[Jeffonc]

Should have had Randy and a film crew on hand, but instead I took a bunch of pics. I installed a Humminbird 535 on the console of my Heritage Redfish, using a removable Scotty Electronics mount, a custom mounting bracket (Mrs. Jeffo's cutting board), custom wire passthrough (CPVC junction box connecter) and a number of other fun pieceparts. Took it out today for its maiden run and it did pretty well. Still have some things to learn about it and some settings to get right, but I'm on the way...

edit: I was asked for the parts list below... adding it here


Looking back over the pictures and relying on memory for the full parts list and some commentary. (Some of the sizes are going to be hard to recreate from memory, but many of them depend on your fishfinder specs, plugs and wires):

• Fishfinder body, base & transducer - ordered mine from BassPro.com, a HumminBird 535. I went for a little bigger screen and a few more pixels by going with the full size 535 over an eagle or other smaller profile unit.
• Scotty Electronics mount - ordered mine from kayakfishingstuff.com. Using it more for removability than the ability to rotate. I did just find a RAM electronics mount at Dick's on the clearance rack for $13.
• Custom Adapter plate - cut from used cutting board found in a local kitchen, used to connect the fat base of the 535 with the Scotty electronics mount bracket.
• Stainless screws, washers & nuts (2 sets of 4) - 1 set came with the fishfinder and I bought a variety pack of stainless machine screws and nuts at Lowes.
• 1/8" Rubber Gasket material - found in Lowes plumbing section, I think in 6"x6" sheets. Used between the scotty flush mount adapter plate and the kayak. High probability of overkill, but the CPVC connector had rubber washer, so I thought my other hole in the hull should too. Might be useful as a shim material in case you don't have a perfectly flat spot for mounting.
• cpvc junction box connector (2) - one for the kayak, one for the battery box (another potential overkill). The one on the kayak needs to have big enough inner diameter to fit your transducer connector, and big enough to fit your smallest connector along with the transducer wire. Found at Lowes, electric aisle.
• rubber stopper (3) - 1 cored for wire passthrough from the finder to the hull (2 wires), 1 cored for wire passthrough from the hull to the battery box (1 wire), 1 intact for times when you're not using the fishfinder and want a watertight seal. These need to fit into your cpvc junction tightly, without pushing all the way through, but close enough at the top that you can still get the cpvc cap screwed on. Found at Lowes in the specialty parts drawers.
• pvc cap (3) - These need to fit your CPVC junction threads. 1 with hole cut in the top to get the plug for power and transducer through (I needed a pretty big, square hole for the transducer plug), 1 with a small hole for pushing the wire into the battery box (smaller hole - no plug), 1 intact for the topside when running without the fishfinder and want a watertight seal. Lowes PVC aisle.
• Watertight, snap-lid food storage box. Big enough to hold your battery with room for wires, inline fuse housing, spare fuses. I got mine at Wal-Mart in housewares.
• Battery (12v, 7ah)+Charger(600ma) - bought the pair at a hobby shop.
• inline fuse housing & fuse(s) - per fishfinder specs. Don't recall what mine were. Bought at auto parts store
• heat shrink wire insulation - you'll have to splice the fuse housing to the power cable between the unit and the battery, and will have to add connectors of some type to connect the power leads to the battery terminals. With things shoved into a box and subject to some jostling in the kayak it seemed pretty reasonable to reduce the possibility of exposed wiring. bought at auto parts store.
• Battery terminal clips (alligator, in my case). I think I got these at Radio Shack.
• foam block - used to seat and protect the transducer inside the hull. I cut a section from a large (6") pool noodle I found at Krogers.
• Lexel (silicon sealant/caulk) - for adhering the foam and the transducer to the hull. Found at Ace Hardware

You'll need to cut holes in the kayak (2 - one for the scotty flush plate and one for the cpvc connector) and the battery box - spade bit seems to work best, IMO. You'll need to solder the wires together for the fuse holder (solder and gun). You'll need to drill holes in the kayak and the mounting plate for the screws. You'll need to cut and shape the adapter plate out of the cutting board (hack saw & wood rasp). You'll need to core the rubber stoppers and cut grooves out to the edge to get the wires to go through (I used drill & boxcutter, have heard that there are coring tools that work better), and drill out the top of 2 of the pvc caps.

You'll also need to secure the box inside the hull. My Redfish has a nice spot under the console and I was able to mount the foam block so that the box tucks in tightly. I used a piece of shock cord (small bungee) attached to a couple of hooks to help hold it in place.

If I think of more, I'll add to the list.

1st 10 pics:

 

[Jeffonc]

Rest of pics. I have tons more, if there's anything anybody wants to see better.

 

[Jeffonc]

You can see in the last pic that I get a lot of interference below 20 feet. Haven't figured out how to rectify that. Its interesting that the Fish ID feature is able to identify plenty of what it thinks are fish inside the "fog"...

 

[sundrop]

Nice job. I could use some help understanding the "stuff" you see on my finder as well...

