Help Needed: Setting up fish finder

Jake Watrous · Mar 16, 2023

I am fairly handy with wood and building things by hand, but am really inept when it comes to electronics. I suck at researching them, learning from YouTube, installing, and setting them up.

I am almost finished building a cedar strip canoe, and want to purchase and install a sonar/fish finder thing that is removable and won't put holes in my boat. Budget is sub $400.

Is anyone willing to offer advice/assistance setting it up? I live a little north of Seattle and would be happy to buy you lunch/dinner/beverages or what not in exchange for your hands-on expertise.

Scottcat · Mar 16, 2023

Jake said:
I am fairly handy with wood and building things by hand, but am really inept when it comes to electronics. I suck at researching them, learning from YouTube, installing, and setting them up.

I am almost finished building a cedar strip canoe, and want to purchase and install a sonar/fish finder thing that is removable and won't put holes in my boat. Budget is sub $400.

Is anyone willing to offer advice for setup and assistance setting it up? I live a little north of Seattle and would be happy to buy you lunch/dinner/beverages or what not in exchange for your hands-on expertise.

I can't offer much more than encouragement and white to white, black to black but I'd like to take a peak at your build someday. Personally I looked at the garmin portables and I know there are some clamp on hinged transducer arms that should work for you. Great looking project!

Jake Watrous · Mar 16, 2023

Scottcat said:
I can't offer much more than encouragement and white to white, black to black but I'd like to take a peak at your build someday. Personally I looked at the garmin portables and I know there are some clamp on hinged transducer arms that should work for you. Great looking project!

Thank you. Electronics have always been magic boxes to me—even when I was a professional photographer using a dslr and laptop every day.

The transducer is the sonar bit, yes?

iveofione · Mar 16, 2023

Jake, I built a removable fish finder/transducer/battery mount for my new pram that required no hole drilling and just snaps on to the gunnel. With the new ultra light lithium batteries it would be even easier for you with a net cost of under $250. As a woodworker you will have little trouble building one. PM me if you are interested and I'll send some pics.
Ive

Jake Watrous · Mar 16, 2023

iveofione said:
Jake, I built a removable fish finder/transducer/battery mount for my new pram that required no hole drilling and just snaps on to the gunnel. With the new ultra light lithium batteries it would be even easier for you with a net cost of under $250. As a woodworker you will have little trouble building one. PM me if you are interested and I'll send some pics.
Ive

Pm sent, thanks.

Kilchis · Mar 16, 2023

Look at the Garmin Striker 4 Portable Kit. I believe the transducer attaches with a suction cup. Everything else is self-contained in a carrying case.

Jake Watrous · Mar 16, 2023

Kilchis said:
Look at the Garmin Striker 4 Portable Kit. I believe the transducer attaches with a suction cup. Everything else is self-contained in a carrying case.

Would this (not to scale) work ok for the transducer? Not sure I trust a suction cup. It would clamp the gunwales and the screen could mount on top of it. Could be as long as the transducer needs.

Jake Watrous · Mar 16, 2023

Scottcat said:
I can't offer much more than encouragement and white to white, black to black but I'd like to take a peak at your build someday. Personally I looked at the garmin portables and I know there are some clamp on hinged transducer arms that should work for you. Great looking project!

Thank you

RCF · Mar 17, 2023

@Jake - you are building a beautiful vessel - something many of us could ever even envision owning. Your wood working skills are phenomenal. To add a fish finder is what be considered an accessory - not a part of your build. @iveofione 's idea is right on. Look at his design and your vessel and ask how to make it look right. Figure out how much below the surface is needed , how to craft a piece of wood to follow the vessel contours, and how to attach to the gunnel without penetrating your vessel the vessel is your challenge.

Eastside · Mar 17, 2023

I use this transducer arm on my frameless pontoon and strapped on my float tube. You can find it on Amazon. I mount mine with a glue on pad for my frameless pontoon and strap it to my float tube. A Scotty fish finder mount fits into the adaptor and my Garmin mounts on that. I imagine you could find a way to clamp the track at the base of the transducer arm onto your boat without doing a permanent mount.

Scotty #141 Kayak/SUP Transducer Arm Mount With Gear-Head Adapter

Jake Watrous · Mar 17, 2023

RCF said:
@Jake - you are building a beautiful vessel - something many of us could ever even envision owning. Your wood working skills are phenomenal. To add a fish finder is what be considered an accessory - not a part of your build. @iveofione 's idea is right on. Look at his design and your vessel and ask how to make it look right. Figure out how much below the surface is needed , how to craft a piece of wood to follow the vessel contours, and how to attach to the gunnel without penetrating your vessel the vessel is your challenge.

Agreed, and thank you for the kind words. Every other boat I’ve ever had or been on has had the whole hole in the hull thing for the wires to pass through, and screw holes from mounting—trying to avoid that.

Jake Watrous · Mar 17, 2023

Eastside said:
I use this transducer arm on my frameless pontoon and strapped on my float tube. You can find it on Amazon. I mount mine with a glue on pad for my frameless pontoon and strap it to my float tube. A Scotty fish finder mount fits into the adaptor and my Garmin mounts on that. I imagine you could find a way to clamp the track at the base of the transducer arm onto your boat without doing a permanent mount.

Scotty #141 Kayak/SUP Transducer Arm Mount With Gear-Head Adapter

Thank you.

Billy · Mar 17, 2023

Jake I would go with the Striker 4 and not think twice. It's just an excellent starter fish finder. I was amazed when I first fired mine up. Might help to post some pictures of where you are thinking of mounting it. Also a picture of the back of the boat. If you can run the transducer off the back that might be ideal for a good reading and you can mount it to a plate or pad to not damage the hull. Then you can discretely run the cable up to where you mount the fish finder itself and battery.

iveofione · Mar 17, 2023

Jake said:
Would this (not to scale) work ok for the transducer? Not sure I trust a suction cup. It would clamp the gunwales and the screen could mount on top of it. Could be as long as the transducer needs.

