Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
Life of the Party
The current aftermarket strap/tube arrangement has entirely too much flex to be useful.
Is there a good way to mount a Fishing Buddy on a pontoon?
- Thread starter Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
- Start date
Try mounting it on pontoon with less air pressure strapped tight, then inflate pontoon completely.
Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
Life of the Party
Thanks for the reply. I think the issue is the amount of flex in the system, not the tightness of the strap. But it’s worth a try.
You might ask Rex if he has a possible solution @Starman77
I saw a posting about a new one he has.
I saw a posting about a new one he has.
Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
Life of the Party
Thanks. I sent him a pm.
If you are handy with tools, you can modify the Humminbird/Fishin' Buddy mount to fit on your frame.
This is on an Outcast Pac800 that is hanging on the wall in our garage. I cut the back half of the mount off and drilled out four holes to fit two stainless steel u-bolts. The picture shows it from the underside. The sounder rides next to my left leg just inside the inflated toon.
This is on an Outcast Pac800 that is hanging on the wall in our garage. I cut the back half of the mount off and drilled out four holes to fit two stainless steel u-bolts. The picture shows it from the underside. The sounder rides next to my left leg just inside the inflated toon.
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This is exactly the approach I take with the Fishin Buddy 120, the Humminbird strap-on mount and my Fish Cat Scout. It's works well for me although I have shortened up the transducer leg on the Fishin Buddy.
It is possible to use the Humminbird hard mount and a Scotty rail mount without any modification to Humminbird mount. The plastic "spokes" inside the Humminbird hard mount mesh with "gear" pattern on the Scotty 412 rod holder post. The Scotty rod holder post fits into any of the Scotty rail mounts. I used this system on an previous framed Fish Cat Streamer XL that I had. It was a very solid and inexpensive mount with no modification required. I think I got the original inspiration from a kayaking site.
Ken
Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
Life of the Party
Thanks! That looks like a really good option.
I had replied privately to @CowlitzBottomfeeder before seeing this thread. Here is what I wrote: This is a photo of one of my older pontoon boats, but you can see where I've mounted the Fishin' Buddy. I use the transom mount that comes with the Fishin' Buddy (but I use the old one which fits better as it is smaller). I have square rails under the seat, so if you have round rails that transom mount won't work. It barely fits under the seat and it is a little awkward to install or remove. The Fishin' Buddy sits low enough that I can row without removing it, but because it is an old holder and doesn't fit the newer Fishin' Buddy exactly, the Fishin' Buddy wobbles around when rowing at moderate to high speed, so I remove it from the holder and store it between my saddle bag and my seat. My method isn't perfect, by any means, but works a lot better than the strap-on holders, both because the straps loosen up, and because the Fishin' Buddy gets in the way of oaring.
If that old transom mount breaks (I've had 2 break on me thus far), and I can't find a replacement, I will probably modify the new transom mount and rig up something else, maybe something clever like what @MELinOre has done. His solution also seems to work on round tubes as well as square ones.
Although I theoretically like idea of shortening up the transducer tube, I'm not yet brave enough to take a saw to that tube.
Rex
Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
Life of the Party
A friend sent me a text and told me that Scotty makes a replacement part. 2 pics below. 
I'd forgotten about the vibration with the longer shaft.
For inquiring minds, the cause of the vibration, or wobble, is caused by a fluid flow phenomena known as Vortex Shedding. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge failure in 1940, less than 4 months after the bridge was open, was at least partially as a result of this phenomena. When I went through Engineering in the 1970s every 1st year engineer was shown the film of the Tacoma Narrows bridge failing! This most commonly affects long, slender, cylindrical objects with air flowing around the object - flag poles and industrial metal smoke stacks are the most commonly affected. The solution is to disrupt the fluid flow - air or water - near the end of the vibrating cylinder and a common solution is by adding helical strakes over the last 1/4 to 1/3 of the cylinder. One of the tasks I was give in my 1st year after graduation was designing and installing strakes on a metal stack in an oil refinery to address a wind vibration issue!
Rex's solution for removing the Fishin Buddy when traveling at higher speeds is the easiest solution. Another solution might be to wrap a rubber coated twist tie in a helical pattern around the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the transducer shaft and hold it in place with a bit of silicone caulk. I shortened the shaft on mine before I have a chance to try out the rubber twist tie idea.
So much to be learned from fly fishing!! Now to open a beer and get back to a more natural engineering "state"!
Ken
For inquiring minds, the cause of the vibration, or wobble, is caused by a fluid flow phenomena known as Vortex Shedding. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge failure in 1940, less than 4 months after the bridge was open, was at least partially as a result of this phenomena. When I went through Engineering in the 1970s every 1st year engineer was shown the film of the Tacoma Narrows bridge failing! This most commonly affects long, slender, cylindrical objects with air flowing around the object - flag poles and industrial metal smoke stacks are the most commonly affected. The solution is to disrupt the fluid flow - air or water - near the end of the vibrating cylinder and a common solution is by adding helical strakes over the last 1/4 to 1/3 of the cylinder. One of the tasks I was give in my 1st year after graduation was designing and installing strakes on a metal stack in an oil refinery to address a wind vibration issue!
