Removable FishFinder

At first I had thought gooping the transducer in and permantly mounting the fish finder in my outback was the way to go.  But I'm jonsing for another kayak.. An OK T-15 to be exact! ( thanks craig)
So, I thought about how I was going to use the HB 385 I have in both yaks.... Maybe buy another mount and transducer and just move the battery and powerhead to each as I use them....
 Well, as it turns out the imageing part of the 385 doesn't work shooting thru the hull. So I had to come up with another plan.  Some where on the web i saw this....

 A removable Fishfinder.  one where all i have to do is mount a ramball in each kayak, and when finished for the day, yank the whole thing off. 



 The one I saw, the guy used a stick to mount the transducer over the side of the yak. I thought about this direction, but wanted a more compact system when storing it.
 I had de-comissioned a field site in the city we had and the engineers/inventors always leave so really cool stuff.  So I snatched up some old window suction cup GPS mounts, not knowing what I was going to use them for. 
 Well as it turns out... it's a perfect fit. !



My wife had bought the box from WalMart to keep our phones and wallets dry when out in the kayaks. turns out it fits the 12v. 7ah free batterys just right !
 Mounted the FF mount and ram mounts, grometted the wires and sealed with some goop and we're in business.
  the only flaw I can see now it that the knobs and bolts getting corroded from the salt. I do have some 'Silicone Grease' ( thanks to some engineers years ago) to put on the exposed threads, might try it.



One more thig that might be needed is, gooping a flat piece of plexy to the sdie of the yak to mount the suction cup. There's a spot on the outback that works perfect, dont know about the T-15  "YET" 
 Next time I have it out I'll take some pics of it mounted to the outback.

Looks like a good setup, as for the hardware, stainless would be the best to avoid corrosion but still will not last forever. Zinc plated work well too but don't last as long as stainless. Gooping the expose spots should help it last awhile if goop is replaced every once in a while.

IMO marine grade stainless is the only way to go. A bit more expensive but will last longer than most other metals exposed to salt. Still not a bad idea to replace hardware once a year or so depending on use. Also, you probably already know this but rinsing the salt off with fresh water after fishing will also help avoid corrosion.

Hope this helps,
Joe

Yeah, thought about replacing the bolts with stainless, but the original come with cute lil knobs..
 Deffinatly an Idea.

I would like to do this with my OB. Can you shoot me pics with this setup on your yak? I'm trying to keep myself from drilling holes. Also, what kind of FF are you using?

Not too shabby, might want shorter screws when you go stainless. Thanks for sharing.
Have you hit the water with it yet? How does the suction cup hold up?

what kind of FF are you using?

The FF is a hummingbird 385 ci Di 
I'll try and get some pics up later.

Not too shabby, might want shorter screws when you go stainless. Thanks for sharing.
Have you hit the water with it yet? How does the suction cup hold up?

 Thats all I had in the shop for screws... definataly not going to stay that way.
The suction cup is amazingly strong. It's been bumped a few timses and has not come off.  Works perfect. 
 I will be upgrading to the 1.5 inch ram mount and ball. the 1" is a little wiggly with 7lbs of stuff on it.  And I'm looking for a waterproof connector to put on the box so I dont have to keep digging the battery out to charge it.  one of these "rocket scientists" got to have some thing around. 
 Other than that, couldnt ask for more.