Fish Finder Purchase...well almost

I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on a full fish finder set up.  Before I do, I wanted to ensure I asked the brain trust before I did something dumb. 

The setup I'm tentatively looking at is the following:

Humminbird 550 or 570
Thru Hull scupper Transducer (draining less of a concern for my lake-locked boat)
Humminbird brand 12v 7-AH gel battery with charger for $40.00

The questions I have are the following:
Is the 570 and it's dual beam sonar worth the extra $50.00? What does it really get you?
Will the 500 series fold flush in the sonar shield of a OK Prowler 13?

I also recall a thread concerning who you have to email at Humminbird to have them swap out the transducer...just can't seem to locate it.

Any input would be great.  Thanks

ok, just checked the unit size on the humminbird site vs. the interior dimensions of the sonar shield/mounting area. you should fit inside just fine. remember to use the back vertical surface of the mounting area to install the mount arm, that will allow you to fold the unit face down into the molded in cradle and the sonar shield / cover will fit over top of that just fine.

go here to find the exchange program information: http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?action=links;cat=15


hope that helps

Addendum; there are two versions of the plastic thru hull transducers. one has a 30ft cable, the other a 15 ft. search thru the transducer section to get the shorter one for your installation. will make dealing with all that extra cable much much easier.

This is how I exchanged my transom transducer for the other.  Make sure the transducer listed is the one you want. 

Date: Sat, 9 May 2009 08:23:54 -0500
From: "cservice" <cservice@johnsonoutdoors.com>

The plastic through hull transducer made for the scupper hole of the Ocean Kayak is the XTH 9 20 P and if you purchase the unit with a transom transducer you may exchange it by sending the uninstalled/unassembled transducer to the address below for an even swap.

Humminbird
Transducer Exchange
678 Humminbird Lane
Eufaula AL 36027

For further information on this or other Humminbird products please feel free to contact our Customer Resource Center at 1-800-633-1468 to speak with a Customer Service Representative. Our hours are Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Wednesday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Just got my scupper hole transducer.  I was not happy with the drainage after the installation

This is a simple modification to remedy that:

I rounded out the flat surfaces of the the supplied white nut with a dremmel tool.  I used the cone shaped grinding attachment and cut into the nut about half way through (1/8" ?)  (should be wider and deeper on the bottom than the top)

Before modification the transducer scupper hole drained out a gallon of water in about 3.5 minutes.  After...just under 1 minute
(test conducted motionless on dry land with kayak suspended)

Pictures coming soon.
(No threads were harmed in the modification of aforementioned nut)

Brian

I was able to shave off a bit more of the nut while still maintaining a good bit of meat to the threads..I should be somewhere around 20-30 seconds per gallon now.  I'll post sea trial results soon.
Brian 

Nice mod!!!

I've always wondered why the top of the tube is not open.  You're running one small wire down there.  Could possibly open that up as another drain channel, maybe perforate the tube as well to allow even better draining.

-Allen

Very nice!!!  I had no idea that it drained that slowly.  What fish finder do you unit do you have shown in the picture?

I'm still a bit up int he air about which one to purchase.  I've heard conflicting reports on the need for a dual beam unit?

Thanks for the pics. 

I have the 597ci.  It fits fine inside with the sonar shield closed.  I replaced the supplied mounting screws with SS nuts/bolts/washers.  I guess to each his/her own on the dual beam.  Honestly the reasons I bought my unit were (in order)
 1. $400 on EBay 2. scupper hole transducer  3. internal GPS  4. Will fit in sonar shield 5. ability to chip my trips 6. color screen. 

Brian

Very nice!!!  I had no idea that it drained that slowly.  What fish finder do you unit do you have shown in the picture?

I'm still a bit up int he air about which one to purchase.  I've heard conflicting reports on the need for a dual beam unit?

Thanks for the pics. 

The dual beam is pretty huge of you're after a fish that goes after schooling fish. It'll let you see the bait fish on one side and the larger on the other. For salmon it's super helpful.

Z

As always this site has been extremely helpful. 

I'm going to do a bit more research on the duel beam before I pull the trigger on this....it will be a little while before I'm using it anyway.  As I look out my window it's snowing and in the low 30's right now. 

The lake I'm typically on is a big walleye and trout lake with an extremely varied bottom including a once town at the bottom of the lake.

Thanks again

pman, was rereading here; both OK and Humminbird are owned by the same parent company. sooooo... with the exception of the larger dash mount units that would go on a sport fisher type power boat, over 80% of the units made by the bird people will fit inside your OK's sonar shield, some more snugly than others... funny how that works   ..