Cup Holder Mount for Fish Finder

I have a 20 year old fishfinder that used to sit on my long-gone bass boat. When I recently bought a Hobie Outback it seemed the perfect vessel for the old timer (no, I'm not cheap, just really, really, really frugal.) I didn't like the idea of drilling holes in my new toy and mounting the finder permanently especially since on longer trips I cartop with kayak upside down - lots of chances to knock off a permanent mount and cause damage to the kayak. My solution was to rig up a friction fit cup holder mount that is quickly and easily removed and stowed with the battery in a foam box under the forward hatch. The friction fit part consists of a short piece of 3 inch diameter PVC. 3 inches is the inside diameter - the outside diameter is a little over 3 1/4 inches. Since the cup holder is a little less than 3 inches in diameter, I cut a 1 inch vertical slice out of the pipe. This allows you to squeeze the pipe and slide it into the cup holder. The rest of the mount is made of 3/4 inch exterior ply. The finder mount is screwed to the little platform and off we go. So far it has worked great. I mounted the sensor inside the hull right under the hatch just in front of the seat using silicone bath caulk. The sensor cable and power cable come up from the front hatch and the hatch lid closes over them with no problem. I haven't been out in any heavy seas with this rig yet but I don't think I will have a water penetration problem - the wires just kinda sink into the rubber hatch seal and it seems water tight. The pics should clarify.

Nice idea.

You might considr one of these clams for your power cord. I would not rely on the hatch seal not leaking.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... lassNum=30

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Please take Dan's words to heart. One of our Hobie team members capsized and nearly sunk his Outback due to a compromised hatch seal. The reason the seal was deficient was because of running the FF wiring out the hatch much like I see in your pictures. It happened during the Jamaica Bay tournament and a write up can be found at the following link.

I believe the findings were that as spray came over it was slowly leaking into around the seal and into the hull. He didn't notice the change in handling until it was too late. It was the change in balance and sloshing water that brought on the capsize. Luckily Tim was in very good condition and was able to swim his kayak to land.

http://www.ultimatekayakfishing.com/forums/Rescue-Jbay-t2302.html

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Roger
http://www.aldenofsunapee.com/
http://www.NEKF.com/

Thanks to both of you for the info. Guess I have not been out in the big waves yet - I can see that penetration of the hatch seal is possible under a deluge of water. I'll certainly look into the clams.

We aren't even talking big waves, we are talking in a bay with heavy winds and a lot of spray working its way in.

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Roger
http://www.aldenofsunapee.com/
http://www.NEKF.com/

I got anothe hobie and was planning on using the new ram wedge mount in the mast post for my fish finder. After reading NH Explorer's account of his friends hobie which turtled due to excess water seeping in through the hatch seal I"m a little nervous about the idea of running the tranducer cable under the hatch seal. However, I would prefer to do it this way since it removes the "clutter" from the gunnales and was wondering if anyone had a solution for addressing the seepage problem through the hatch seal.

You can find spots for the clam that aren't on the gunnel.

Fwd cockpit wall.
Inside the netting
Cup holder
etc
etc


Note the use of the clam shell permits you to disconnect th FF for transport. etc

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I used the clamshell on my current revo and it works pretty well but on the 2nd hobie which I just recently purchased I was trying to keep the front area completely free of cables, etc. so that nothing gets in the way of landing a big fish!

Here are some pics of my current revo:





I'll probably use the clamshell on the forward cockpit wall and will install the fishfinder on the ram wedge mount. Any issues with the wedge mount cracking the mast post?