Fishfinder mouinted on Cubbyhole lid

[Michel]

Hoping someone can give me some advise, I have my Elite5 Fish finder mounted in the cup holder on the dash at the moment which means that I have to remove it before a surf launch (in heavy seas especially) because I have lost a fish finder like that in the past, the problem I am having with that is that it leaves the plug exposed and those copper pins corrode on the sea water in minutes. It also is a bit of a Schlep to install the fish finder in the sea once you are past backline, and in general the fish finder is exposed and vulnerable to being damaged or knocked off…

I have seen a number of guys in New Zealand that mounts their fish finder on the cubbyhole lid, similar as in the pictures I have attached, It looks like a really good idea to me, the only thing I store in the Cubby is my gloves and sun block... so not that I am going to lose any space, plugs fittings won’t be exposed to corrosion and I don’t have to remove it during launches and beaching

Does anyone have any comments? Pros and Cons? or does anyone have theirs fitted like that, would like to get some feedback thanks!

Michel

 

[Michel]

Mounted on Cubby:

 

[Michel]

Inside the Cubby:

 

[gumboot]

hi michel.

i am also thinking of installing my fishfinder in my cubby lid, i like to keep the front of my ski as un-cluttered as possible so that if i ever hit a wave or something and slam into the handle bars there is nothing to cut me or hurt me like stainless steel brackets or anything like that.

i am also sure that you could buy a new cubby lid from yamaha (they are quite standard) if it turns out to be a bad placement. this is better then drilling holes somewhere that are wrong.

as far as not losing your fishfinder, the catch phrase around where i live for anything like this ---- sika flex!! i cant imagine a wave pulling out a fishfinder that is flush mounted with pro2hp sika.

also, i use my ski for surfing too, and we have had to secure our seat and hatch lids with straps because of the nature of the sport. i reckon all ski's should come std. with straps here, if you flip in the surf and the seat comes off, the ski fills with water and the rest is obvious. also, the front plastic hatch lid and cubby lid can get ripped off quite easily (sika flex and all).

here are some pic's to see how we do it. these straps are available from HSA (high surf accessories) online, http://www.highsurfrescue.com/welcome_page.html but are quite pricey. we just shopped around and the results are perfect. you just need to get someone with an industrial sewing machine and the rest is easy.

let me know how your installation goes, i am still trying to work up the courage!! where will your transducer go?

 

[gumboot]

here is the lid

 

[Michel]

Hi Gumboot,

Well I have never really given much thought to strapping down the seats, I suppose I didn’t really think that they would come off in the event that you capsize but yes makes sense and especially for the front lid, I have heard of them coming off during a launch, so will definitely give it some more thought!

My fish finder was actually ripped out of the bracket that holds it, the bracket was well secured to the ski, but like I said I want to get rid of that concept all together, I am certainly going to look into mounting it on the Cubby lid so will give you a update on the progress

Transducer will stay inside the hull

Thanks for the advise!

 

[johanvd]

Hi Michel,

I cannot give you advise on where to mount it as mine is mounted on a stainles steel bracket in front of my handle bars... racetech job...

What I however do when I launch, is remove my unit and place caps over the terminal / connector... The copper plugs I also spray with WD40 after every wash so it is still "oiled" when I launch...  The caps that I am talking about are those rubber fittings you get for chair legs... You buy them at any builders express for like R10 for a packet of four...

Cheers,

Johan

 

[Michel]

Good point thanks Johan,