Thx m8. If i'd zoomed up on the pic i'd have answered my own question.
Ive got a 17ah FPV coming. It will be good to do a bit of tinkering in the shed

The sounder install is taking it's time to get right so in the meantime I'm running blind.
I did manage to get some time to install my forward rod holders that will be good the scotty rod holders and the berkley QS. I've installed them slightly offset to eachother so trolling shouldn't be an issue with the rod butts hitting eachother:

I've started making the mount for the external transducer which I pretty happy with in the end. Bagpuss offered me some advice, and although we could figure a suitable time for me to pop over to visit him, I've got a solution which I think works.
I had a railblaza mount lying arou d and it just about fits snuggly into the portion of my scotty mount that will be redundant.
This was the second attempt out of 3mm Alu flat that I had lying around. The first attempt was out of 16mm and just hooked over the rail, but being made of such thin and narrow flat, it just looked as if it would vibrate while moving...however slow





I've since adjusted the transducer angle slightly and added a small velcro strip above the yak waist line. This should put it far enough forward to see stuff I sat above and out of the way from being knocked

neat

That Railblaza idea is pretty neat Nath, at the other end have you considered removing the transom mount from the transducer and also the 'L" from the end of the alu flat. Then you could put a hole in the vertical section and bolt the transducer straight to it and reduce some of the bulk below the waterline.

Thanks both.

That's not a bad idea Eoin. I'll have a little look at doing that this afternoon, thanks

I did use a similar external mount for my transducer for a while. But found it was prone to being knocked when in shallow or snaggy tree filled water. I ended up doing an internal mount which works fine and I can beach or run along submerged trees or logs without worrying about damaging anything or getting caught up. I also considered the extra drag that this method created when paddling hard.Your forward rod mounts look great. Do they interfere with the pedal adjustment for your rudder, or have you allowed for that? It looks like a well set up system though.

happyas wrote:I did use a similar external mount for my transducer for a while. But found it was prone to being knocked when in shallow or snaggy tree filled water. I ended up doing an internal mount which works fine and I can beach or run along submerged trees or logs without worrying about damaging anything or getting caught up. I also considered the extra drag that this method created when paddling hard.Your forward rod mounts look great. Do they interfere with the pedal adjustment for your rudder, or have you allowed for that? It looks like a well set up system though.

Hey Larry, the sole reason I am mounting externally is due to my transducer have sidescan so needs to be in the water rather than mounted to the internal skin of the hull. To minimize any snagging in shallows I have kept the transducer as high in the water as possible, without hull interfering with the sidescan functionality.

I'm not sure how the drag will effect performance, but if i'm paddling hard then chances are I'm not heading from a-2-b so could just lift it out of the water. I'll see how I go, and I'm not against trying a few iterations.

Regarding the scotty mounts, they are slightly staggered and as far forward as possible. only tried them out last weekend for the first time, when I was only bait fishing so not in the way. Although I think that if I have the rods out to the side for trolling I may have to limit my "reach" forward for the catch or the wing of the paddle may hit the rods. This could be eleaviated - at least slightly, by have the rod slightly facing forward. Again, I'm guessing this setup will take time on the water and a few iterations to get as good as it can be.

Seasherpa wrote:That Railblaza idea is pretty neat Nath, at the other end have you considered removing the transom mount from the transducer and also the 'L" from the end of the alu flat. Then you could put a hole in the vertical section and bolt the transducer straight to it and reduce some of the bulk below the waterline.

I've had a similar mount on my older AI. I also removed the bottom bracket and had the Al strip continue vertical with the transducer bolted direct to it. There's a star shaped cut-out on the bracket that stops the transducer pivoting up easily. I just cut this out and attached it to the Al strip with a rivet so the transducer mount was secure. This worked well even sailing at higher speeds.

That's a great idea shane!