[paffoh]

Fishfinder - Drink holder / Scupper mount attempt 1

The designed fishfinder mount was created out of need for water temp needs mainly, allowing an outside Hull mounted system that can be removed and included on the kayak before launching, this system has been tailored to my Hobie Outfitter and could easily be modified to fit any other yak on the market with scuppers and drink holders.

( All measurements, images and information is a guestimate for my kayak only )

The unit where the fishfinder head ( This case Pirahna max10 ) is mounted needed to be portable enough while retaining maximum stability, it consists of 2 modular 90mm PVC screw on ends with a small section of 90mm PVC to allow the ends to flush mount into each other... A 90mm PVC screw on cap is used for the top with a 100mm push on lid placed snuggly on top to form a serious bind ( Also used to house remaining transducer cord and 8 x AA 2500ah rechargable battery box, giving me hopefully 5hrs+ ).

The transducer is mounted on some stiff but flexible hose style plastic pipe with a solid bolt covered by a modified scupper plug reversed to protect the hull from the boat, it also manages to snuggly stay attatched inside the scupper hole with remaining transorm cord housed in the PVC coiled enough to provide a perfect but stretch free enviroment... To install simply feed transducer cord ( Coiled up skinny enough to pass
through the scupper hole in a roll effect ) and plastic pipe through from underneath the yak onto the deck and in through the PVC system from the bottom up through and out from the grommet to the head unit, then place in drink holder ( A perfect fit ).

Very neat design and most of the items used were purchased at a Bunnings store ( Except for the fishfinder, that was from Big W ), Battery housing and snap atatchments a long with some gaffa from Dick Smith & the flexible hose style plastic pipe was found at a house scheduled for demolition a few moons ago... My gathering instincts knew it would come in handy one day, even if the garage resembles a dump site.

* Please note :
I havent had the pleasure of testing this setup or the fishfinder on water as yet so photos in the drink holder are not available as yet, let me just get home from work tommorow and get the yak of its rack onto the garage floor so i can get some images from the top side of the instalation... With the weekend bringing a journey Interstate i will
also endevour to go for a paddle on Thursday to evauluate the design and ill grab some more photos then & hopefully a fish located from the sonar.

Fishfinder - Drink holder / Scupper mount attempt 2

After mounting the system right way up i noticed i had an overlap of that pipe about an inch too long, carefull i tried to cut it and took a small chunk out of the transducer cord ( Didnt go right through or appear to sever and type of wiring housed within ), This part remains well out of water so electrical tape should fix the problem. <crosses fingers>

Transducer cord looping was extended to twice its size due to stiffness and packability inside the modular mount, 5 small cable ties hold the cable enough to be twisted and stowed inside housing.

Test commences Thursday afternoon ( Weather permitting ) on LBG, going to use crap batteries to see how long i get on the water in worst case scenario ( Managed 6hrs+ in simulator mode ) and try and filter any disturbance created by the rear mirage drive... shouldnt be too much of a problem at trolling speed.

Fishfinder - Drink holder / Scupper mount attempt 3

Went to test on LBG, water was fluro green and borderline gross but went in anyway, easily set the transducer up and away i went... first use of a FF so was a little sketchy but soon tuned it well enough to get some great signals over 2.7m ( Loads of fish around on the sounder! )

Had a few weird things happen with the sounder when mass patches of weed appeared and some other things caused some disturbances but i can safely say none were caused by the mirage drive, i think the transducer twisted to a different angle a few times ( Due to heavy weed? ) but a twist of the pipe and a small pull up aligned everything well for a solid hour... Didnt fall out or dislodge so attempt 3 managed to work.

Conceptually im pretty happy, even with dodgy AA batteries i got 2hrs and would of got more but i powered down the unit instead of draining all power, will take this into account when i take it out for a run next week, even managed a small Redfin on sounder debut.

 

[Jake]

Paff, thats a very thoughtful setup there mate. I also thought about the transducer in the hole idea, and may be tempted to go back and retry it now I have seen what you have done.
I really dont like shooting through the hull as it is a compromise no matter how you look at it.
Well done, keen to hear the results but I would say the sounder will work just as designed.
Cheers,
Jake

 

[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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[YakAtak]

Hey, you could have used that huge hole just to the front of the one you've used, would have been much easier...

 

[JB]

great set up and some top of the line thought process. Do the mirage drive turblence cause an effect on the transducer pick up or air bubbles??

 

[paffoh]

Just edited original post to include stage 2 of the setup, this should show it a bit clearer with the modular system, all i need to do is to get a 90mm PVC plug with a hole directly on the edge radius to allow cord to slip into a groove and travel under the system, the drink holder leaves a gap of maybe 2mm and allows cord to travel perfectly.

As for interferance from the mirage drive im sure while trolling and the like i will be able to filter through any problem forseen at these speeds, With excessive knots im sure i will lose visibilty, let you know about this as soon as i can... lets hope its all ok otherwise im a broken man.

