Let's help Hobie with the fishfinder transducer dilema...

If it wasn't for the Hobie Mirage drive I wouldn't have gotten into kayaking and if Hobie didn't make such a great fishing kayak with the Mirage drive, I wouldn't have gotten into fishing. I never had the desire to do either. Now I do both all the time. I have seen a lot of good ideas on this board on how to mount a fishfinder transducer on a Hobie kayak but I think Hobie could make it a whole lot easier for us. Personally, I like (and have) a wet well system made out of that high density pink insulation styrofoam cut to look like a square donut glued to the inside the hull. Slide the transducer in and put an oz or two of water in it. No bubbles and no holes in the boat. At the end of the day just suck the water up with a turkey baster. I think a simple molded in square to fit any transducer would work perfect. If you weren't a fisherman you could use it to keep small items from sliding around inside the boat. Or Hobie could get in kahoots with a fishfinder company like they did with Scotty, put there name on it and offer it thru there catalog, this way they could really go to town with a real nice molded in custom install of some sort. The "Hobie Cat Fishfinder Package". Any ideas?

Heya Footflyer.

I think you will find there is already a Hobie Fishfinder Install Kit. Seems they have teamed up with Lowrance already, and have come up with a foam block style transducer install, with a Ram mount style fitting for the head unit. Here's a video from Kayak Fish Nation outlining the install and kit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SguqNiC0rec&eurl=http://www.kayakfishnation.com/?cat=11

_________________
Brett Ozanne

www.yakass.net - www.sailpower.com.au - www.westernangler.com.au

www.yakfishwest.com

I really like the foam block style install. I cut the opening snug for the transducer, plop a glob of Vaseline in the cavity, press the transducer in, and voilà. No muss, no fuss, always there and ready to go. I have one that has been in another kayak for three seasons of use and now in the Revolution this full season. I store and travel with the kayak in all positions depending on the situation and it just hangs in there.

_________________
Roger
http://www.aldenofsunapee.com/
http://www.NEKF.com/

Its my opion that if there was a small amount of standardization of the scupper holes and the marine electronics manufactures were to notice the significant increase in kayaks on the water(are you listening Lowrance) I now have 2 boats instead of one both have Lowrance fishfinders one is a combo unit a transducer thru the scupper hole would my ideal set-up.

_________________
Fastfish/Geoff
Kayaks Owned>Outback/Mine & Revolution/Wife

So no problem with the vaseline liquifying in warm weather? I was thinking if you were to leave the kayak closed up in a van in hot weather you might end up with a mess. I wonder how hot it has to get before it does liquify.

I mounted mine to the rudder, and it has been working perfectly. I posted about it over on the KFS forums. Here is a shot of my install. Keep in mind, this is rotated 180degrees since my kayak was hanging upside down in the garage.

I bought another drain plug, and used the dremel to hollow out room for the cable to go through. Also to note, this doesn't affect the rudder at all, and I have now gone to a sailing rudder since I have the sail kit.

_________________
Isaac

I've gone the Sikaflex/Marine Goop install, and it's worked faultlessley for me on the last two Transducer installs ive done.

I did look at the on rudder install, and that looks a great install youve done there mate.

_________________
Brett Ozanne

www.yakass.net - www.sailpower.com.au - www.westernangler.com.au

www.yakfishwest.com

I don't quite understand how the transducer works. How does it get a reading through the plastic hull?

Also, how effective is using a fishfinder on a kayak?

It shoots through the hull just fine as long as there is no air between the transducer and the hull.

I use it mostly for finding contour such as troughs, rocks, drop-offs, etc. to work especially. It's find to pass over a bunch of arches and then just wait for the hit to come when trolling.

_________________
Roger
http://www.aldenofsunapee.com/
http://www.NEKF.com/