mounting transducer
 

i have a revolution 13 with a hummingbird 898 si . to run the unit i needed a 18 amp battery which i concluded, with my body weight was more weight than the yak could handle . so i switched to what the other guys were using . a lowrance 5 . what is the best way to mount transducer? right now i have it mounted with a soft putty i bought from home depot that remains pliable and does not dry up . i was thinking about mounting doing a wet mount with plastic container . anyone have pictures or suggestions. in the past i have done a wet mount mount with this putty which is pretty good because everything is temporary . thanks for any help . also i will sell the 898 for any reasonable offer .

In the innovations thread there is a pretty good write up on how to do a wetound using abs.

I did a wet mount thru the rear scupper on a custom bracket on my revo, i will post some pics when i get off the freeway!

Get a flush mount transducer. The look great and on paper should work better.

here you go.
Attachment 9697

Attachment 9698

Attachment 9699

Attachment 9700

Attachment 9701

more to follow still downloading to my tablet from the cloud

last 2
Attachment 9702

Attachment 9703

It works great,I just have to be mind full of when I slide the hull along the bed extender to load and unload.

How brave are ya?????

http://www.kayaksportfishing.com/php...pic.php?t=8407

Still dry almost 4 years later.

excellent bus
 

lowrance actually sells the bracket that you made . the only negative is i need the scupper for hobie tank . so this idea is not what i want . i did do a similar mount with the hummingbird transducer . i used the forward seat drain scupper . if i took a wave on the launch i would not drain out as fast which was not good . thanks for suggestions .

what i was looking for was
 

using one of those plastic snap together lunch boxes . cut out bottom section and glue to kayak . mount trans to top of box . put water in box and snap top on . anyone have pictures of this ?

The humminbird mount I used to have on my trident almost sunk my yak first time launching with it. Didn't let that side of the foot well drain and it all flooded in threw the rod pod. By the time I got past the surf which took longer than normal (probably due to the water flooding in the yak) I only had a couple inches of air in the hull before it would have gone down. Good concept in the mount but bad design since it plugs the scupper....
All is good now though. Have a x factor with a thru hull flush mount transducer

The hobie
 

Has two small scupper holes to drain the seat area. Negating one of them by plugging it up with wire is not a great idea. You're experience sounds pretty hairy.

Put a spacer between the nut and the kayak. This lets the scupper do what it is supposed to do. I cut the corner of a heavy duty plastic hanger so there is a lot of contact between the the hanger corner and the nut for the transducer mount. It drains slower but doesn't swamp in the surf.

I looked at the lowerance but didnt like the plastic rod and the donut in the scupper to keep it aligined.Mine drains 100 times better then the lowerance as I didnt use a "dount" inside the scupper like the lowrance does. The bracket I made has a angle in it that maintains the alignment. I have been using a hobie live well and doing surf launches for about 2 months now no issues with it to date.

Why change the mount that you have? It works great and won't move? You'll get correct readings and you're good to go. I personally love the Electrical Putty install the best. I just purchased a DI/SI system and so I need to put the transducer in the water or I would keep using the putty installation.

using the putty
 

will not degrade the signal much if at all ? that is my only concern . one other good method which might be better is using the putty to build a well around the transducer and putting water inside the well . have you figured out how you are going to mount the s/i transducer in the water ?

DUCT SEAL, its cheaper than a sabiki. Look under the share your innovations tab and you will see various versions of ducer mounts. Mine is the Tarpon 120 (mango) with the duct seal bowl mount as you suggested. Apparently the shaped bowl with water in it is not necessary. It was explained to me once but I forgot..... Good luck.



J

bowl with water is not necessary ?
 

just leave it the way it is, dry mounted with duct seal?

I ran a goop install for 9 months.

A water well in the hull for almost two years.

A putty in the hull for for over6 months.




Same kayak and FF. The only variable was the install of the ducer.



Based my observation of all three intallations with fairly controlled variables over a period of three years I conclude that the water mount is superior in performance to the other two.

My thoughts on the transducer, although this topic has been covered pretty extensively.

The best possible location for a transducer is in the water. That will give you the best readings.

If you can't do that, you will want it to shoot through the least amount of material as possible.

Transducers will not shoot through air. Any material that has bubbles in it, or has the chance of a bubble getting under it will degrade the signal to some extent. How much it degrades the signal is up for debate. IMO we make a bigger deal of it than it really is. Prior to my current install, I used Marine Goop on several kayaks. Every Gooped transducer I would pull up to transfer to another kayak, had little tiny bubbles. I also got great readings from those transducers, dispite all the bubbles. I was able to see small jig heads and track them to the bottom in 100 feet. I wasn't exactly using the best fishfinders on the market either.

If directly in the water isn't an option, I think you will have good results with whatever method you use (wet mount, goop, putty) unless you have a very large air bubble under the 'ducer.

I get good results in my current install, but if someone doesn't want to cut a big hole, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Goop install done properly, because I've seen how well it works.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...light=portable

sensible and portable

Steve nailed it pretty good
I have a "gooped" install in my tandem, been in there for 7 years, no problems so far.
I have it thru the scupper in my Trident 15, yes it makes the water drain slower for sure. I drilled the retaining nut and put better gaskets and straps on the rod pod to deal with big surf issues. Great way to go.

On my PA I went with the simple version of a wet mount.
I love it, the image is as good as in the water. I have dropped the transducer over the side to check.

The main benefit of this install is that the cables never come off of the back of the head unit.
Battery goes in a dry bag right next to the transducer, cables are run under the PA hatch. Piece of cake and never exposes those cable or head connections to water.

I made this out of some dense packing foam, and gooped it down, only takes a sponge full of water to get a great signal:
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...ac/wetwell.jpg

running the unit out of box
 

with the default settings i am getting good signal . i can see jig underneath , but i was looking at a lot of surface clutter or junk in water column . is that normal ? plankton ? or is this due to the putty ? the arm has some very distinctive advantages . i ran the mad frog which probably is not as nice as the ram mount . using it with the 898 si transducer created way to much drag so i dumped it along with the 898 . 898 draws to much power to run 12 hrs. might not be an issue with a pro angler . :D . to much weight on my revo with me and a 12 pack.

I built a temporary setup similar to what Andy is using until I can buy the Pelican box and the Ram mount setup. It works, it's not pretty right now, but it will work until I get the other setup.

You don't need water around it at all. I have used the Duct seal install on 5 different FF and it's worked perfectly on each one. I even dropped my Kayak off the top of my SUV 2 times and the ducer never moved, wasn't too good to do to the kayak or Ducer, but they both lived.

Do you have your FF on max mode or clear mode? Max mode you will pick up more and it will look cluttered, set it on clear mode and you'll get better readings.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...3/100_0265.jpg

Installed with Electrical Putty, surface clutter, but noting bad anywhere else. Again, if I wasn't using an si type FF I would always use the Putty installation.
It's clean, easy, and very cost effective.

Clear, easy and cost effective......these may not be the criteria some anglers are looking for.


I bet that there is at least one guy out there that wants .........great performance.


:D

I see your point, but I've never had one Fish Finder not show correct readings. I tested it with a guy who had his transducer in the water and mine in the hull, and the readings were exactly the same, including temp. Don't knock it until you've tried it.