MAKING A PORTABLE SOUNDER

[fish_hunter]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions-I have an Eagle sounder with transducer that I want to convert to a portable one that I can use both in my tinny and canoe so I can swap the sounder between the two.

Has anyone made one up and if so how did you go about it?

Cheers

[2iar]

Hi Mate,

I'm certainly no expert on electronics, but I used to have a portable sounder.

It shouldn't be too hard - simply adapting the power lead to run from a 12v source with an inline fuse. This could be anything from car battery or small sealed battery (probably best suited to what you need), right down to AA's. I actually converted mine the other way - ie to run from a jump start pack instead of the 8 AA's housed in the unit. I bought a power cable for about $35 and put on a cig plug with a fuse on it. You could also use croc clips I suppose.

The transducer was connected to the transom by a big suction cup - it might be hard to get a hold of one of these, but some sort of removable mounting bracket might be the go.

Good luck,
Mike

[fish_hunter]

Mike,

Thanks for the resonse. I have a small sealed battery which I think I will just connect to the sounder with alligator clips. The part that I am not sure of is how to mount the transducer so that it can be readily removed and at the same time works effectively and does not fall off.

Thanks

[bidkev]

Mike,

Thanks for the resonse. I have a small sealed battery which I think I will just connect to the sounder with alligator clips. The part that I am not sure of is how to mount the transducer so that it can be readily removed and at the same time works effectively and does not fall off.

Thanks

Sundown have sliding transducer brackets (about 12 bucks in ally and dearer in stainless). If you buy two and fit them to both your boats, you can simply slide the holder off one and put on the other. The holder on the other would not be needed of course, but you could keep it as a spare.

I reckon you could mount the one for the canoe with silicone.

kev

It is a pleasure to give advice, humiliating to need it, and normal to ignore it.

[Mr__Bean]

Eagle have a standard "portable mount" that allows you to mount the transducer on any flat surface by using their 100mm diameter (roughly) suction cup.

Whilst it will not hold for high speed, I had one on a 12ft tinnie with a 15hp outboard and it would rarely come off that.

I tried to search for a decent picture but could only find the one in the link below.

It is a standard Eagle part designed for use with Eagle sounders.

See here: http://www.lei-extras.com/store/sear...ducer+Brackets

- Darren

[fish_hunter]

Darren,

Thanks for the info about the suction caps. Looks like it could do the job. I will try to hunt one down.

Cheers

[2iar]

Darren,

Thanks for the info about the suction caps. Looks like it could do the job. I will try to hunt one down.

Cheers

They work OK mate, but they can move a little bit. This won't be an issue in the canoe, but it occassionaly could be in the tinnie, due to speed/drag. Easy enough to correct though. The mounting brackets would be better in terms of keeping the transducer in the correct position consistently, but that means drilling or siliconing. A slight trade off either way and your call of course, just thought I'd pass on what I've experienced.

Good luck,
Mike

[Coontakinta]

Fish hunter, not sure if this helps, as 8nt sure how u intend to mount the sounder, but something I've seen, if running from a 12V car battery or similar is mount the sounder onto the lid of a battery box and have the battery in that box.

Does that make sense?

This way the whole package is confined within a small manouverable unit.

[ahoj]

Thats how it looks like

Ahoj

[Dignity]

I used to swap my sounder between 2 boats. Little bit fiddly but made 2 base plates for the head out of a piece of 5 ply so that I could remove it and screw it onto the second base as most heads are made not to be easily removed.. For your purposes you would need to make only 1 base and a box for the canoe. The power lead I terminated into 2 pin sockets to make for easy disconnection. For the transducer I screwed a thick alum plate to each boat which had tapped holes in it to suit. Just 3 screws and it was off the 1st boat and onto the second boat. Was cheap as chips and worked a treat. The commercial products mentioned are worth investigating.

Sam

[bigbrian47]

fishhunter what model eagle is it?
i have a spare portable lowrance/eagle carrying case complete with transducer &suction cup takes 8
D size batteries
i've used it on a mates boat on glenlyon at speed no problems
used to take it to the swains found it excellent
pm me if interested in it
cheers brian