You may have seen these pictures when I’ve posted them before, but I fish out of a 1556, so I’m kind of in the same position you are as far as length of the boat. You get used to it and figure out what works the best.
I mounted my transport racks in the accessory rail, and I assume your Xpress has the same or similar rail. Just showing another option to keep rods up off of the floor and out of the way. I have spinning reels on my trolling rods and make it work, so if you go with baitcasters it ought to work even better. Hope this helps.