Looks good on paper but will it work... find out tommorow hopefully.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[aleg75]

Mate, that's looking good!

 

[simond11]

Paff
Great set-up. A lot of thought has gone into it. How do you remove the transducer so it won't hit the ground when you return to base?
This was an issue I was toying with when mounting my transducer on the Prowler. That's why I decided to mount it on the rudder, so that when I brought up the rudder, the transducer would come up as well.
Cheers

Simon
Prowler 15

 

[Jake]

That's why I decided to mount it on the rudder, so that when I brought up the rudder, the transducer would come up as well.

Simon, do you have any pics of that?

 

[paffoh]

Just edited original post to include stage 3 of the setup, On my trip today i unloaded the yak, took it to the shore, turned it on its side, fed the transducer cords and transducer through the scupper and placed yak in water with bow on the shore... when i landed i exited the yak in water of about 30 cms, the only danger i faced at anytime was the yak being blown into shore due to trips to the car packing up.

I should also mention i was solo in the yak with chop on the lake so it bounced around a bit, nothing seemed to effect the transducer, guessing because it is mounted under the yak and always 100% submerged.

Very very happy!

PS - Even managed this small Redfin taken on a slow troll, Pakrat style!

 

[simond11]

This is the link for the Prowler mount

http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4426

Cheers
Simon
Prowler 15

 

[Polar]

Magic setup Paff - the quest has a drink holder albeit in a different position - may have to consult you - also thinking about a gps instead of FF - particularly when going offshore although that sounds like a topic for another thread

 

[paffoh]

Polar,

Feel free mate, ive actually made another unit to house a gps in the front drink holder so the person at the front can interact within trips as much as i seem to be able to do ( They get jelous when they realise they cant steer, pity im the captain of this ship 8) )

Yet to work out a few things including actually purchasing a gps but considering the similar setup ( but with gps its very bare bones ) the only thing i can see as a problem is actually weighing down the modular system as the inside would be totally hollow, maybe i could plug the base with a removable cap and store other navigational / safety aids inside... if the yak was to tip and the system with the gps mounted went overboard the gps would not float, although air pockets within may save it from the deep blue.

Will keep you guys posted!

 

[beardys]

that looks so great, great job man, i am so going to do this with my prowler 13, thanks for the idea!

 

[DGax65]

Absolutely brilliant. That's a nice bit of work.

 

[paddlin4reds]

Mornin';
that's sweet! Nice job!

 

[paffoh]

Just a quick bump due to some questions asked recently,

If I read you right, you placed a 100mm push on cap over the 90mm screw cap ? Did you glue this, or does it fit tight ?
It looks really neat and I assume this is why you did it that way rather than just mounting direct to the 90mm screw cap, or is there another reason ?

It fits tight as, did a test in the hardware store. Not only does it help unscrewing the 90mm screw cap if needed, it widens the mounting area ( Main reason ) and cleans up the look.

Is there enough room in the drink holder recess to also put a 90mm screw cap on the base end ? If so, this would make the whole tube assembly with the battery pack at least water "resistant" against waves / overturning.

No room for 90mm cap on base end, however there are plug type ends that fit inside the pipe used ( Size escapes me at present ), all I did for this was to cut a groove down one side of the plug ( Drill bit width ) to fit the cord neatly down and out. The only problem / drawback is it makes the unit slighty higher and doesent fit as snug as the unit without it. I use the plug all the time now as I have had some water enter the area and cause corrosion and replacemnet of the cheap 4 x AA Battery holder ( So cheap it doesent really matter ).

Finally, I'm not clear what you mean re "solid bolt" on your transducer assembly. Can you expand on this please mate.
And am I correct that the transducer is held against the hull purely with the modified scupper plug, or is the bolt involved ?

The fishfinder comes with a mount and mounting points for use on a boats transom. It has a bolt that is used for mounting the transducer. The bendy pipe used was scavenged from a construction site but is basically grey water hose, I just drilled through the hose at approximate bolt hieght and mounted the transducer with the bolt onto the end. The modified scupper plug is the only thing that keeps it in place, the length of the coiled transducer cable and bendy pipe also keep the unit in a tightish position...

It has never fallen out and holds tight, like a cork in a bottle.

Hope this helps, make sure when u remove or add the transducer through the scuppers that the transducers cord does not go under water. My unit failed after I got lazy ( Around 6 months of adding the fishfinder daily ) and had to be replaced. It was a 1 in 1000 type situation that should have been avoided, but I became sloppy. The unit was returend under warranty, they couldnt find a fault so just flashed some new firmware and worked like a charm.

 

[Redfin60]

Thanks for the updates Paffoh great setup and pic's. Really takes the guess work out of setting up and getting it right for us newbies and future yak owners.