[fisher]

After bugging several site members about various sounders and installation methods and ideas I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Garmin FF140 sounder to go on my Prowler 15. The 140 replaces the 120 version, and I think the only difference is the 140 has a dual beam. I managed to get the sounder from a local dealer who price matched the best price I could find on the net.
I was a bit uncertain of the preferred location for the sounder as the most obvious spot was already taken by a berkley rod holder, and I didn't really want to move that - and being extremely reluctant to drill more holes in the yak I thought I would attempt a temporary installation, with a view that if it worked well I could install it permanently later. I basically 'borrowed' the idea from the ocean kayak web site in NZ where they use a similar system for their Elite

 

[fisher]

So then I had to figure out the best way to place the transducer and hide cables etc.. As the forward hatch system on a Prowler tends to leak, some time ago I attached some rubber tubing to the inside of the hatch cover, which made the hatch sit 'proud' but formed an effective water barrier. I decided to feed the cables through the rubber seal, put a torch inside and then closed the hatch - I couldn't see any light so am reasonably confident that there is a useful water seal - certainly not worse than what normally comes with this model. The cables are also attached to the pre-existing rod holder base to add some strength, and then I placed some irrigation tube over the cable to provide some level of protection from hooks etc..

Now I need to work on a decent battery setup, and am in two minds as to what I should do. But I did go to a commercial battery retailer for advice, and they said to 'use a car battery' - err, no thanks - so much for getting professional advice!

But to date, everything fits snug and secure, and have not had to drill any more holes in the yak. As mentioned, this might change once I've used the sounder a bit, but for a temporary setup I'm reasonably satisifed with the outcome to date. Now to the battery!

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[simond11]

Hi Fisher
Great setup. I too have a Prowler and did not want to start drilling holes in it unnecessarily. Another option you may consider is where you have the tackle box strapped down, in front of the sounder, you can place the battery inside one of those plastic food containers (waterproof) and place it there instead of the tackle box. So you would have the battery and the sounder close together, and then just the transducer inside the hull. Having said that, I still would like to see the transducer outside of the kayak. This way when you finish fishing, the whole assembly can be removed, washed, cleaned and put away. I know a lot has been said about this method, but I still think it can work.
Great setup, though.
Cheers

Simon
Prowler 15

 

[Russ]

Howdy Fisher

Mate Cid has a great battery set up on his Kayak fishing Sydney site which shows a pack of 8 rechargable batteries, I used it on my old Cuda 168 and it worked a treat. You can get it set up so it connects to a phone recharger set up. for memory you got about 7 hours out of each charge. Worked great for me :roll: once

:lol: :lol: :lol: :wink:

fishing Russ

 

[kayak_fish]

Russ,
Very interested in the multiple battery set up. How can you fix it so it recharges with a phone charger? Sounds like a cracker of a set up.

 

[fisher]

I decided to go the light weight AA battery set up - found an old plastic fruit jar, stuffed some pool noodle offcuts around the battery holder and then just jammed the jar between the foot well and bottom of yak - whole set up seemed to work a treat. The whole lot is both soft and light, so even if it does dislodge from its resting spot it is not going to do any damage to anything.
I managed to give it an 'on water' try on the weekend, and apart from some unexplained clutter on the screen which I cleared by turning the unit off and then on again (had to do this several times) I was pretty happy with its performance - I even managed to determine what a school of bait fish looks like on the screen. So far so good!