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Thread: My portable FF/DF

  1. #1
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    Default My portable FF/DF


    I fish from two different small boats, one a 17' aluminum canoe and the other a 10' jon. I bought a Humminbird Helix 5 DI/GPS and did not want to mount it permanently to either so I built a portable unit. The box is a plastic "ammo can" from Harbor Freight, the battery is a 7 AH Gel Cell purchased at a local electronic store (similar items at Lowe's HIW). I mounted a short Ram mount to the top of the box, drilled one hole for the power cable and mounted the transducer with tie-wraps in a block of packing foam. In use the transducer trails along very nicely while paddling the canoe or while on a trolling motor on the jon. I charge the battery with a2 amp trickle charger and have used the FF/DF for over 6 hours with no degradation at all.

    Pictures below. (sorry for the dust as I quit fishing when the temperature dropped below 40º )

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    Clint
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    That’s a pretty clever setup!
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    Our minds must be connected somehow. I did basically the same thing on my kayak. I used a thick piece of foam in the bottom with a rectangle cut out that fit the battery to prevent it from sliding around in the hard plastic case. Good job

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    Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"


    Wear that PFD, the life you save might be your own!!
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  4. #4
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    Rickie
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    That's slick, ya otta try it on the ice!
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    Quote Originally Posted by moecarama View Post
    That's slick, ya otta try it on the ice!
    I don't fish when the air temperature is below 40, so l sure as heck don't ice fish. I did when I was much younger and lived in New England, but now I'm a warm weather fan.
    Clint
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    Would like to do something like this for our pontoon boat - it's my folks boat, and they don't want anything permanent mounted on the front end... could you show how you hook the transducer to the TM when using on your Jon boat? Or explain it - thanks!!


    Quote Originally Posted by Clint View Post
    I fish from two different small boats, one a 17' aluminum canoe and the other a 10' jon. I bought a Humminbird Helix 5 DI/GPS and did not want to mount it permanently to either so I built a portable unit. The box is a plastic "ammo can" from Harbor Freight, the battery is a 7 AH Gel Cell purchased at a local electronic store (similar items at Lowe's HIW). I mounted a short Ram mount to the top of the box, drilled one hole for the power cable and mounted the transducer with tie-wraps in a block of packing foam. In use the transducer trails along very nicely while paddling the canoe or while on a trolling motor on the jon. I charge the battery with a2 amp trickle charger and have used the FF/DF for over 6 hours with no degradation at all.

    Pictures below. (sorry for the dust as I quit fishing when the temperature dropped below 40º )

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Size:  134.5 KB

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by wannagofishin View Post
    Would like to do something like this for our pontoon boat - it's my folks boat, and they don't want anything permanent mounted on the front end... could you show how you hook the transducer to the TM when using on your Jon boat? Or explain it - thanks!!
    I don't attach it at all. I just hang it over the side. It will not work at anything faster than trolling motor speed, but that is all I power my jon with. You might make a shaft attached to a C Clamp with the transducer mounted on the end. But, again, that would not work at cruising speed.

    You might want to give Rickie of Podunk Ideas (rnvinc) a holler and see if he can come up with a movable mount. He is a wizard with that sort of thing. Check his website (below) to see some of the mounts he makes. He maybe able to modify one he already has. Look at the Da Ducer mount.

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    Clint
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clint View Post
    I don't attach it at all. I just hang it over the side. It will not work at anything faster than trolling motor speed, but that is all I power my jon with. You might make a shaft attached to a C Clamp with the transducer mounted on the end. But, again, that would not work at cruising speed.

    You might want to give Rickie of Podunk Ideas (rnvinc) a holler and see if he can come up with a movable mount. He is a wizard with that sort of thing. Check his website (below) to see some of the mounts he makes. He maybe able to modify one he already has. Look at the Da Ducer mount.

    Podunk Ideas
    so does the transducer float on the water then? I guess I'm confused as to how it works with it just hanging over the side?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by wannagofishin View Post
    so does the transducer float on the water then? I guess I'm confused as to how it works with it just hanging over the side?
    Yes the transducer just floats on the surface of the water. Refer to the last picture to see the transducer is encased in a block of black foam taken from a shipping box (clothes washer) and held in place with two tie-wraps. I cut the foam to fit tightly around the transducer.

    This is the second unit of this type I have built, and in the first I attached the transducer cable to the Styrofoam block in which I mounted the transducer. See the pictures of the first unit's transducer float below. The DF is a Bottom Line brand (no longer made) and the transducer is very small. Pictures are top and bottom.

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    Clint
    Far West Kentucky
    http://www.crappie.com/crappie/signaturepics/sigpic31827_3.gif
    Old enough to know better and way too old to care!
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