Making higher grade units portable

Just mulling over the potential for upgrading. I fish from a rowboat, no power propulsion. Thinking about going to a side-scan unit but don't know if my slow movement will be a problem?

I'd have to rig up a removable mount for the transducer. Currently, on my HB 570 DI, the transducer is mounted to a suction cup mount that I slide down on the transom as needed. Can a side scan transducer operate under this condition?

I'm guessing I'll need a pretty good battery but don't want an automotive size battery. Will something along the lines of a lawn tractor battery work? My trips are usually less than 4 hours. I don't mind charging after each trip.

I'd try to mount the unit in some sort of toolbox looking thing for ease of handling and keeping things all together. Any danger to the unit moving or handling it in this fashion?

My deepest water is around 40' but I seldom fish in that depth; 25' or less is 99% of my fishing.


This whole thing is probably a pipe dream anyway but it would be interesting to know how it could potentially be done.

Satisfactory SI images can be obtained at slower boat speeds ... Just remember to keep the chart speed lower ... And try to keep the scan track as straight as possible...

I would think that 1 of the HB suction cup mounts would works with an SI xducer ...
http://www.humminbird.com/WorkArea/D...t.aspx?id=2820

I have seen a few HB SI units rigged up portable ... Some for easy carry bank fishing ...Some for ice fishing...(maybe Vic will post pix of his setup when he sees this thread)...

You might want to look around in the kayak/small craft forum also ...
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/kayak...ll-watercraft/

Some guys use small lawn batteries now in their boat to isolate the unit from other electronics...

Post up pix of the setup that you come up with ... It may help others ...

Rickie

You can try a 12v deer feeder battery for the unit, and you can make a watertight box for it with quick connections etc., for <$25. This type battery will run my Lowrance Elite 4 gps/2d for 12 hrs or so, a 4 hr trip for you should work. Kayakers use these type batteries a lot to power their FF's, etc. so it could work. Google for kayak fishing forums and you will see what they do. A small garden tractor battery will power it just fine as well. The smaller deer feeder battery will require a special charger but not much $$ either. Depends on what or how you want to do it.

I have a Big Game Prowler II kayak with a HB 899 unit mounted on it. My battery is a Werker WKA12-9F2 Werker 12V 9Ah battery in a waterproof container. My images are as good as any other HB 899 unit mounted on a bass boat or any other boat. In fact with human power there are a lot of things you don't have to worry about such as interference from an engine...jack plate...so on. I can get 2 MPH out of the kayak. The images are good even at 1 MPH. I have stayed out as long 8 hours and the battery was still going. But theoretically it will only last for 12 hours....all things being optimum. But it is rare I stay out 8 hours.

Regards

Sully Transducer Brackets for Outboard Motors | Bass Pro Shops
I used this transducer bracket for my 997 to make it portable between several boats mine, & friends. Its no pipe dream any of the HB 898 998's etc will work fine. For batteries get cabelas they have 8amh hour batteries will power 898 for 6 hours plus same batteriees all the ice fishing guys use ($26.99 on sale)on their electronics. Speaking of ice fishing just go out where there is a bunch of guys ice fishing and look how their electronics are rigged it will blow your mind. I helped a friend last year rig a 998 to a 4 wheeler for ice fishing, transducer is mounted on a pole with its 20 cable he can read any hole he drills in ice within 20 circle of 4x4. no setup time drill hole stick ducer in hole & see screen pict on unit mounted to front on 4x4 bingo. Oh and if you put a collar on pole you can hang it from upside down 5 gallon bucket(need to drill pole dia hole in bucket bottom) then you turn pole slowly & steady & bingo you gots a $2000.oo 360 side image for price of a plastic bucket.

I could make a bracket using that idea for mounting the transducer; I already have a suction cup mount for my 570.
So I guess it could work provided I have some headway on and can keep things somewhat straight.

Thanks for the ideas and input.
Now to look for a unit.

spent less then $10 total on a 2' long 1x4 pc of birch from lowes and a pair of C-clamps from harbor freight ,, cut off a pc about 3'' long then glued and screw to the longer pc to fit the transom , in my case 15'' for the transom + 3'' for the block on top,,,, the top block give you and keeps you at the right height and keeps the mount square to the transom,,, wouldn't ever use a suction cup one again cuz they dont suck ,,, lost one in a prop once and the was enough for me

Thanks for the idea and photo, RB55. That's a nice, clean looking portable mount. I won't have to worry about the prop problem since my oars never move that fast, LOL!

With help from Brian at BBG, I decided on a HB 598. They were on sale, his sale price was budget friendly to me and my situation and I'm working small waters that I know pretty well already. I don't have a trailer for my boat so everything goes in and out everytime.

I did have another question for the smart folks here, though; if I had both units, the 570 and the 598 running at the same time, would they interfere with one another, both transducer's mounted on the transom, with separate power supplies to each? Don't think I'll need the 570 2d or DI but was simply mulling over the what ifs. I'm thinking the colors on the 598 might be more visible than the grey scale anyway.

Both the 598 and the 570 DI units use some of the same frequencies and therefore have a chance of sonar-to-sonar interference. Sometimes turning on and up the Noise Filter menu will help with this.

Thanks for weighing in, Greg. I thought that might be an issue. I'll be interested to see how the DI image is on the 598. I never used it too much on the 570 so I probably won't use it much on the 598, either.

I run a 998 SI up front and a 788 on the back. Experience very minor cross talk on 2D on the 998, but higher chart speed spreads it out and if it starts annoying me or I want to take pictures I just turn off the sonar on the 788. For a battery, I would get a 35AH gel deep cycle battery like made for powered golf caddies, easy to handle and will not take up much room. I use them to power underwater lights night fishing.