Fishfinder mount
- Thread starter lumbrown
- Start date
Wayne Kohan
Life of the Party
There’s enough room in front of the side bags for the strap wrap, barely, at least on the super fat cat. Put it on before fully inflated, then finish inflating. That’s what I do regularly.
I am using the ubiquitous Garmin Striker on my Cruzer Max and have an excellent setup but it wasn't easy. It requires some ingenuity and imagination and some minor woodworking skills. I would send pictures if I could but my boats are put away for the winter and all of my depth finders stored in a warm environment.
Look up Fishfindermounts.com and you will see a strap-on transducer mount for $39. You need parts from that and then have to make a wooden frame that matches the radius of the boat and attaches with an NRS 1'' cam strap. The transducer mount is attached to the wooden frame and hinges up when not in use. Hard to visualize I know but the whole thing mounts behind the pocket on the right side and removes just by loosening the cam strap.
Mounting the head unit was another challenge and I ended up epoxying a round piece of 1/2'' Baltic birch plywood to the back with a 3/8'' nylon bolt sticking out. Then I cut a hole in the pocket of the boat and mounted the finder semi-permanently to the pocket in a horizontal position instead of the usual vertical. Mounted vertical it will interfere with the oars. Two more holes in the pocket for the cables to attach and one at the rear of the pocket to feed the transducer cables through. It is a very sleek installation with only a few inches of cable showing from the transducer mount into the pocket. Power is provided with the superb Nocqua power pack, a 9 ounce powerhouse that will power the Garmin for several days.
All of the cableing is inside the pocket and out of the way and with the unit mounted flush to the pocket there is little to snag a fly line. I have always made most of my own finder and transducer mounts because so little has ever been available for inflatables, this is my slickest one yet.
Look up Fishfindermounts.com and you will see a strap-on transducer mount for $39. You need parts from that and then have to make a wooden frame that matches the radius of the boat and attaches with an NRS 1'' cam strap. The transducer mount is attached to the wooden frame and hinges up when not in use. Hard to visualize I know but the whole thing mounts behind the pocket on the right side and removes just by loosening the cam strap.
Mounting the head unit was another challenge and I ended up epoxying a round piece of 1/2'' Baltic birch plywood to the back with a 3/8'' nylon bolt sticking out. Then I cut a hole in the pocket of the boat and mounted the finder semi-permanently to the pocket in a horizontal position instead of the usual vertical. Mounted vertical it will interfere with the oars. Two more holes in the pocket for the cables to attach and one at the rear of the pocket to feed the transducer cables through. It is a very sleek installation with only a few inches of cable showing from the transducer mount into the pocket. Power is provided with the superb Nocqua power pack, a 9 ounce powerhouse that will power the Garmin for several days.
All of the cableing is inside the pocket and out of the way and with the unit mounted flush to the pocket there is little to snag a fly line. I have always made most of my own finder and transducer mounts because so little has ever been available for inflatables, this is my slickest one yet.