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Just bought a 93sv with the navionics data at Cabela’s while they had them on sale. Any tips, tricks, or general knowledge I should know before I get this thing put on the boat? It came with the GT54 transducer any pros/cons to add with this?
Attachment 451534
Another thing to add, I’m coming from a Striker 4 to this and have been running my little trolling motor and it off of the same battery, should I have a dedicated battery for this unit or will the single battery be enough? No livescope for now. I’ll definitely be purchasing it at some point in the future and will have a dedicated battery once that is put in to the equation.
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Just purchased one myself. Delivery scheduled for today.
I have the 56 transducer though.
Any info would interest me as well.
Only advice is to get a transom mounting board if you don't already have one. When I installed my 93 UHD GT54 transducer, I have to move it three times to get it to work properly while on plane. All those extra holes in the boat were avoided.
Amazon.com
My Garmin is mounted in the back and is hooked up to the motor starting battery. Use the loop magnet thingy that comes with the FF to avoid interference. Only my bow mounted trolling motor has a dedicated battery up front.
Attachment 451602
You will get good images with this unit and transducer.
Good deal. Are the stern saver boards any good? I need something that takes up a little less real estate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Opie1
I’m in a small jon boat with a 5hp Honda on the back, so no alternator or any kind of recharging setup.
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Are the Scotty mounts any good as well? The price can't be beat, but I want to make sure I'm not going to get burned on it. The D size ram mounts are very expensive!
Instead of giving Amazon $20.00 plus shipping, you can get a piece of old plastic cutting board and use that. Be sure to rough up the side that gets mounted to boat...Quote:
Originally Posted by ALBuzz
I have mine mounted with a C sized ram mount. I've had it for about a month or so and so far it's holding good.Quote:
Originally Posted by ALBuzz
Yep the scotty is a good mount. I have one holding a uhd 93 sv on top of a mount i made & it never moves.
I ended up going with the C size Ram Mount. I looked at it as a little insurance policy for my first "big" fishing purchase. Also went with the stern saver mini pad as well. I know I could have saved some money but I figured why not splurge on the second nicest thing on "Ol' Stump Jumper" she deserves it.
I work for a company directly related to Amazon, so if anyone needs anything off of Amazon go ahead and buy it because it keeps us building rocket engines here in Alabama. I would appreciate it! :Rofl
Thank you all for your responses. The stuff should be here friday and I'll get to putting it all together in between shifts at work this weekend. Hopefully I can get it out next week and give this new tech a whirl and start seeing more than I ever have before!
When I get this thing on the boat I'll update you with how it goes and what I learn as time goes on!Quote:
Originally Posted by ScobySC58
I used the Johnny Ray swivel mount. I hate ram mounts. I think they’re junk. I never had to ask if a Johnny Ray mount moves or hold its place.
Swivel Mounts | Product categories |
Oops. Too late☹️.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Opie1
I would buy one of those if I enjoyed staring at my feet.
Ha! I guess it depends on your set up. I have to post a pic of my set up. I’m looking right at my rods or slip bobber and FF at the same time
Quote:
Originally Posted by Opie1
That looks great! In my jon boat, I have to stand and fish all day so I need the FF up higher so i'm not hunch back all day looking down. I usually bring the fold up camp chair in case I want to sit down and relax. One day I'll build a mount to rivet on the front lip of the boat so I can have a foot controlled TM and do a little sitting.
You should spend at least one whole day on the water using your new unit without even putting a line in the water.
I'll definitely be doing that on Monday. We are supposed to have another thunderstorm system come through on Sunday so I may spend all day on some familiar waters to work on adjusting things. I've watched some videos and read about adjusting the gain/brightness to establish clarity on sidescan and the DI. My Ram Mount and Stern Saver are sitting at my front door and will pick them up and get cracking on it once I get off of work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bugtussle
I find this applies to first time Livescope users also. I really help me when I got my unit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bugtussle
Another question before I put this hull saver on, is my motor going to get in the way of the left side imaging? I see in the manual where garmin says to have the transducer 15 inches away from the prop. I have a 5hp Honda tiller motor on the back and I keep it all the way down to help the boat track through the water. I am assuming the 15 inches should get the "cone" of sonar signal away from it, but I am not thoroughly educated on FF subjects. This thought crossed my mind before bed and wanted to get some input before diving off into this tomorrow afternoon. The Ram Mount went together nicely. It's very sturdy and I don't see it moving or bouncing around any time soon. Again, thank you all for the input.
Attachment 452009Attachment 452010
Got it all staged up last night. Going to mount the transducer tonight and hit the water in the morning. Keep an eye out for the baddest bathtub on Wheeler Lake if you’re out there tomorrow!
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Attachment 452033 Sorry for the side ways pic. I can't remember how to rotate them. :dono
Home made mount to raise the head unit up to be easier on the neck. That's a scotty mount on top & it never moves. Also an old vehicle lap top mount slid & bolted through pipe & it will lay down completely flat when running. That's a pvc tee that i put a tennis ball on to serve as a bounce buster too. This mount works great & sure is easy on the old neck. :biggrin I mounted the pvc pole I ended up making in the bicycle repair stand which lets it swivel up onto the deck when running. Diy is cheap & serves the purpose real good for me. I also bought a $100.00 wise double seat portable seat stand off of amazon & sit down when crappie fishing now & it is so much easier on my neck it's unbelievable.
Took it out for a quick spin tonight in the creek, it seems like the transducer is cutting out when I move in the boat and sporadically while I use the trolling motor. Any ideas on what’s causing this? I didn’t fall below 11.8v so I’m wondering if I’ll have to have a dedicated battery for the unit?
