Need advice on installing FF to tandem kayak?

[YakDout]

And for the first couple questions,

To get full functionality of your hdi transducer, it should be in the water. Ive seen guys use sprinkler parts to go through a scupper hole and recess the puck flush with the bottom of the hull. Some kayaks are easier than others depending on shape. If I had a choice of mounts for the FF I would go with the short gear track rail and ram ball on gunwale. It will look cleaner and be out of your way.

If you do a search on here, some things should come up for the sprinkler rise transducer mounting.

[tacmik]

If you are going to shoot thru the hull. Use plumbers putty to attach the transducer to the hull. Extremely easy to use, can be pulled off and repositioned in about 30 seconds with no problem.

[ronbo613]

Most fishfinder manufacturers have transducers capable of shooting through a kayak hull, but often they are not the transducers that come with the unit. Low end Lowrance transducers are not able to shoot through the hull. Check before you decide how to mount the transducer. Having the transducer sticking out the bottom of the kayak is not a good way to mount it IMO.

[Dave Legacy]

Originally Posted by ronbo613

Most fishfinder manufacturers have transducers capable of shooting through a kayak hull, but often they are not the transducers that come with the unit. Low end Lowrance transducers are not able to shoot through the hull. Check before you decide how to mount the transducer. Having the transducer sticking out the bottom of the kayak is not a good way to mount it IMO.

This is good to know. I'm not positive that it can be trusted, but the users manual that came my FF states it can shoot-thru. The Mark-4 HDI is a low-end Lowrance, but it's in the same family as the Elite-4 and I think I have heard of others doing shoot-thru transducer mounting with the Elite-4.

I could hypothetically use a ram ball wedge mount in the flush mount rod holder behind the front seat and use a transducer arm. I'm also interested in the magnetic transducer mounts which seem pretty cool. I wouldn't be opposed to using the scupper mount adapter (or sprinkler plumbing mod) so long as it's not a loading/unloading risk.

I'm learning a bunch from this thread, guys. Keep the knowledge coming!

[Dave Legacy]

Originally Posted by YakDout

If I had a choice of mounts for the FF I would go with the short gear track rail and ram ball on gunwale. It will look cleaner and be out of your way.

Unfortunately my gunwales are rounded. I wanted to maybe mount to a ram ball adapter for my flush mount rod holder, but I think it would be in my paddle stroke when using the kayak solo. I might experiment with it anyway.

[MITCHELL]

Pvc transducer bracket mounted with hose clamps on a Cobra fish & dive kayak mold stems ....glues and duck putty can pop loose over a period of time loading and unloading or dropping your kayak .
You can also get 3ins bolts and make a hanger bracket i made for a Malibu 2 kayak mounted from under side of hatch.I used mounting hardware that came with transducer.the transducer is mounted under my seat and free of drebis all of my fish storage is in front