fish finders

Im confused on how to choose a fish finder...

I hoping to find something in a store, not online...

What are my options?

I guess im confused on what im looking for as far as the transducr goes?

On my old power boat, anything worked, I just screwed it in to the transom...

But id rather not put any more holes in my new yak, a T-13

I see you guys glue a pool noodle in the hull, Then do you just drop the transducer in the glued pool noodleand it works through the plastic? What type of transducer am i looking for?

Id like something i can just put batteries in side the unit too cause i dont have a battery tray and want to avoid buying online?

Im in the santa cruz area and we dont have a giant fishermans wharhouse or anything like that...

I guess i want a relatively inexpensive FF that i can buy in store, bring home hook it up and use this weekend and use it.

HELP!

Ive searched the threads, but havent got all the answers on the transducer...

I'm using a Pirahna 215 portable right now. It's nice for shlepping between boats. The tranduscer is a suction cup mount that sticks to the side of the hull. I just fold the whole unit up & stow it when launching/landing.

The upside is that it doesn't require any new holes in the yak.
The downside is that the transducer snags kelp, and that hardly any place carries the 215 portable. Try West Marine over toward Capitola, they may have a better selection than any other local store

For the most part any ff/transducer will work. I'd say the the top two FF's are the hummingbird and eagle. If you do a thru hull mount the temp won't be super accurate but they all shoot thu the hull with no problem. You will need to drill one hole so the power/transducer cable can attach to the display which mounts above deck so you can remove it during launch/landings. You also will need to fab up a battery/power source. You can either do the 10AA set up or the brick battery. There are pros and con's for each set up. As for mounting the transducer you can either goop it right to the hull or you can do the foam doughnut method. Again pros and cons for each set up.  Other may have a diff opinion but thats my two cents. Happy to email you some pics of my set up (eagle and doughnut)

ok so anything will work fine, they will all go through the plastic, water temp isnt a issue for me...

I think id rather do the foam donut technique rather then glue the whole unit down, if you glue it and it breaks, your screwed right?

as for the 10 AA battery tray will radio shack have this?

what is the brick battery? Will radio shack have this you think?

Piscean, i just saw your post now, it wasnt there at first... anyway thanks!

ok so anything will work fine, they will all go through the plastic, water temp isnt a issue for me...

I think id rather do the foam donut technique rather then glue the whole unit down, if you glue it and it breaks, your screwed right?

as for the 10 AA battery tray will radio shack have this?

what is the brick battery? Will radio shack have this you think?

You actually use goop. So its not perm. It can be removed with a little heat and a putty knife. The 10AA has to be ordered. I couldn't find it locally. Maybe someone else will chime in with a local source. The bricks can be found at Frys (radio shack may have them as well). You can order them cheaper from cabelas (and it comes with a charger, which you'll need). I attached links below. You will need to add some connections to the FF so they can attach to the battery

CABELAS
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0036388018049a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCHFEAT_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Products&QueryText=battery&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

Radio Shack
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049668

so its just need to be 12volts, right, is that brick HUGE? Hard to tell in the pic...

so it is possble to have this thing working by this weekend, cannectors, no prob, and im good with the solder iron if needed...

no its not that big. the cabelas one is 4"H x 6"L X 2-1/2"W

Porky,

Boy, you getting serious now!

I've got a Humminbird 535 in my Prowler 13. I love it, its a big screen , black and white, and not power hungry.

I gooped my transducer to the inside bottom of the hull as far back from the front hatch as I could reach. I roughed up the area with 80 grit,tack clothed the area to rid it of any dust or particulant matter, applied a blob of goop,making sure there were no bubbles in it, then firmly seated the puck with a twisting motion. I covered it with a gallon ziplock bag filled with water, this molded itself over the puck and didn't create any shifting.

I ordered the Cabela brick 12v battery, then I leveled the kayak  and gooped in a close cell foam pad in front of the hatch, then fit over that the foam piece that I had cutout to fit the battery box( this is a tupperware like waterproof box, inside it is an inline fuseholder) (then checked to make sure my install was level), gooped it in place, then cut two wedges that got gooped to both sides of the hull and onto the insert piece. Then I glued velcro on either side to secure the battery (overkill I think because the fit of the battery into the foam piece is very snug). I gooped cable cleats high up on the inside walls of the yak and ran both my head and transducer wires through them. That way, I've still got a clear path to store extra paddle, pool noodles, etc....

A million options lay ahead, good luck!!

Rich

If you're in a hurry and want to get everything locally you can run the Eagle Cuda series on 8 AA's, and the 8 AA holders can be found at Fry's...  Or rig one 8 and a 2 together...

10 is optimal, but you'll get a couple days worth of juice out of 8.

Fry's also has a bunch of "brick" batteries...  The downside is the weight.

HA, semi serious, IM AN ADDICT, i admit!!

I loved my depth finder in my old power boat, so naturally ill love it here!

i ened up with this, WHY? Cause it was only $50

http://www.eaglenav.com/en/Products/Fishfinders/CUDA-168/

Thanks for the rigging info, though its hard to understand from reading, i dont understand the ziplock bag of water?

   Doesn't the T-13 have the enlarged scupper hole?  Porky should look into the "hockey puck" transducer from humminbird.  If you search the posts you can find the exact model number.  There is a whole post on installing it, plus other posts that talk about the "new age " power supply along with other aternatives for power sources.  I have the humminbird 565 using the 10  battery set up and the hockey puck transducer on my P-15 and it works great.

If you're in a hurry and want to get everything locally you can run the Eagle Cuda series on 8 AA's, and the 8 AA holders can be found at Fry's...  Or rig one 8 and a 2 together...

10 is optimal, but you'll get a couple days worth of juice out of 8.

Fry's also has a bunch of "brick" batteries...  The downside is the weight.

hmm, sounds like i need to hit frys......

still unsure of how to do things inside the yak, or how to seal the hole i have to drill for the wires?

  Doesn't the T-13 have the enlarged scupper hole?  Porky should look into the "hockey puck" transducer from humminbird.  If you search the posts you can find the exact model number.  There is a whole post on installing it, plus other posts that talk about the "new age " power supply along with other aternatives for power sources.  I have the humminbird 565 using the 10  battery set up and the hockey puck transducer on my P-15 and it works great.

yeah, its got the scupper hole transducer mount thingy, i looked at the humming bird transducer and its just too much money for me to spend right now, maybe next year!

i got the finder for $50!!!!!

You get it locally or online?  I've been looking at picking up a FF