Share Your Innovations

[Jimmyz123]

I'm loving all these ideas. So far they have saved me a lot of money. I am making my own leashes for rods, paddle, and anything else that needs to be lashed to the Yak.

[sandydiego]

Has anyone tried putting grease in the wet mount like they have for the hummingbird 385 kayak setup?

[Jimmyz123]

not yet, but it makes sense

[dsafety]

I have never played with the grease. I would have two concerns. Does the grease transmit as well as water? More importantly, does the grease flow when it gets warm?

I store my kayak upside down so if the well were partially filled with grease and flowed to the lid while in storage there could be some issues when the yak is flipped over if all the grease is stuck to the lid of the well.

I suppose you could completely fill the well with grease but why do that if water works?

Bob

[dtownfan]

never used grease.....i vote water. i made a version of bob's wet mount and love it. it has worked very well and you never will have to worry about the mess you could have. i have the 2010 570 hummingbird. i have been out on 3 full day trips and love my readings.

water = no bubbles......grease i am not sure about.

plus++++++ water is free!

[fongman]

The wellnuts/screws on a Hobie Adventure can easily be used as mounting points. I used the ones near the front hatch to fasten a polycarbonate shelf for my fishfinder base. When I changed from a Humminbird to Garmin, no big deal; I just drilled new holes. Polycarbonate is very strong and will not crack like acrylic.


I made aluminum mounting plates for the ones behind the seat. These are used to support the pvc rodholder I made. The plate provides front-to-back stability while the V construction provides side-to-side stability. Other features that I like of this rodholders design is that they are angled at about 45 degrees, they have a low center of gravity, the mass is kept close to the centerline of the kayak, and the rods are within easy reach.

In addition, they point slightly forward or back, depending upon which direction they are mounted. When pointed forward, the tips of the rods can be seen without much effort.


I also built some extension tubes for the builtin rodholders. I use these for my bass rods. Electrician tape wrapped over one layer of corktape on 1 1/4" pvc creates a snug fit. Instead of using lanyards to secure the rods, the bungies are looped over the reel handles.

[dsafety]

Very cool Fongman. I really like the bungee loops on the rod holders. I will be adding them to all of my rod holders. What a great idea.

Can you post a photo that details that design? What did you use to attach the bungee cord together to make the loop?

Bob

[TheNewGuy81]

My vote goes to Jim....

[newguy01]

my plan is bait tank/ rod holder, rod holder and the pipe transducer mount. i have found a scrap 13 inch drain pipe about 12in long when they were doing the sewage repair at my work, that i will be using as a bait tank with built in rod holder and make a contraption rod holder that will use the existing molded rod hoder on my recently bought revo. the bait tank will be kinda like the hobie bait tank, i am thinking may be 5-6 rod holder n built in batery holder too. and i thank everyone here for the great ideas and insparation. right now i am gathering the material i might take me a week to finish the project due a little 1yr todler running around that touches everithing she see .

[JPBeck]

I don't know if this qualifies--
I got rid of my Jeep and got a new truck, my Yakimal towers wouldn't fit, nor did I want to spend another $500 bucks on Yakimal's truck bed tower system.
Soooooo I bought a $150 dollar ladder rack.

But..
I didn't want to drill holes in my truck.
So I welded two pieces of pipe onto the side of each bracket-- and got some "J" bolts. The "J" bolts run through the pipe and down along side the truck's rail-- the J part hooks under the rail and then I crank a bolt down to tighten the brackets down. The bar at the top of the rack puts more pressure against the brackets (horizontally) at the bottom.

They aren't going anywhere. To top it off takes me about 10 minutes to remove the whole thing!

Then I just installed my old Yakimal Hullyrollers and Mako Kayak saddles via stainless steel hose clamps.

So for a total of about $200 bucks I got a nice solid kayak rack.









The yellow yak is my wife's Navigator the white yak is my Fish'n'Dive

Haven't figured out how to transport my son's Cobra Explorer... any Ideas?

[Jimmyz123]

Originally Posted by fongman

The wellnuts/screws on a Hobie Adventure can easily be used as mounting points. I used the ones near the front hatch to fasten a polycarbonate shelf for my fishfinder base. When I changed from a Humminbird to Garmin, no big deal; I just drilled new holes. Polycarbonate is very strong and will not crack like acrylic.


I made aluminum mounting plates for the ones behind the seat. These are used to support the pvc rodholder I made. The plate provides front-to-back stability while the V construction provides side-to-side stability. Other features that I like of this rodholders design is that they are angled at about 45 degrees, they have a low center of gravity, the mass is kept close to the centerline of the kayak, and the rods are within easy reach.

In addition, they point slightly forward or back, depending upon which direction they are mounted. When pointed forward, the tips of the rods can be seen without much effort.


I also built some extension tubes for the builtin rodholders. I use these for my bass rods. Electrician tape wrapped over one layer of corktape on 1 1/4" pvc creates a snug fit. Instead of using lanyards to secure the rods, the bungies are looped over the reel handles.

I know exactly what I am going to do on my Yak now instead of installing the Ram Mount Rod holders. I'll post up photos of my creation when I am done.

[jorluivil]

I had trouble reaching the unit the old way and usually didn't need to but now that I have a GPS I'll need to be able to get the the buttons more often to mark waypoints. The RAM moved the entire unit roughly 8" - 9", should also make it easier on my back.


OLD FART





NEW FART

[Kailolo]

H-Bird's Answer to What Type of Grease for Transducer Grease Mount

---

In additon to Humminbird's video for installation of their Kayk Kir using a grease mount you can go to http://www.yakhawaii.com/index.php?o...ging&Itemid=62 for another video.

But for DIY, according to that link, H-bird support stated that "marine grease" or "axle grease" could be used. Has to resist heat (and preferably is not stinky!). The viscosity of the grease will help hold the transducer in place as will a very snug foam cutout if you DIY.

I plan to make my own foam holder with a grease mount as soon as I recieve my new H-bird FF.

Maybe someone can post a "brand" of grease that has worked well.

I was told by H-bird that the only difference between a transom mount transducer (which is often stock with a FF package) and an in-hull mount transducer when mounted in-hull is that the transom mount tranducer may not read temperatures well. Maybe that is because of the location of the temp sensor inside the puck is different than inside the transom mount transducer?

[ChristLike]

Four holders on the front 4 on the back ram rods on each side easy access. up and down stairs storage. Cooler fits on top
Sturdy enough to stand up with. Can put bait tank and trolling motor. No more stuff in the way. It will fit the out back
surf lauching not advised haha

[addicted2sp33d]

Originally Posted by ChristLike

Four holders on the front 4 on the back ram rods on each side easy access. up and down stairs storage.
Sturdy enough to stand up with. Can put bait tank and trolling motor. No more stuff in the way. It will fit the out back
surf lauching not advised haha

[Hunters Pa]

Originally Posted by ChristLike

Four holders on the front 4 on the back ram rods on each side easy access. up and down stairs storage.
Sturdy enough to stand up with. Can put bait tank and trolling motor. No more stuff in the way. It will fit the out back
surf lauching not advised haha

Looks very well thought out. One question - what do you do when a bigger fish makes a run aft?