 

[NCangler]

Very nice work!

 

[backlash]

Very Nice Job. That 's a professional install.

 

[Dave B.]

5 Star job!

 

[sinker man]

Nice install. It looks like the wife is getting a new cutting board. ha ha...I believe the black cloud is caused by a strong thermocline. You might be able to turn down the sensitivity until you have a narrow band at the top of the thermocline. If so that should give you a better idea of what is below 20'. I believe that model has a white line function judging by the last picture. I think that if you turned it off those deep fish would blend in to the clutter. Also you would have a hard timeseeing the bottom . that's a good feature. I hope you like your machine.

 

[Spider Crack]

i may need to remount my transducer inside my hull. where'd you get that nice round piece of styrofoam? looks like that would work well for me.

referrring to this photo:
styrofoam


thanks - joel

 

[Jeffonc]

I believe the black cloud is caused by a strong thermocline. You might be able to turn down the sensitivity until you have a narrow band at the top of the thermocline.

I agree with the thermocline diagnosis. Its pretty strong at falls, especially this time of year, and especially with as little water as has been flowing this summer to stir things up.

I'm a little skittish about one piece of the install - I've followed the Kayak "norm" of installing a skimmer transducer as a thru-hull by gluing (lexel in my case) it tight to the bottom. Probably should have given it a try hanging outside the hull before fastening it down, just to know how it reacted to its usual "norm"... Would have given me another data point anyway. Now it just gnaws at me that might not have done something right...

I could get the cloud to fade some when I dropped the sensitivity toward 0, but never got to a clean 'cline line. And reducing the sensitivity that far affected the 0-20' readings too (you *want* to believe that there's stuff swimming between you and the bottom, don't you?)

I did have to max the surface clutter filtering - had a very strong 3 foot band at the water surface with the default setting.

Will have to read through the book again now that I'm a little more familiar with the menus and see what I can find. My biggest hope for the finder was using it to locate deep clusters of fish & bait to do some vertical jigging/C-rigging in the dead of summer and again in the winter.

 

[Jeffonc]

where'd you get that nice round piece of styrofoam?

I got it at one of the lesser known boating supply shops in the world...Kroger! They had a cardboard box full of short, fat, extra sturdy pool noodles in the seasonal aisle. A bit pricey at $5 but I figured I could use them for interesting things like this. Plus they just disappear into the grocery bill - don't count against the fishing budget (don't tell the wife or the Tackle Monkey)!

I'll throw a hunk in the truck and if we can figure out a place to meet I'll be glad to give it to you. Send a PM...

 

[Jeffonc]

Played with the different bottom settings today and got it to look a good deal better. The default setting was "Inverse", and the setting I liked best was the "White Line". It seems that when I cross from shallow into deeper water, it still wants to see the fog at 20' initially, but then seems to correct itself.

 

[smithhut]

Hey jeff what is that plastic box you got the batt. in. Thats a great idea mine is just sitting out.

 

[Jeffonc]

Its a food storage container from wal-mart. I don't recall it having a brand name (like rubbermaid or tupperware). They had several different sizes with the fold-down locking flaps on each side and the rubber gasket inside the lid. (Thanks goes to Lefty for finding these!).

I think mine ran somewhere around $2.50 and has plenty of room for the 7Ah battery. Lefty's 5Ah battery fits nicely in the next smaller box.

 

[lefty]

I sculpted the foam inserts to hold spare fuses as well... Oh yeah, and I tossed in a couple of silica gel canisters (from medicine bottles) to help with humidity that might get trapped when I close it up.

 

[Jeffonc]

More closeups of the battery box and wiring pass through were requested:

 

[kayakingglenn]

Thanks a lot I appreciate it. I think I might go with a 12 V seven Ah battery soon.

 

[kayakingglenn]

I have found a website with what I think are good prices on batteries. I am not to smart when it comes to battery specs. Can I use a 12 volt 9 ah in my yak or do I need to stick with a 12 V 7 ah?

Batteries: Laptop Batteries, Battery Chargers and more - BatteryMart.com

 

[Dave B.]

yes you can Glenn.

AH is amp hour rating. 12 Volts is 12 volts. Basically the 19 amp hour batt will last a little longer than the 17 of course depending on the draw. If you have something drawing 10 amps.. neither will last too long. If you have a fish finder drawing an amp or 1/2 an amp.. should last you at least a day for fishin.

 

[lefty]

The AmpHour rating refers to its capacity, both in terms of longevity and in terms of the maximum current (amperage) it can supply at any point in time -- at least in this class of batteries. Starter batteries can provide much greater current for much shorter durations, but those are labeled in terms of cold-cranking-amps instead of amp-hours. But either way, for a fishfinder, 5ah is enough, anything more is either more days between recharges or room for growth (at the expense of size and weight, of course).

If you hunt around the flea markets (or if you can find a hamfest) you can find secondhand batteries that were pulled from emergency lights and UPS devices. I drive my 100w amateur radio transciever with a pair of 17ah batteries that came through this route.