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PostPosted: Wed May 20, 2015 12:21 pm 
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:14 am
Posts: 42
Location: Hilton Head Is., SC
I purchased a Lowrance Elite 4 with chirp fish finder and I want to mount it behind the front seat. I also want it to be on an extended arm so it can rotate to the front seat as well as the back seat. I appreciate any help with a description of parts needed. I was considering attaching a ram mount to the bar behind the seat on the left side, because it would be out of the way of the main sheet line on the right side. What length arm works best for both front and rear seats? Being on the left side I would need to drill a hole for the cables.

I saw earlier some post about this, but haven't been able to find it.

Sam


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 9:47 am 
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Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:20 am
Posts: 10
Great fish finder btw. I just installed mine a few weeks ago. My solution was to use a heavy duty ram ball clamp mount and route the cables through conduit so I can move it around. On the 2015 TI the install was rather simple as hobie includes predrilled areas to route everything for this unit. Here's my setup, maybe the photos will help.

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Folded down while not in use.

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Mounted on aka.

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Cables routed through front right side pouch

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Used a lot of conduit line in order to move the unit around. Cables usually route under my seat and out to the aka.

I do a lot of jigging so I like to have the unit mounted far out on the back aka so my passenger can also see the screen. This boat / fishfinder has already proved to be a deadly combo. Yesterday alone I hooked into a nice 6 lb. brown and 6 lakers.

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6 lb. football of a brown trout.

Hope that gives you some ideas / inspiration to get that unit mounted.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:19 pm 
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:14 am
Posts: 42
Location: Hilton Head Is., SC
Thanks,
I mounted mine some time ago, shortly after I posted this I found the earlier post on this subject which gave me guidance in installing mine. I like yours but I did mine differently. I see you brought your 3 cables thru the one predrilled hole in the front mesh pocket. I brought my transducer(blue) cable thru the predrilled rear mesh pocket hole and then drilled a 1 inch hole inside the rear side mesh pocket area to run the 2 Power (red) cables. I installed an 8 inch gear trac just behind the rear aka bar and attached using a quick release Ram ball for a gear trac mount, this way the fish finder is much closer to me in the rear seat but I can slide it toward the front of the trac and rotate it to view from the front seat too. since the cables are both coming from the rear mesh pocket I fold up the extra cabe and tuck it in the mesh pocket out of the way when it is more cable than I need. I bought the Hobie fish finder mounting kit with battery and installed my battery in the rear round port hole. I highly recommend the kit to anyone reading this, so easy to install. The conduit you used keeps the cables together nicely, great idea.

The 8 inch gear tracs come 2 to the package so I am looking to mount the other track on the port side beside the front seat(just in front of the rear aka bar) and get scotty track mounts (for the gear tracks) for 2 scotty rod holders(one for the port track and one for the starboard track) i haven't yet used my fish finder for fishing but I will shortly. Mainly just use it for charts, water depth, and MPH. Seeing your fish picture shows me what I'm missing, can't wait!

I got this fish finder on sale at West Marine for $299 and they are running a $50 mail in rebate. Can't beat it for $250.

I am loving my 2015 Tandem Island!!!! no regrets getting one, the wife and daughter love it too.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 12:54 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:20 am
Posts: 10
I too pulled the trigger during the $50 mail in rebate, awesome deal! I'm curious as to how you like the rail mounts. I frequently sit in the front seat and have a passenger in the rear so I can better manage my gear and anchor on the trampolines. Do you think the rail mount would interfere with the seat being able to fully recline? I also have scotty mounts and rod holders and went a rather cheap / quick route to get them on my boat. I just used 3 zip ties per side and placed them over the crossbar brace clip for extra stability so they can't rotate. Doubt this will be a permanent solution but it's worked for me yet so far.

Image

Here's another fish pic to get you motivated to wet a line from your Hobie :-)

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9 lb. 30 in. beat up Laker


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:24 pm 
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:14 am
Posts: 42
Location: Hilton Head Is., SC
I do like the gear track, I had considered mounting the 8" track on the starboard side forward of the rear aka bar but there isn't much room between the aka bar and the centerboard handle, so I mounted it behind the aka bar. I see what you mean when the scotty rodholder is facing out toward the ama the rod handle and rod holder will be behind the front seat, but do you recline your seat that far? On the port side there is a large flat area to mount the gear track, but that would put the rod handle and holder facing out toward the ama into the side of the person in the front seat. My goal is to allow easy access for the front seat passenger to the port side fishing rod. Maybe I should mount the port side gear track behind the rear aka bar also? close enough for the front seat passenger to get to? I need to get the rod holders and mounts first. Back to the Gear Tracks, they are expensive at $50 for a package of 2, they come with a drill bit and the screws don't go deep into the kayak plastic(but that is a good thing), it seams very strong with 8 screws per track, in a youtube they said its strong enough to support your weight. I like that the tracks allow you to add different attachments.

I'm looking to get http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/7 ... SX425_.jpg Scotty gear head track adapters
And http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/6 ... SX425_.jpg Scotty Baitcaster rod holder

for my lowrance fish finder mount I used 2 ram mount Double 1 inch Ball Adapters to extend the the length
and a Ram Quick Release track base with 1inch ball http://www.rammount.com/images/gallery/ ... B-383U.jpg


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 4:35 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:20 am
Posts: 10
I really like the location of mounting behind the seats but I also like to recline fully quite frequently so I think that mount will be out for me (I get lazy when I'm jigging for an extended period of time). Thankfully there's like a million other places to mount things on these rigs.


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