Has anybody used the portable bundle they sell? Would it work for a pram.? Your help is appreciated..
Another Garmin Striker Question
- Thread starter Wetswinger
- Start date
While I don't have the bundle I do have a couple of the Garmin Striker 4 units. I can't imagine why it wouldn't work as long as the transom mount on the pram allows the transducer to be submerged. On my kayaks I use a Scotty adjustable transducer arm to hold the transducer, and my Hobie kayak has an external protected hull mount for the transducer.
One advantage of using the Scotty transducer arm is that it allows you to rotate the transducer out of harm's way when you're beaching the craft or traveling through a weedy patch. The transducer arm just plugs into the base for a Scotty rodholder.
The transducers are very rugged...the biggest issue would be snapping off whatever type mount is holding it in place.
I'd highly recommend using a Nocqua Li Ion battery to power the unit. It's small, lightweight, has a padded case, and phenomenal battery life with Striker 4 FFinders. Might even fit inside the bundle case.
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How would you keep the unit out of harms way while rowing, stowing oars etc. I imagine it would have to be below the gunwale. I only row, no motor..
Any opinions on the good or bad using the suction cup mount..?
They include an on board mount for interior transducer use. The signal supposedly penatrates the thin kayak hull. I seriously question if it would work through marine plywood.
Any opinions on the good or bad using the suction cup mount..?
They include an on board mount for interior transducer use. The signal supposedly penatrates the thin kayak hull. I seriously question if it would work through marine plywood.
Top goes in Scotty rod holder base mount on or near gunwale. Easy to reach tension knob and rotate everythong straight up out of water.
Transducer cord is permanently attached to transducer.
Most of time afloat I just leave the transducer in the water...doesn’t contribute much drag.
Essentially it's a telescoping articulated arm for the transducer. I think Scotty also makes another section to increase the length of the arm if the gunwale to water surface distance is too long.
Scotty #459M Mini Double Ended Extender, Black , Small https://a.co/d/0aiTC8XA
Pretty easy to McGyver something together starting with Scotty transducer arm.
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Thanks for posting that photo...
BriGuy
Life of the Party
I don't have the bundle, but essentially built/assembled my own. Basically, I bought a cheap parts bin at Home Depot to contain the battery (AGM 8AH) and the Garmin unit. I made a wooden base that fits into the floor of the parts bin with a divider between the battery and Garmin. The transducer is attached to an aluminum telescoping mount that I found at Cabelas. As you can see from the first picture below, everything except the transducer fits into the parts bin. The battery is in an old lunch bag I had laying around. The second picture shows everything disassembled.
I like the setup. The battery stays wired and in the bag. The slot I cut in the parts bin is where the clamp screw holding the transom mount goes through. It holds everything in place. As a bonus, the parts bin is big enough to hold a beer, and other sundries. If you use the small Nocqua battery, you can go with a much smaller parts bin. I'm cheap and like the size of the one I have. If you ever want to see it, or try a test fit on your boat, let me know and I can meet you at one of our local lakes.
If you look closely at the Garmin's screen, you can see my weird fishing gnome waving and looking at you.
I like the setup. The battery stays wired and in the bag. The slot I cut in the parts bin is where the clamp screw holding the transom mount goes through. It holds everything in place. As a bonus, the parts bin is big enough to hold a beer, and other sundries. If you use the small Nocqua battery, you can go with a much smaller parts bin. I'm cheap and like the size of the one I have. If you ever want to see it, or try a test fit on your boat, let me know and I can meet you at one of our local lakes.
If you look closely at the Garmin's screen, you can see my weird fishing gnome waving and looking at you.
Slick setup!
BriGuy
Life of the Party
Thanks!
Might take a look at this https://www.fishfindermounts.com/product-page/15mm-magnetic-transducer-mount-kit
compact, versatile, and travels well.
compact, versatile, and travels well.
I have the Scotty 141 transducer arm with a Scotty's gear head for the display unit to mount into. The transducer arm's adjustable head doesn't fit my transducer (Stryker 4CV) when I have the unit fixed to the transom (preferable for me). A bit of McGyver with help from Scotty (they have superb customer service, they answer the phone) and a piece of .125X1" aluminum flat bar and no more issues of the transducer not being fully submerged all the time.
I used shim stock to build a wedge for the top of the pram's transom so the rail/gear head and display unit are (close to) plumb.
It's hard to see in the above picture but the adjustable head is oriented 90 degress the wrong way for my transducer, the adjustable head has been removed.
Test fitting the wedge (it fit well, the unit is now glued in place and coated with epoxy. Paint tomorrow.
I'm excited to get this little project completed and float the boat and try to learn how to use a modern sonar unit. I'm thinking I need to get @Billy and @Northern back over to the walleye lake so I can set a waypoint where they caught some wally's.