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I am not sure, but in my mind there's only two things to cause this. One the transducer leaving the water, and electric current interruption. That's my thoughts. If the connections are clean and tight, battery has enough juice, could be a problem in the wire itself. I would check all connections first, and if that didn't fix the problem then take a multi-meter and check the continuity of the wiring...before I went and forked out the dollars for another (dedicated) battery.
I believe it’s the transducer leaving the water. I think I’m going to have to lower it some more. It will end up being under the boat at this point. I have read that it’s not supposed to be that far under, but I won’t be able to keep it submerged while fishing without it being there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamesdean
Ended up having to stand on the right side of the boat to keep it submerged while trolling.
I noticed I had lost DI and SI while boating back at plane to the ramp just now. So I’m figuring that there is no water touching while going full speed.
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Attachment 452137
Took the boat out and adjusted down as far as I could get without re drilling and angled down a click and it seemed to help out a lot. I still lose signal while going up the big river, but I don’t think I’m going to get any better results out on the River unless the thing is way under the boat. As long as I can stand up front ill be good. My biggest issue was losing signal while standing at the trolling motor up front.I went home and grabbed a quick nap before coming back out here to test it all out. I’ll take it out again tomorrow and report with what I find.
I know y’all said to not take a rod and spend all day on the unit, but I couldn’t help myself. Brought a nice one in while it’s getting colder.
Attachment 452138
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You will need to lower it in my opinion. The bottom of the ducer should be flat or parallel to the lake bottom bottom. You’ll need to find a happy medium as I assume your boat will rock and roll depending your movement in the boat. This will get you the most accurate and clear picture. Your well on your way to ripping some more lips
I heard that. You think it would be safe to lower it down even farther? The transducer mount won’t have a lot of its back against the plate and I’m worried about it snapping under the pressure from the water while on plane. I may be overthinking it. I could also make an aluminum plate to extend it down even farther if it comes down to that. The way I had it was working well. I wasn’t getting much discrepancy from what I usually get out of my other FF.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nova
Yes it rocks and rolls a lot as I move around. It’s almost like fishing in a pirouge. The boat sits very shallow in the water and when I’m up front, it picks the back up even more. I may have to reorganize and put more weight in the back to counter all this. It would be perfect if I had another person in the boat with me to keep the back weighed down while I’m up front.
I’m also considering maybe making a hinged door for the center seat and putting the battery in there to lighten up the front and move the weight farther back. I think keeping the battery all the way in the back will be too much.
I’ve got to get someone out here with me to operate the boat and I can stand by and look to get a better idea of where it needs to go.
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Attachment 452504
This is mine weather it’s right or not never had an issue but you may have to move your plate down
Sorry not a computer techy guy with this stuff so you got three pictures
I have the 93sv but i don't use it as a standard depth finder. I never mounted the GT54 transducer. I would suspect that it would mount like an other transducer. The book that came with my Garmin had a lot of information that would be helpful in using the device. I never turn anything but Livescope on. Sorry I couldn't be more help. I would go with a good mount - RAM is expensive, but probably the best. I used the "C" grade for mine.
After going out this week I think I've come to the conclusion that I dont need the DI and SI while on plane. I trolled around at idle and spotted some fish and actually caught a few!
I'm not losing signal after lowering down the transducer some more. I think it would help to drop it about 1.5 to 2 inches more but I'm out of space on the stern saver to give the transducer something to have a lot of backing against. I could get another stern saver and cut it to fit in the space below the one I have mounted to give me that extra room but its doing well so far. I cant stand too far on the left side of the boat or it will come out of the water. I think I'm going to have to live with it since im sitting so shallow in the water. On a larger boat, I think I wouldn't be having these problems because it would be sitting slightly lower in the water. giving me that 1.5-2 inches im needing.
I agree with Nova...your transducer is mounted too high.
I'm guessing here but I would think if you could drill another set of holes maybe 3/4" lower it should be enough to get the transducer down in the water and it would make a world of difference in your performance.
FWIW, those transducers are designed to kick up if you hit something in the water.
The part of the transducer bracket that the transducer mounts to, should be level with the bottom of your boat.
A point that I have always tried to live by when adding new toys to my boat is that, if I'm going to make the investment in something new, I'm going to take the time to try to get it installed where I get everything out it that I can and I'm going to take the time to learn how it works. I've mounted some transducers 3 times before getting it right and could get the readings I was expecting.
The point being you should be able to get SI & DI readings out of this unit while running down the river on plane, why accept something less?
I understand what you're saying. I'm not worried about the transducer kicking up or hitting something, I'm worried about the mount snapping where the screws are attached from the pressure of the water pushing on it. There wont be much support between the plate and the back of the mount itself after lowering the screw holes down. You think it would be okay that way? My max speed is about 15mph on a good day. I'm not trying to be contradictory, I'm just so uneducated on these things. Thank you for the input fellas.
I understand your concern. I doubt that you'd have to worry about breaking your transducer bracket by lowering your transducer to where it needs to be.
I don't know what material is used to make the bracket but I'm sure it can handle some abuse. I would move, modify or add on to your transducer mount if you really feel that it needs it to provide the additional support. Remember a little extra effort up front will pay dividends in your enjoyment for years to come.
Good luck with your install, you're almost there.
Thanks for the help boss. I will move it down and take a chance on it!Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiemax
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My question would be, why do you want DI and SI while running on plane?