Fish finder

I'm thinking about adding a fish finder to my new kayak.  Can anyone give me some insight on a transducer arm vs. haul mounted transducer?  I was thinking about the arm cause I like the idea of being able to remove the entire unit when I'm not using it. 

Lots of posts on here about this.  Personal choice.  Depends if you plan on ocean fishing near kelp or not.

Not to thread jack but can you expand on the differences? For instance I was planning to do a wet bath with a Lowrance Elite 4, I mainly plan to do saltwater and some freshwater.

Both methods work.  A Mad Frog Liberator allows it all to be removed but means you have a transducer in the water that could get hung on kelp or your fishing line/net/etc.  The wet both duct seal or foam block is good too.  Its what I use.  Both are good ways.  Lots of topics on this.  Feel free to pm me and we can talk on the phone.  Then there is the Lowrance scupper mount option but that is dependent on the kayak and  the transducer.

What kayak do you have?  I prefer the wet bath on my Wildys. If you are interested I have the arm style brand new in the package. Also a Harmony dash board to hook it to. You would need to add tracks like Yak Attacks for the dash board if your kayak does not already have. Get in touch with me and I can help you either way getting it figured out.

I have the transducer arm on my slide tracks and it works great in the rivers i fish around here such as the delta and consumnes. And if I get in the shallows i just raise the arm up and put my fish finder on standby

I went thru hull on my hobie outback with my lowrance elite 4x dsi and it works fine. I used duct seal so I could pull it out to see if could tell a difference with it in the water and it looked the same. It does well showing bottom structure until you start pushing 180-200' of water.

I am a recent first time FF user.  I have a Lowrance Mark 4 and had intentions of doing a full write up on my learning & installation experiences with it, but I have been too busy using it!  I did a through the hull install on my OK Trident 13, still need to figure out where I am going to mount my FF. I am also not sure if this is the final battery set-up. Here are photos of my current set up

a few more images.  One of the things that is not included, nor could I get any response from Lowrance on, is a plug to cover the port not used. Some have suggested grease, but I chose another option to avoid trying to clean out the grease if it comes that I will actually use the port in future.

nice install Brandi, very clean, love the recycling of the yogurt container, cameron

I also used duct seal to deal with the open port. it pulls out easy but otherwise stays in place and keeps the water out

nice install Brandi, very clean, love the recycling of the yogurt container, cameron

Thanks! the lid helps keep the water in too

I also used duct seal to deal with the open port. it pulls out easy but otherwise stays in place and keeps the water out

We have a place called SCRAP Humboldt here that is a great resource for materials for all kinds of projects.  In this case, they had some punchouts from Wing Inflatables that was perfect size to cover the port hole. They also had some Kokotat remnants of waterproof material they make drysuits with that I placed over the punchout.  Small zip tie sealed the deal!  Electrical tape (yellow makes it fun) covered the small brass inset holes.

I am also not sure if this is the final battery set-up. Here are photos of my current set up

Looks good, I would probably still put in a waterproof 2-wire fuse link and if your looking to seal the additional FF port you might want to try a small cain or crutch rubber cap end. If you go that route fill the cap to the brim with dialectic grease and push it on. The only thing is that you might need to trim the rubber back a little so it doesn't stick out so far but it should work. I used this method on my old Garmin round connection plug.

I am also not sure if this is the final battery set-up. Here are photos of my current set up

Looks good, I would probably still put in a waterproof 2-wire fuse link and if your looking to seal the additional FF port you might want to try a small cain or crutch rubber cap end. If you go that route fill the cap to the brim with dialectic grease and push it on. The only thing is that you might need to trim the rubber back a little so it doesn't stick out so far but it should work. I used this method on my old Garmin round connection plug.

Hi Abdiver,

I do have a inline fuse INSIDE the drybox.  Not sure if its waterproof, probably not but the drybox does the trick.  Even then, not sure if its really needed with this battery set up. Would your suggestion of a waterproof 2-wire fuse link be replacing my inline fuse or additional? 

I wasn't clear with my previous post. I am not sure I will stay with a AA battery system, may go to lead battery - but that means weight. It would provide longer battery power than AAs (@ 8-9 hours with fresh batteries) though. 

I hadn't considered the cain/crutch cap end to cover the port. Thanks for the cap suggestion however I did not want to use grease.  So far, what I have come up with works.

Thanks again,
Brandi

Additional comment - I found the instructions that came with the FF to be somewhat vague or at least not fully informative for Kayak anglers.  Where I found a WEALTH of information was not from Lowrance (instruction book, website, contacting via email), but from NCKA members!  A HUGE Thank You for your assistance!!