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Sounder for the Kayak

Jords

By Jords
in Boating

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Jords Newbie

Jords

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Looking at putting a sounder in on the yak. Only want to spend $150-200, not including the battery. At the moment there is a Humminbird Piranhamax 190CX - Fish Finder, Colour on sale at BCF for @199, which is supposedly half price. Wondering if this is alright or would it be too much for the kayak (as far as power requirements etc?), and would I be better buying a baseline unit for ~$100

Cheers

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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Hey mate, I have a Garmin 300c on my yak, powered by a small 12v battery ($50). The battery lasts for ages between charges. I originally thought having a sounder would catch me more fish, however this is not wholly the case. I find it very handy to find depth, allowing me to select the right lure, and also to find snags under the water. Some of my best fish have been pulled from underwater structure found on the sounder. It is also very handy for finding the baitfish. This is the limit of what I have done with it, I still have some learning to do lol. I have my transducer mounted within some watertight foam inside the hull, the gap between sounder and hull filled with water. I have found this to give the most accurate reading for an inside-hull setup. I have also made a mount for the display, elevating it above the footwell, and screwed to the for'd hatch. This allows me to maintain as much leg room as possible. I will put up some pics in a minute, showing how I've done it. It costs under $30, might look slightly rough, but is very effective, saving big $$$ as opposed to having it done professionally.

Hope this helps Jords,

Cheers,

Ryan.

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Jords I have used the Piranhamax 190cx before and they dont use much power. In my boat at the moment i have the Piranhamax 160 Black n white...My 190cx was nicked :angry: I have been running them off a 12v sealed lead acid 7Ah battery....I have had no problems with power...As for the baseline units how much can you afford. I would rather colour sounder any day.

Hope this helps ;)

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Gad Community Regular

Gad

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comes down to what you want,how many features you like/need and how many extra bells and whistles that you actually use on them.

I have a basic Eagle Cuda 300($99 BCF special,Normally about $130-150)all I need it for is depth,water temp(rough estimate as the transducer is internal mounted)and a look at the bottom contours.It has a few bells and whistles that I don`t bother with.

The only problem my Cuda has,is that at the moment it doesn`t get used as much as I would like

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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Here are the pics mate,

This first one are the components I used. All up, they cost $17 or so, the most paid was for the replacement hatch from BCF.

post-5695-144598608809_thumb.jpg

Here it is mounted on the hatch, giving me plenty of foot-room.

post-5695-144598608813_thumb.jpg

This is my answer to a battery box. It is a tupperware container, that fits the battery just fine, I also store wallet etc in there while yakking.

post-5695-144598608817_thumb.jpg

I am sure there are better ways of doing it out there mate, however this is what I came up with on a very tight budget. It works very well, and as yet, I haven't found anything that I really need to improve.

Ryan.

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Jords Newbie

Jords

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Here are the pics mate,

This first one are the components I used. All up, they cost $17 or so, the most paid was for the replacement hatch from BCF.

[attachment=33203]mount_2011-04-24.JPG[/attachment]

Here it is mounted on the hatch, giving me plenty of foot-room.

[attachment=33204]mountfitted.JPG[/attachment]

This is my answer to a battery box. It is a tupperware container, that fits the battery just fine, I also store wallet etc in there while yakking.

[attachment=33205]battery_2011-04-24.JPG[/attachment]

I am sure there are better ways of doing it out there mate, however this is what I came up with on a very tight budget. It works very well, and as yet, I haven't found anything that I really need to improve.

Ryan.

Thanks mate, that helps heaps! Yeah that was my idea of mounting it (sort of), teh theory being that if mum ever gets to use 'her' kayak again she doesn't want all the sounder stuff on there and by buying a second hatch it would be easiest to remove.

Cheers

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Jords Newbie

Jords

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Nah mate mine doesn't, but i suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to put one on. I haven't had time to fit the sounder, transducer or battery (haven't even bought the battery) yet, but have rigged up a bit of a makeshift system to suffice for a trip or two. Basically the transducer is on a pole down a scupper, and I am running it off a 3Ah cordless drill battery. guess I will see how it goes tomorrow morning!

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Nah mate mine doesn't, but i suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to put one on. I haven't had time to fit the sounder, transducer or battery (haven't even bought the battery) yet, but have rigged up a bit of a makeshift system to suffice for a trip or two. Basically the transducer is on a pole down a scupper, and I am running it off a 3Ah cordless drill battery. guess I will see how it goes tomorrow morning!

Jords did you sort your sounder out yet ?

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malram Newbie

malram

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I've got the same sounder fitted to my yak. Worked for all but 3 trips then decided not to switch on. Was lucky enough that my mate decided to get the same sounder for his kayak so I could test his wiring which worked fine on mine so not sure what happened. Connctions seem fine so when I get time to investigate I'll be able to find out what went wrong.

I mounted it between my legs and dry mounted the transducer in the hull so no idea.

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Jords Newbie

Jords

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hi i have a freedohawk 12 kayak and wanted to put on a fish finder, i was looking at the protable lowrance 4x or the humminbird fishin buddy.

wondering if anyone has used either of these and have some advice on them ?

new to kayak fishing and brisbane.

I haven't used either mate. But you might get more hits if you start a new topic specifying exactly what you need/ Good luck mate :cheer:

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