Last night i purchased a eagle cuda 128 fishfinder
with a gift card i received at christmas.I have a
square stern canoe but the transducer is one that
screws into a hull,i can buy a suctioncup mount
or a trolling motor type mount for it but for more money.Next question,how to power it,a 12v
7amp type battery thats rechargable or is there
another option?I have come close to returning it
and just buying the bottom line model that looks
like a trolling motor that operates on 3 "c"cell
batteries for only 10.00 more but thought the eagle was a better unit< helllpppp!!!
Options
You did not say what your boat is made of so this is going to take a little guess work. Glue a plastic or wooden plate to the stern with silicone and screw the mount to the plate. If silicone wont stick try polyurethane adhesive/caulk. The poly caulk takes a week to dry. Cabela’s sells a battery and charger for about $30 that works very well. Should last you a weekend or more on one charge.
transducer
If you have a composite (Glass or Kevlar, etc), you can shoot right through the hull. The transducer must be flat against the bottom, and in a small pool of water. This won’t work with aluminum and I don’t know about royalex, ram-ex, or other plastic boats. I used it with kevlar, and it works great.
Pat #2
depth finder
The canoe is a esquif with royalite.In powering
the unit i see that bottomline uses 3 c cell batteries which would be what voltage and amps.
Mounting and batteries
– Last Updated: Feb-18-05 1:38 PM EST –
Mounting is easy on a square-stern boat, with no drilling required. Rig up a way to clamp a piece of angle iron or aluminum angle to the stern. You could just use a C-clamp at the top, and the metal will then lay against the stern all the way down to below the waterline. At the bottom end of that piece of metal, drill some holes and bolt your transducer on. If you want to get more elaborate (this is what I'd do), weld, braze or bolt the metal to the C-clamp, so it all stays together as one piece, making it a lot quicker to install each time you use it. Make sure that when you drill the transducer mounting holes, you set things up so the transducer "shoots" straight down, NOT in-line with the metal mounting bracket which is aiming forward, since it is tight against the stern plate.
For a compact 12-volt battery, try Gander Mountain, Cabelas, or some other big sporting goods store. You can get sealed 12-volt batteries that are only about 5"x5"x3", which will run the unit all day long and then some. They are rechargeable, and are popular for powering depth finders when ice fishing. They are a bit pricey, but they are worth it for the portability they give you, and they last a pretty long time.
Easy fix
Mount the transducer to a flat piece of wood that can be C clamped to the stern or side. Nothing special.
2 - 6 volt lantern batteries wired is series will power the unit for a very long time…that’s how all the guys ice fishing around here make there power boat units portable. You can make a simple battery box.
Check this out
http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/articles_view.asp?Kayak_Articles=39
Lots of useful info on this site - good luck!
Here’s what my brother and I did…
…we tied a rope with fabric markers on it every foot around sis’s chest, just under her
shoulders with a cinder block to her feet.
Just sliped her over the side and counted the
fabric markers as they went through our hands.
Worked pretty well. Oh, she didn’t like it at
first, but quieted right down the second or
third time.
Hto share our beer with her to keep her from telling dad.
By the end of the day she seemed to be enjoying it, but she was never quite the same after Lake
Superior.
Shame too, we were planning a trip to the Caymens.
Reminds me of the two brothers
of certain ethnic decent who rented a boat to go fishing. After drifting for several hours they all of the sudden started catching fish after fish and threw out the anchor. One says to the other “Man this is a good spot we need to do something to remember how to come back here”. With that the other brother jumps overboard and doesen’t come back up for several minutes. Surfacing, choking ,and out of breath his brother pulls him back into the boat and asks “what the hell did you do that for?” He answers “I put an X on the bottom of the boat so we can find the spot again!” Dumbfounded at the answer he looks at him and says “That was stupid, how the hell do you know we are going to get the same boat?” !
That was a stupid thing to do…
…the chalk washes off.