Been yakking for over 7 years and never tipped one yet even jumping in my ol scrambler XT off the stones in horrible swells You watch I will go head first in in the morning now i said that

yep it always gets you when you least expect it.

when we went out on Thursday the sea was flat, not much surf - didn't even pack my rods away

coming back in I miss judged a wave. I usually like to get on the back of one and ride it in rather than surf one in, however I haven't had too much trouble surfing the Profish in. Any hows ended up surfing in when another wave bounced back off the cliff and came running back along the wave I was surfing in - yep it ended in tears. Nothing broken, nothing lost, bruised pride.
1st turtle in the Profish.

never tipped out of a yak at sea only in the surf

Never had a Lowrance or Egale wrecked from being dunked - went through 3 screens on the humming bird in 12 months

muppet, if you don't have the rudder installed then maybe a bracket that fits onto that slot with a kick up action if you strick. In the past i've have side mounted brackets and from my experience they get in the road, either with paddle stroke or lines etc. I've seen other p13's with the transducer mounted where the rudder mount is. Might come out of the water in large chop and get some cavation effect but probably the best postion (outside locating it in the hull). Mounting it outside also brings back into play the water temp readings as ones inside don't ready correct. If you at all interested in water temps.

I think if it was me I would be going for the inside hull install. I just don't think there is location as good as in the middle of the hull. If these kayak manufactures made a good sized scubber pocket and didn't just cater off there parent companies product you would have no worries.....

Muppet wrote: Been yakking for over 7 years and never tipped one yet even jumping in my ol scrambler XT off the stones in horrible swells You watch I will go head first in in the morning now i said that Its a point though mate I know over 2 k on a FF thats not IPX7 rated is a steep risk maybe to far. I don't think there is that many true IPX7 rated FF models on the market though and a lot of manufacturers don't state there trueratings, Humminbirds for example?? Lowrance too in fact Raymarine are the only ones that really state true IPX ratings at the point of retail.

 

Muppet wrote: The transducer location on a kayak IMO is not that important

Speaking from real experience you WILL notice the difference - but then again if you don't currently use your fishfinder for targeting fish then no it probably won't matter to you - I got very used to being able to target a fish on the bottom and dropping my bait in the water, watching it drop, and seeing the fish come up to hit it... Moving the transducer 2m back makes this very difficult as you are now fishing two meters behind you and rather than striking at the fish in a vertical movement you are pulling it way at an angle...

Anyway that's my observations, I'll be very keen to hear your feedback when you've fitted yours.

Yep also heard mixed opinions about the HDS stuff but to be honest they are probably biased as I heard most of them on the HB SideImaging forums Actually what is putting you off the Humminbird?

Ok...

Cons:
1. Transom mount means it's very hard to drop you bait on top of fish
2. External mount means you are forever scared of catching it on a rock/reef/beach and scratching it or snapping off the transducer
3. It must add some drag to your kayak - although probably not noticeable
4. In rough water it "pops" out of the water loosing signal

Pros
1. No hull interference
2. Temp works - but of course only the temp if the top two inches of the water and the transducer will also get heated by the sun - not sure who much this will effect the reading need to go out there with a thermometer one day...

Yep side imaging is a novelty and I've only used it a handful of times to identify so fishy looking structure say 50m to the left. My deepest fishing so far with my Humminbird is 50m and it was still picking out individual fish on the bottom (although sideimaging is useless at this depth, it's only meant for the shallow stuff) - but how deep is deep?

Touch wood I'e had no issues with my 798CI, it's been smashed by plenty of waves over the bow, turtled once, and I'm not sure how others clean their electronics but at the end of the day I fill the kitchen sink with warm water and throw my electronics in and give them a swirl around to rinse all the salt water off/out...

All fair enough points Mental cheers Will have to make a tough decision I will think about it a while.