Quality installation. I think you'll be really happy with it.
Aesthetically it wouldn't be as pleasing, but was there another reason why you didn't hang it off the starboard side? It's the way I have my SUP rigged.
Thanks -
I didn't want it on either side of the boat as I typically kneel in the footwell when I'm landing a fish: sometimes on the port, sometimes on the starboard side. At least in my pointy head way of looking at it, swinging the arm up while launching or beaching to have the arm off the stern.
I didn't want it on either side of the boat as I typically kneel in the footwell when I'm landing a fish: sometimes on the port, sometimes on the starboard side. At least in my pointy head way of looking at it, swinging the arm up while launching or beaching to have the arm off the stern.
Must be a real challenge to get the transducer surface flat so the signal goes straight down, especially with angled sides on most boat surfaces.
Fourbtgait
Life of the Party
I use one. Had it on a kayak, pram and now Outcast raft. Scotty arm on all. No issues rowing.
When I built my pram the transducer stalk was part of the design and indexes into the gunnel and locks tight. I incorporated an adjustable slip clutch in case it bumped into anything and it really works slick. It was built out of Okoume 4mm plywood and is hell for stout and very lightweight with reinforcing ribs adding great stability and strength to it.
I like the design so much that when I got my new Outcast Cruzer Max I wanted a version of it on that. But with oars a Stryker that stood up was out of the question and the sweep of the oars made ordinary mounting highly unlikely. Fortunately the Cruzer Max has relatively robust pockets and I found that I could bolt the Stryker to the outside of the pocket with just a small piece of 1/4 ply inside the pocket for extra rigidity. I J-B welded a new mount on the back of the Garmin with a nylon bolt and nut and cinched it up. Two holes were punched in the pocket for the electric and transducer cables to come through and a Nocqua battery pack installed. The unit is now mounted horizontally instead of vertically, well out of the way of the sweep of the oars. I have less than a foot of cable that actually shows on the outside, everything else goes directly into the pocket where it is wrapped and zip tied out of the way leaving a lot of storage left inside.
The transducer is mounted on a custom assembly that matches the contour of the boat and is held in place with a single NRS strap making for easy installation/removal. I modified a Fishfindermounts unit and added a slip clutch to allow safe entry/egress into the water. Now everything is either mounted to the boat or in the pocket except the transducer mount and that just takes a minute to attach once the boat is inflated.
It seems like the manufacturers could design products from the get-go that more gracefully managed the mounts, cables and straps that currently clutter boats. Some of the kayak makers are doing a better job but there is a lot of room for innovation otherwise. I am still pissed that FishinBuddy never made a short shaft model for 'toons, tubes and kayaks. Talk about an opportunity staring you in the face and never recognizing it...
I like the design so much that when I got my new Outcast Cruzer Max I wanted a version of it on that. But with oars a Stryker that stood up was out of the question and the sweep of the oars made ordinary mounting highly unlikely. Fortunately the Cruzer Max has relatively robust pockets and I found that I could bolt the Stryker to the outside of the pocket with just a small piece of 1/4 ply inside the pocket for extra rigidity. I J-B welded a new mount on the back of the Garmin with a nylon bolt and nut and cinched it up. Two holes were punched in the pocket for the electric and transducer cables to come through and a Nocqua battery pack installed. The unit is now mounted horizontally instead of vertically, well out of the way of the sweep of the oars. I have less than a foot of cable that actually shows on the outside, everything else goes directly into the pocket where it is wrapped and zip tied out of the way leaving a lot of storage left inside.
The transducer is mounted on a custom assembly that matches the contour of the boat and is held in place with a single NRS strap making for easy installation/removal. I modified a Fishfindermounts unit and added a slip clutch to allow safe entry/egress into the water. Now everything is either mounted to the boat or in the pocket except the transducer mount and that just takes a minute to attach once the boat is inflated.
It seems like the manufacturers could design products from the get-go that more gracefully managed the mounts, cables and straps that currently clutter boats. Some of the kayak makers are doing a better job but there is a lot of room for innovation otherwise. I am still pissed that FishinBuddy never made a short shaft model for 'toons, tubes and kayaks. Talk about an opportunity staring you in the face and never recognizing it...
That's easily accomodated since the Scotty mount adjustment on top and the one on the bottom (at the transducer) are perpendicular in movement.
Haggis57
Steelhead
Scotty has a clamp on mount as well if you're not not sure where you want to locate the transducer arm.
I used those mounts on our canoe...they're incredibly stout.
Ya think the data cable is long enough? I know better than to cut it and splice it; it would be nice if Garmin offered an option or two on cable length. I zip tied it to the telescoping arm which prevents me from collapsing the arm.
At any rate, the mount seems to be fine. I can slide it about 4" towards center if I want. Done.