portable fish finders

Hi

Looking for options ( other then drilling holes) to fit a fish finder to my ski.
Has anyone tried those portable fish finders that you throw a floating transponder in the water, and if so are they reliable.

Thanks

Hey there Doggie, this is copied from a post I made on a similar topic in another part of the forum that you may not have read:

Do NOT buy a portable fishifinder unless Humminbird or Garmin. Even then the transducers supplied are attached to the ski with a suction cup which I reckon I would have ripped off within the first 5 mins on the ski.
I am gathering from peoples talk you are all on a budget like myself, so I will advise what I have found works good for me. However if you have a larger budget the Raymarine A60 unit that Andrew is running is in a league of its own and definately a desireable unit to purchase should you have the budget.

I am now on my second Lowrance X51. Reason for this is on my Seadoo I wanted a unit that sits perfectly inside the glove compartment with the battery and still allows me to put keys, phone and bits and pieces in their along with it. My finders have always been completley seperate from the ski and can be removed at any time. I drill hole is required for the transducer cable into the glove box. Benefits of it in the glove box are that when viewing the sun is sheilded by the lid etc and no holes are required to be drilled to fit the sounder. Yamahas proivide more options due to the drink holders. If you did not want to have the finder in the glove box several can be flush mounted into the top of the lid providing a great finish also.

I use a dry cell sealed battery which is a 12V rechargeable available from Super Cheap Autos for $35.00 The batteries dimensions are only approx 10cm long by 5cm wide and 6cm tall and can be easily charged of a standard car battery trickle charger. I get around 6 hours constant running out of each charge. Alternately you can connect straight to the main battery. I decided not to so all charge in main was there for starting etc.

My transducer will one day be mounted on a bracket that JETSKIFISHING will make for Seadoos, but in the mean time it is cable tied to the boarding ladder bracket and runs perfectly. I get an perfect reading up to around 30mph then it starts fuzzing out.

Hey Doggie,

I just fitted a second hand humminbird wide 100 to my ski, didnt really want to drill holes either, but ended up doing it, turned out sweet and those finders are CHEAP as second hand

I see you are in Franklin, Where bouts ? keen for a trip out on the manukau over the Xmas break ? I live out at Clarks beach

hey 2x i mounted my transducer in the hull by the water box silicon in and works mint at all speeds even get the temp read out as well

what sounder was that Fishoe?

navman 4430

a cheap sounder at $269 ip rating of ip66 so its fully submergible

Hi I have an old wide 100 with new wiring and sensor unit but I was thinking of going for GPS as well...

keen to know about a sounder if it means I don't have to put hole in my ski though?

Regards

Keith

hi the sounder works fine with transom mount transducer glued in the hull dont need the though hull model transducer i was doing 75kph and still reading depth and temp can flush mount or it comes with a bracket as well

H Fisho

do you have any pictures of the transducer installation?


Keith

fishoe wrote:

is this mounted at the back of the hull ?
have you got a pic of this installation a little further back so i can picture where this is installed better .

thanks

just to the right of my hand is the shaft going though the hull at rear