Nothing lasts forever. The stock tank well bungee is falling apart. The sun and weather degrades the bungee over time. In turn the degrading of the bungee made it become very loose and fragile. Purchased a piece of green shock cord/bungee last year but finally got around to getting it on the Cuda 14 this weekend. Although the green I ordered came in as yellow I didn’t mind at all.  Actually it looks really cool!

I originally purchased 10′ of the bungee shock cord. Used about a foot and a half for my crate project last year.  What i had left was just enough to replace the tank well bungee. I would recommend that you purchase 10 feet for the Cuda. This way you can cut off any excess.  Being that it looks really cool on my next boat i will have to find 3/16″ bungee for the bow in yellow!.

I have to say it does add character.

I do hope it holds up well.

The new Lowrance Elite 5 HDI chart plotter/fish finder’s transducer unfortunately is just too large to be scupper mounted flush on the Cuda. About 1/8″ sticks out on the bottom and i feel this will destroy the transducer over time.

Since this is an HDI unit the transducer needs to be mounted on the exterior of the hull below the waterline. A shoot through hull install with this type of unit will degrade the result of the display. I have two mounting options. One would be the Ram Mounts Transducer flex mount kit. The other being that the Cuda 14 has a removable replaceable skid plate with mounting hardware already molded into the boat. Simply I would have to design a bracket that would mount to the yak via the skid plate and bend up the transom to bolt the transducer through. I think this would eliminate the drag of having a bar and the transducer hanging over the side. Mounted inline with the boats hull it would act as a piece of the hull itself. At least these are my hopes.

Angle Aluminum Stock 1″ x 1/16″ x 36″

I recommend  stainless steel angle but as my choice due to its light weight and non rusting properties in salt water i like to start with aluminum. I also paint it so it is resistant from corroding and pitting. Once the aluminum bracket is fabricated maybe I will make one out of stainless steel. Aluminum is fine due to the trial and error phase of this bracket mount. I am two seasons into my previous scupper mount fabrication where i used aluminum and still see minimal corrosion. The kayak doesn’t sit in the salt water and if its rinsed with fresh water every time it prolongs the life.

Angle alum & Skid Plate

I decided to measure where the bend in the aluminum would be and using a Dremel tool cut of one side off the angle to make it flat.

Bend & Drill to align

I measured the existing skid plate screw holes and drilled appropriately for mounting.

Mounted to Skid Plate for measuring

Once the holes were drilled I mounted the bracket to measure with the transducer the amount of angle needed to mount the skimmer so it was aligned flush with the underside of the hull.

side view mounted to skid plate before cutting

Once i cut the long piece off it looked like this (below)

Transducer Mount after cutting

Transducer Mount after cutting

 Once this was done I aligned the transducer with the bottom of the hull and marked where to drill the hole. Then painted the bracket with black paint to resist the corrosive salt water.

Painted!

Now for mounting!!

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer

Mounted Transducer!

Thats a pretty clean mount! I hope it wil work with loading and unloading the yak on and off my truck. Unfortunatlly it was the best solution but i think it will be fine!

Next will need to run the wiring so i have to figure out how im going to run all of the wire through the hull temporarily for the remainder of the season. These Lowrance wires and plugs are very large and makes the install tough. As in the photos below you can see my existing install using C-Caps. The plug collar is actually larger than the 3/4″ hole drilled here.  I might be temporarily installing through the hatch and then replacing the hatch in the future.  This will give me a chance to hinge the back end of the hatch. At least i can try it once before the final with out worrying about it being pretty..

Existing Hull Pass Through

Existing Hull Pass Through

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The Lowrance Elite 5 HDI was released on Friday September 20th 2013. I was able to get my order in right away! I have long awaited a Fish Finder that was a Dual DSI and Sonar with the capability of overlaying the two. This is what HDI means Hybrid Double Imaging. I am able to see the structure with the overlayed sonar echos of fish!. The chart plotting feature of this device is also a great addition as previously i had a device for sonar and a separate handheld GPS unit. The addon SD card slot also lets you have the options of using 3rd party Charts.

I opted for the Navionics as they have a good name and very detailed charts! I hope this was the right choice. Now to figure out where to mount the large transducer. It will not mount in the scupper like my current setup. I am thinking of using the RAM Mount flexible transducer arm kit until i figure out a permanent mount. As this is a DSI unit also it the transducer needs to be in the water. A shoot through hull approach with the transom transducer will not display a clear picture.

Also Purchased the RAM Mounts compatible mount for the head. I really like how it clips right in with no hardware! Easy to mount and remove the head when loading and unloading.

The install will follow soon!