a spinning rod older, depending on what kind of fishing I’m doing. Underneath the left gunwale, I put some industrial Velcro to mount a small fluorescent light I got in a hardware store for night fishing. Safety lights are one thing, but ambient lights for tying knots or picking flies are nice too. On either side of the seat is a standard cleat.

I have to say the initially, the one thing I missed from my Tarpon 140 was the tankwell for a milk crate. A milk crate is really just a big junk-drawer full of loose odds and ends and I found that without it, I was making way too many trips to and from the car. I found a crate about half as tall as a standard milk crate – I think it might’ve been from my dad’s shotgun shell reloading days – that fits underneath the rear crossbar perfectly. I mounted the standard rod holders to it and glued some rug gripper to the bottom so it grips the floor of the boat. I can pull it out like a drawer if I need to get something while I’m on the water, but mostly I just needed it as a catch all for loose stuff.

I mounted 2 RAM tubes as rod holders behind my seat. After breaking a nice fly rod jammed in a fixed vertical mount I opted for easily adjustable rod holders like the RAM tubes. These also serve the dual purpose of acting as outrigger mounts. Now all I have to do is make the outriggers themselves out of some pvc and lobster buoys.

The fish finder transducer is mounted in the stern underneath the stern skirt. I have a dry bag filled with safety items that I leave back there that serves as a rough cover to the lexel perm mount.

I might’ve gone a little overboard with my “dual uses” mentality of rigging my Ultimate, but if anything it really made me think before I bought, drilled, or added something I might not really need. After the initial kayak purchase, it’s very easy to get lost in rigging possibilities; this approach at least helped my prioritize what was needed and what was just wanted.