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PostPosted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:53 pm 
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Have started rigging already, and have a Humminbird 798 side imaging unit. I'm leary of mounting it on the back, as I'm concerned about the turbulence of the Mirage Drive affecting the sonar returns. When I had it mounted on my Native Ultimate, it would pick up the swirls created by the paddle strokes. However, I don't really want an arm hanging off the side of it either, so I put my thinking cap on, and here is what I have come up with so far: I took a 20 oz Coke bottle, cut the non-contoured middle section out of it, cut it across so it was a strip as opposed to a ring. Then wrapped it around the rear carry handle and marked it to cut it into a shorter strip that just barely overlaps itself.

Took a piece of 3/4" square aluminum tubing bought at Home Depot, cut it to 10" long, drilled holes in it to accommodate a 1 1/8" U-bolt. Wrapped the Coke bottle plastic around the handle, put the U-bolt on it, put the tubing on the U-bolt, and cinched it down with wing nuts and lock washers. Haven't put the transducer on it, but here is a pic:

Image

And one more:

Image

Now, my question is this: how would you all suggest running the transducer wire to the front of the boat? It will involve drilling a hole big enough to get the head-unit end of the wire through the hull somewhere in the back and then again up by the mounting boards, which is where I intend to mount the head-unit itself. Probably about a 1/2" hole. If you drilled it on the back deck of the boat, perhaps around the rudder/drum access hatch, what would you use to then close the hole and make it watertight?


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:34 am 
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If you look at the first set of pics in my other post on transducers you'll see that someone removed one of the drain plugs and ran his wiring through there into the hull. This seems like an ingenious idea to me as long as you can get the hole sealed up fully.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:33 am 
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Why not mount it to the front handle? You'd see structure/fish before you pass them, you'd be away from any trolled lines, be free of turbulence - and you'd have a shorter and easier wire run.

If you extended the top of the bar two inches and attach a line to the top, you could even retract the 'ducer forward and up for beaching.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:05 am 
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A friend of mine used the left rear drain plug as the entry point for the cable and sealed it up to avoid the chance of water leaking in.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 12:18 pm 
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Keep in mind that these transducers work fine on the back of power boats traveling at high rates of speed with the tremendous turbulence from the outboard motor.

Compared to those craft and their outboard motors, the mirage drive doesn't create any real turbulence. It's just not an issue.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:17 pm 
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My concern about the turbulence created from the Mirage Drive stems solely from the observation that the finder would literally pick up the swirl created by each paddle stroke on my old kayak. And that was with the factory default sensitivity settings. I would think if it would pick up the turbulence from a paddle stroke, it will from a Mirage Drive as well. But, I may be proven wrong. I hope to be proven wrong.


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:54 pm 
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I'm not saying it doesn't, but in that case, depth finders would almost totally useless on powerboats whose motors create tremendous turbulence behind the boat, where many people mount them per Lowrance and Humminbird instructions.


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:32 pm 
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I use the Bung Hole Mount that is made in Australia with a ram mount on the transducer. No vibration and the best solution I have found. Had the Bar thing and didn't like it.


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 6:09 pm 
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This is what I did to keep the transducer permanently mounted and never scraping on the ground.

Image

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 6:41 pm 
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My concern with that location for the transducer would be it picking up grass, that may affect the quality of your sonar signal and there is no way to clear it with it behind the boat. Hanging it up on a submerged tree may also be problematic. If you don't fish around that kind of stuff you'll have no problem, but be aware of it (obviously) if you do and you should do fine. I have a Humminbird 898 SI HD unit on my PA and have the transducer on an arm over the side, mounted on a RAM ball mount. Easy to stow or clear if the need arises.

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:15 pm 
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Very similar to my first attempt, but I left it on the side.
Image


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