Sonar mounting

So I have purchased a Garmin Striker 4. It should be here this afternoon.
I have an Older Outback 05 and really don't like drilling lots of hole in my kayak.
SO I am going to make a PVC arm to have the transducer go over the side. On the Right rod holder. I have seen this done 2 or 3 time on other forums.
But the HAED mounting has two or three options.
1. Use the mast hole to make a mount that slides in. Draw back it may get in the way of my fly casting. not sure yet. Any opionon?

2. Mount it on the left side (i am a right hand caster)-I would have to make 4 holes in top deck area.

3. Make a mount that fits the rod holder to put the sonar head on.

Going to make a battery box (water tight box) and just put it up front under the bungee cords.

Thank you for all your inputs.

Mark F.

To mount the head unit, I would suggest using the RAM 1" wedge mount (part no. 72023016, MSRP $12.99) in the mast port, and coupling that with RAM fishfinder base 1" (part no. 72023052, MSRP $24.99).

_________________
Howie Strech
Parts & Accessories Product Manager
Hobie Cat USA

here you go
http://vyak.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=10506

Self contained cup holder mount

(Pics no longer visible, not sure if you can make sense of description without them)

If you don't want to drill too many holes you could do a "thru the hull" mount. That set-up keeps the transponder totally out of the way.

I don't like the arm mount for the transducer and most folks end up getting rid of this type of mount after a spell. I mount my transducer thru the scupper hole behind the seat on both my Revo 11 and TI. A tight fitting piece of PVC with some form of threaded top drilled out for securing the ducer against the hull. Epoxy the ducer into the PVC and if necessary the threads for the cap.

Otherwise a thru the hull mount inside the kayak.

I like my fish finder right next to my seat for easy viewing and changing. Thus I use Railblaza mounts to mount my head unit to the small cup holder.

_________________
Mark
Tandem Island- 2013
2 - Sports - 2014

Disadvantages of mounting your fish finder in your Outback's mast mount are (a) it'll be a long distance away, so it'll be hard to see the screen, and you may find yourself leaning way forward a lot to see what the screen is showing, and (b) Because you'll need to lean and/or slide way forward and reach over the pedals to operate the fish finder's controls, you may not use its features very effectively. I suggest that you mount the fish finder on a section of gear track on the gunwale of your Outback, within easy reach, but far enough forward so it doesn't interfere with climbing back into your kayak. You need to be able to remove the fish finder and its base from the gunwale of your Outback when you are transporting the kayak, or when you are using the kayak but not fishing.

You can put your battery box in the front hatch, and run the wires out under the hatch cover.

Ram makes all kinds of arms / extenders that would work with the mast hole & allow your FF to be within arms each.

http://www.kayalu.com/k/toughbar-ram-mo ... rplane.php

http://www.rammount.com/part/RAP-CB-201-18U

Here is a couple examples

Mark F,

I have the Garmin EchoMap Chirp 42dv on my Oasis. I am using the Garmin Kayak Thru-Hull Transducer Mount with great success. I believe this mount also works with the Striker 4 dual-frequency transducer in addition to the GTM-20 I am using. It is a foam mount with adhesive on the bottom to attach to the inside of the hull. Very easy to install - rough up the area with some sandpaper, clean with alcohol, wait a few minutes to dry, peel of adhesive backing, stick in place, wedge something on top for 24 hours for adhesive to cure.

Before each outing you need to put a small amount of water in the mount and then insert the transducer. I leave the transducer in the mount all the time and have a piece foam wedged on top since the kayak is transported upside down, the same piece of foam I used while the adhesive cured.

This option will only work if you are okay with a hole for the power/transducer wiring but that is not a big deal and I think you'll be happier with the battery and wiring in the hull. I used a sealed lead acid battery and the Hobie 8" hatch mount.

Peter

OK I Made a PVC mount to fit in the Left fishing pole mount. Then a tee off of that for my down sonar transducer. I took it out to Long Beach Alamitos bay for the first test and it worked well. I need to play with settings more lots of stuff on the screen that are NOT fish.
Here it is on the boat.


I'm sure there a more changes to come but this worked well the first time out.

Mark F.

I've tried mounting a Lowrance HDS LSS2 structure scan transducer with the ram arm via the wedge in the mast hole.
Nothing but problems. There was too much play and it would move way too much, cause too much drag, and got in the way of fishing.

I ended up just using silicone rtv to glue the stransducer to the bottom of my hull and routing the cable up through the scupper. Super easy, and no problems. Just cant drag the kayak across the rocks anymore.