has anyone used magnets to mount stuff

I was in deep thought as I was relaxing. I was thinking about no drill mounting and it hit me,( im sure im not the first to think of this or do it) I know suction cups are very solid too but those are expensive . I've used go pro on my jet ski and wrecked that thing hard.. back on to point magnet are cheap and strong. I was thinking about mountingfish ffinder with magnets. Easy on off.  Use Strong epoxy to attach the magnet to the base of lowrance. It shouldn't mess with frequencies of the graph since the.fishfinder sits a few inches above the.base.

Any input? Has anyone on here tried

Hey Coho....I use Rare Earth magnets in woodworking projects and have great praise for their strength to weight/size ratio. As for use on a kayak, several things come to mind. The first one is, the potential of the magnets to interfere with other equipment, such as GPS, compass, etc. Secondly, I personally would be hesitant as anything mounted with magnets would be one more thing that I would have to leash, or tether due to having a lack of confidence in the magnets. For me, one more dangling leash/tether is not desirable as I try to have as few as possible for safety reasons.

In the event things were attached via magnets, and not tethered/leashed, you might want to read through a thread started by Mark, aka Spot. The thread is "Things I've Lost from my Yak"    Should you give it a try, be sure and post your results as we forum members are always interested in new ideas.

A couple things to consider:
1) Magnets rust. You would have to coat them somehow.
2) You would have to surface glue magnets or metal to the kayak to provide magnetic anchor points. Things glued to kayaks tend to fall off because the kayak flexes and the glue and item do not.

I think a magnet would be a good tool and hook keeper in a kayak, but I would drill a hole to mount it.

RAM is trying this with a new product. 3 rare earth magnets in the bottom plate of a standard 1" ball mount. Holding strength rated at 2 pounds. It has to attach to ferrous metal. Might not work for mounting a FF or compass to a kayak. More likely for holding a custom plate/tray when mounted magnate facing up.

RAM-B-202-339U

http://www.rammount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045066045050048050045051051057085/Default.aspx

Had a hard time keeping my Hydro Star light suction cupped to the deck. So epoxied a 3x3 inch 1/8th inch thick steel plate to the underside of my foredeck. With the strength of the Hydrostars' magnet it reaches right through the plastic, and I have no problem keeping it in place. Just in case, I do use the supplied tether attached to a deck line.

Just remember to rough up the plastic with some really rough grit sand or carborundum paper beforehand.

You can get dead hard drives for almost nothing. Tear them apart and there are super strong rare earth magnets inside. They may even have nice backing plates to ease gluing.

My only regular use of magnets is to hold church keys to the fridge.

Keep in mind that lots of magnets rust like crazy once they are exposed to salt water unless they are coated in something special. 

I have made a case for my "Showdown" ice fishing sonar out of a steel military ammo box, and attach the sonar head to the top of the box with a large magnet.  The magnet is strong, but if I bump the head, it falls off the ammo box.  So if you attach any equipment to a kayak with a magnet, I suggest that you back up the magnet with a leash.

I know a kayaker who has glued a couple of small powerful magnets to the gunwales of his kayak, and uses them to hold lures.  They hold lures fine unless you bump them.

Thanks for all info I Appreciate it. Ill just.stick to original plan ,ram mounts Best bang for the buck

My only regular use of magnets is to hold church keys to the fridge.

Yep