The Kokanee Machine... now with Shade!

I am trying to outfit my Kayak for another season of Kokanee fishing in the motherlode, it gets hot out there so I have adding the following items to my outback:
DOWNRIGGERS: I must be able to chase the fish as they go deep (with two rods since i bought the two-rod stamp). I have a cannon vise on DR and a home-made DR that sits in the flush mount rod holder and is actually easier to use than my Cannon.
STRONGER FISH FINDER: I used to have the standard Lowrance Elite-4 and the factory Hobie mounting system (with the 8 double A batteries) I decided to upgrade and mounted a Lowrance Pro-5 and a 12V lawnmower battery ($54 home depot) in the hull. I made a fiber-board housing that was very simple to glue into the hull with removable marine glue. So far it's holding up fine and performing very well.
SHADE CANOPY:  I have just spent the last hour or so looking through some past posts about a shade canopy for a kayak. The main argument against was that it might be an unwanted double as a sail making for some potentially unsafe additions to your boat. I have to be honest, i am pretty pleased with the design i completed last night...(i know it's sort of counter-intuitive to fabricate first and then research, but i got excited and felt i had thought through most issues)
other members raised concerns such as:
1) wind catching in the canopy converting it into an unwanted sail..
Solution: Use a canvas top but a mesh like material for the back and sides so that any wind can pass through without too much resistance (i know that there will still be some)
2) permanent mounting creating a possible capsize in strong wind.
Solution: easy to remove mounting...i created a PVC frame which sits right into the two-rear flush mount rod holders on my outback, in a worst case scenario, my canopy will blow away rather than drag/drown me.
3) Being an obstruction to fishing/casting/netting.
Solution: The top of the canopy sits about 6 inches above my head, since i primarily troll i am not overly concerned about casting restrictions, and since it is mounted behind the seat, there is no obstruction for playing or netting fish.
I will post pictures of these improvements when i get home this evening. Overall i am really excited to get on the water and see how much more comfortable i will be this year, based on my dry run (sitting in my parents pool in full sun) i have really good shade coverage for almost no interference, score!

A photo is worth 1000 words.

Sounds good!

I don't see a problem with having a canopy, heck I used a rigged up umbrella when I have my son with me and hobie has a sunshade that you can put on. Your fishing inland lakes with virtually no wind compared to the ocean.

slight thread jack but on point

A photo is worth 1000 words.

Yup, and I received over a thousand "words" in reply...maybe it was my color choice

A photo is worth 1000 words.

"no pic never happened"sailfish;D

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Or that look on your face:-)

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A photo is worth 1000 words.

"no pic never happened"sailfish;D

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Check back tomorrow, i need to resew my canopy, it didn't fit the frame i built and was too saggy. I wont post any pics until it is just right.

Looking forward to the pics

looks like i put the cart before the horse and posted before i had this thing completely dailed in. That said here are some teaser pics until i can take one shot of all of the gear on my yak. The first pic is of the Cannon DR , pretty affordable if you get it in the right place, i know a lot of other members use these.

Here is the home-made version and the old FF...i posted a description of how i made this a while back...35$ total cost! it does have a bit of an angle, i need to replace the reel with something that has more drag strength and can take a heavier weight...using the 2 lb ball now

housing for the new FF and the new unit (bad pick of the new unit)...

and finally, a few really bad quality pictures of the still incomplete canopy...

Nice!youll be the envy on the lake when the sun is burning

 

  Just a thought, regarding the PVC DR (Love it BTW! for it's simplicity!) maybe 2 hose clamps to hold the reel on instead of tape?  Or did you back up some cable ties with the tape?  By adding a line counter reel, that would pretty much take any guessing out of the equation as to depth!