Our last outing of the year went on without a hitch. The weather turned out to be like the last summer day of the year. It definitely reached the 80’s. This outing had the most veteran participation out of all.

The second outing at Picatinny Arsenal was a bit different due to the over all weed growth in the lake. It was a different style of fishing unlike in the spring. Hobies didn’t work well and I learned my new transducer mount really grabbed on the weeds. It was such heavy cover that my depth finder wouldn’t shoot through.

Looking forward to taking the vets kayak fishing here in the spring again!

Thanks again to Civic Duty Partners for providing lunch. The sausage sandwiches really hit the spot!

Overall totally glad I waited for this bad boy! Like its big brother the Elite-7 this unit is just as powerful in a more compact design. The smaller design is perfect for kayaks. The screen being smaller also prolongs battery life. Here is the breakdown.

Pros:

• Compact
• RAM Mounts Mounting System
• Good battery life
• High Definition Display
• Broadband Sonar and DSI Scanning
• The ability to overlay the DSI image over the Sonar Image
• Navionics Gold add on
• All in one transducer
• *Lowrance Transducer scupper mount Kit works on the Jackson Kayak  Big Rig

Cons:

• Large Connecting plugs for power and transducer. Hard to wire for a kayak install. *(Updated) With West Marine 2 Wire Caps wires can be run through a 1″ hole and capped off water tight!
• Oversized transducer. Cannot scupper mount on Jackson Cuda 14, 12, Cruise, or Big Tuna

As i stated the connecting plugs are over 1″ in diameter. I still have not found a through hull wiring pass through of this size that will be water tight. *(Updated) See Big Rig Install Here!

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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