View attachment 58090

I think you have this figured out just fine! Just do the woodwork to match the contours of the boat and make the whole assembly easy to remove. For power I recommend the Nocqua battery pack at $90. It is tiny and weighs only 12 ounces but last for days and comes with it's own charger. The Striker 4 is the depth finder of choice for it's small footprint and exceptional capability. A first class setup should cost well under $250.

Jake Watrous · Mar 17, 2023

iveofione said:
I think you have this figured out just fine! Just do the woodwork to match the contours of the boat and make the whole assembly easy to remove. For power I recommend the Nocqua battery pack at $90. It is tiny and weighs only 12 ounces but last for days and comes with it's own charger. The Striker 4 is the depth finder of choice for it's small footprint and exceptional capability. A first class setup should cost well under $250.

Thank you. The advice about the battery is greatly appreciated. I was hoping to not have to buy, carry, and figure out how to wire it to a car battery or somesuch. Regarding the Garmin Striker, there are three different varieties--two with mapping. I want mapping and GPS, so am looking at the Striker 4 Plus or the Striker Vivid 4cv but my eyes are starting to cross when reading the specs and differences. Is ClearVu worth $20?

Garmin STRIKER™ Vivid 4cv | GPS Fishfinder

STRIKER™ Vivid 4cv is a gps fishfinder with transducer on a 4 inch display.

www.garmin.com

Garmin STRIKER™ Plus 4 | GPS Fishfinder w/ CHIRP

The STRIKER™ Plus 4cv is a GPS fishfinder with a 4.3” display with features including a dual-beam transducer with Garmin CHIRP traditional sonar plus CHIRP ClearVü scanning sonar.

www.garmin.com

Jake Watrous · Mar 17, 2023

Billy said:
Jake I would go with the Striker 4 and not think twice. It's just an excellent starter fish finder. I was amazed when I first fired mine up. Might help to post some pictures of where you are thinking of mounting it. Also a picture of the back of the boat. If you can run the transducer off the back that might be ideal for a good reading and you can mount it to a plate or pad to not damage the hull. Then you can discretely run the cable up to where you mount the fish finder itself and battery.

Thank you for the vote on the Striker 4, and also the suggestion about where to mount it.

Billy · Mar 17, 2023

Jake said:
Thank you. The advice about the battery is greatly appreciated. I was hoping to not have to buy, carry, and figure out how to wire it to a car battery or somesuch. Regarding the Garmin Striker, there are three different varieties--two with mapping. I want mapping and GPS, so am looking at the Striker 4 Plus or the Striker Vivid 4cv but my eyes are starting to cross when reading the specs and differences. Is ClearVu worth $20?

Garmin STRIKER™ Vivid 4cv | GPS Fishfinder

STRIKER™ Vivid 4cv is a gps fishfinder with transducer on a 4 inch display.

www.garmin.com

Garmin STRIKER™ Plus 4 | GPS Fishfinder w/ CHIRP

The STRIKER™ Plus 4cv is a GPS fishfinder with a 4.3” display with features including a dual-beam transducer with Garmin CHIRP traditional sonar plus CHIRP ClearVü scanning sonar.

www.garmin.com

I'm not Ive of course but I feel most will probably say no so I want to offer my opinion which is yes on the upgrade so you can compare opinions. The GT20 transducer is a really good transducer and for me the upgrade for minimal cost is WORTH IT. And I'm just using it on a float tube not a boat. You will get really good readings from a solid platform. The clear vu gives you a different look then traditional arches. The fish look like ovals. On top of that you get GPS and ability to mark way points. Again I vote go for the upgrade.

I will try to do an article about all this with pictures to help. Just need to survive my work week and get on the water!

Jake Watrous · Mar 17, 2023

Billy said:
I'm not Ive of course but I feel most will probably say no so I want to offer my opinion which is yes on the upgrade so you can compare opinions. The GT20 transducer is a really good transducer and for me the upgrade for minimal cost is WORTH IT. And I'm just using it on a float tube not a boat. You will get really good readings from a solid platform. The clear vu gives you a different look then traditional arches. The fish look like ovals. On top of that you get GPS and ability to mark way points. Again I vote go for the upgrade.

I will try to do an article about all this with pictures to help. Just need to survive my work week and get on the water!

Thank you for the advice and clarification

Fourbtgait · Mar 17, 2023

Eastside said:
I use this transducer arm on my frameless pontoon and strapped on my float tube. You can find it on Amazon. I mount mine with a glue on pad for my frameless pontoon and strap it to my float tube. A Scotty fish finder mount fits into the adaptor and my Garmin mounts on that. I imagine you could find a way to clamp the track at the base of the transducer arm onto your boat without doing a permanent mount.

Scotty #141 Kayak/SUP Transducer Arm Mount With Gear-Head Adapter
View attachment 58112

I used that arm on a kayak , pram and now with an extension arm, outcast clearwater. Garmin stryker portable.

Eastside · Mar 17, 2023

Billy said:
Jake I would go with the Striker 4 and not think twice. It's just an excellent starter fish finder. I was amazed when I first fired mine up. Might help to post some pictures of where you are thinking of mounting it. Also a picture of the back of the boat. If you can run the transducer off the back that might be ideal for a good reading and you can mount it to a plate or pad to not damage the hull. Then you can discretely run the cable up to where you mount the fish finder itself and battery.

This is the one that I have. Agree with Billy’s comments bout mounting.