Rex's solution for removing the Fishin Buddy when traveling at higher speeds is the easiest solution. Another solution might be to wrap a rubber coated twist tie in a helical pattern around the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the transducer shaft and hold it in place with a bit of silicone caulk. I shortened the shaft on mine before I have a chance to try out the rubber twist tie idea.
So much to be learned from fly fishing!! Now to open a beer and get back to a more natural engineering "state"!
Ken
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Phil Fravel
Steelhead
Fishinbeatsworkin
Just Hatched
Check out this one on EBay. I bought one a couple of years ago and it works pretty well. I reversed the screws and put duct tape over the heads so they didn't dig into the pontoons but other than that, its a pretty good holder
FISHING FLOAT TUBE HOLDER FOR HUMMINBIRD FISHIN' BUDDY FISH FINDER . | eBay
HERE IS A CUSTOM MADE INEXPENSIVE LIGHT WEIGHT FLOAT TUBE HOLDER TO MOUNT YOUR HUMMINBIRD FISHIN' BUDDY FISH FINDER ON YOUR FLOAT TUBE OR PONTOON.HAS A DOUBLE STRAP ON TOP TO HOLD YOU FISH FINDER STABLE.MADE TO WORK WITH ALL FISHIN' BUDDY FISH FINDERS.EXCEPT MAX DL WITH 5" FOOT.
www.ebay.com
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Hold onto your Humminbirds as long as you can. They no longer list them in their catalogs. Nor does Garmin or Lowrance offer anything like it now, either.
I think that to replicate the Fishing Buddy, you'd have to take a Pirhana Max and modify it by using PVC tubing and either plywood or thick sheets of UMHW to make your own.
I think that to replicate the Fishing Buddy, you'd have to take a Pirhana Max and modify it by using PVC tubing and either plywood or thick sheets of UMHW to make your own.
Is the holder and strap available anywhere? The one that I have is not from Hummingbird and doesn’t fit the unit properly. I’ve almost lost it a couple of times.
I personally haven't seen any offered for sale for 3 or 4 years. My only suggestion would be to keep an eye on EBay or local Buy & Sells sites. When I bought my Fishin Buddy, I remember seeing comments on a couple of different forums recommending the Humminbird one because of the snug fit. The other alternative at the time was one from Cabela's that was advertised as being for the Fishin Buddy but a lot of guys weren't happy with the fit of the Cabela's one.
Good luck
Ken
Good luck
Ken
Ken
I’m interested in the process to shorten the shaft of a Fishing Buddy. Can you share how it’s done? Looks like a great setup.
Thanks
Flyrig,
I basically followed the directions that Ive was generous enough to share which are as follows:
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Ken, thanks for writing. When I cut the shaft on my Fishin Buddy I did it on a band saw. I clamped a stop to the table that allowed me to cut into the tube but not go through it far enough to injure the cables. Then I just rotated the shaft until I had a 360 degree cut. I did this in two places obviously and then with the cables pulled to one side I used the saw to cut away the section I was removing. I'm sure the job could be done with a pipe cutter too but I didn't have one big enough for the job.
The splice was made with a larger piece of tubing that I split to get on and then just used the electrical tape to waterproof the assembly and hold it all together. The excess cable was not cut, just stuffed into the shorter cavity.
It worked perfectly until the electronics died a couple of years ago. I don't know why the company never built a shorty model of this unit since so many are used on tubes and pontoons. Go figure.
I wouldn't do anything different if I did it again except maybe make it even a little shorter. The transducer simply has to be in the water to work.
I hope this helps. I wish I had it in my shop, I can do the whole job in about 15 minutes.
Good luck with yours, you will really appreciate the shorter unit.
Regards, Ive
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Being an engineer, I usually over-document anything unique with pictures, notes, etc. but don't have any pictures other than the picture I posted above with the tape measure. I think that was because the modification went pretty much as Ive described above. The only unique issue is figuring out the length that will work with your boat. Additional comments are:
1. I didn't have access to a band saw so I used manual pipe cutter for the two cuts and it worked fine. Just take your time with the final cuts so you don't damage the transducer cable.
2. I think I used metal shears to cut down the length of the piece of plastic to be removed. Just be mindful of where the transducer cable is.
3. I didn't have any issues or concerns folding the excess cable over and stuffing it into the remaining sections of the shaft.
4. I can't remember what I used as an exterior sleeve over the joint. I was doing a lot of house renovations so I imagine it would have been a piece of ABS drain pipe or PVC pipe that I had with the appropriate diameter.
5. I used a couple of pieces of electrical tape to initially hold the two pieces of the exterior sleeve in place while I applied silicone caulking to down the length of the joints of the sleeve pieces and around the ends.
6. Once the silicone had set up, I wrapped the joint with electrical tape. Finally, to ensure an over-engineered, belt and braces job, I wrapped the sleeve with self-fusing silicone tape!
I'm sure I over did the multi-layer sealing of the shaft cut. The transducer cable to the battery housing and the transducer itself appear to be very well sealed at both ends with a proper poured electrical sealant. I feel confident that even if a bit of water works its way through my tape job into the shaft, it won't make it into either the battery compartment or transducer housing.
As Ive suggests in his comment, it is a pretty quick and straight-forward job. It probably took more time to write the above than it will take you to job!
I wouldn't hesitate to shorten a Fishin Buddy again. I'm happy with shorter version.
Good luck,
Ken
