Slide Trax for Wilderness Systems Kayaks

I ordered one of these for my new yak.  It looked like a really good concept.

While the concept might be good, the implementation is VERY BAD.  The 'slide' trax doesn't really slide.  The bolts that come with it get hung up on the screws holding the track in position, and the thing isn't very sturdy.  The board itself is held by 4 screws that allow it to move by not being fully tightened.  There is nothing to keep it stable when trying to move it, or when it's just left alone.  There is also no compensation for the angle of the factory installed tracks tracks (they aren't horizontal, and widen as they get closer to you as well)

The only good thing that came out of my $75 was the hardware I scavenged from it to mount my Scotty rod holder.

Seems like you might have a bum set. I haven't experienced any trouble with ours at the shop.

Are you in the Portland or Bend area? Where did you buy the boat etc? We can probably help.

Alder Creek
503-285-0464

I'm in Tacoma 

I got the boat from REI for $1049 but I bought the slide trax online from Harmony.

I haven't done an install on the slide tracks yet. All the 09 tarpons we got had them installed at the factory and seem to work fine.

Not sure dude.

I think I may have created some confusion.  The slide track itself, is fine.  The dashboard is what I'm talking about.

Lee, I looked at that dashboard when I bought my Tarpon 140, and thought I'd wait a bit and see if I really needed it. Thanks for your input.
I am probably going to get a smaller "mounting plates" for my depthfinder, one of those that sits in just one of the tracks. I think Harmony makes two different sizes for that. Since I'm planning to add nothing more in the way of accessories once I buy and mount a depthfinder, that should do it.

Another reason I won't get the dashboard is that I was playing around with stuffing rods into my hatches, and found that I could slide a 2-piece 9'9" Fenwick "Iron Feather" 6wt flyrod into the center hatch, with reel attached, by sliding it in from the front to back. Works sort of like a  Trident's "rod pod," in that regard. that Rod is nearly 5' long broken down into its two sections. If I had a "dashboard mounted, going all the way across the tracks it would get in the way of this.
With the smaller mounting plate set up on only one side, I will still be able to slide a rod into that hatch with relative ease.

I still haven't gotten a new depthfinder yet, though, nor ordered the mounting plate. Must get off my okole and do asap!

ooooohhhhh. my bad. Haven't even seen that yet

Just a thought, but did you think about mounting the Depthfinder to the hull, forward of the steering pedals?  I thought about mounting like you mentioned, but I didn't like the idea of wires running farther than they needed too and being in the open.  Seems like just more stuff to get something caught on and break something.

There is a picture of how I mounted the depthfinder in Demonick's thread about Scotty Depthmaster.

Nanook - It was my bad!  I wrote it up poorly   

Just a thought, but did you think about mounting the Depthfinder to the hull, forward of the steering pedals?  I thought about mounting like you mentioned, but I didn't like the idea of wires running farther than they needed too and being in the open.  Seems like just more stuff to get something caught on and break something.

There is a picture of how I mounted the depthfinder in Demonick's thread about Scotty Depthmaster.

Looked at your pic, and it looks like a good spot. I have installed a Ritchie dash-mount compass on the face of the left footwell already. Depthfinder on the right side might be a go. I have less room between my footrest pedal and the front face of the footwell than yours has in your pic. Don't know if I could squeeze it in there and still have a clear view of the full screen. Either my overall cockpit length is shorter (in my shorter boat), or my legs are longer. I have my footrests almost all the way forward. I only have one notch to go for more extension, the end one.
I could also mount it in the vacant spot between the cup holder and my Scotty rod-holder mount (which is in same location as yours).

A mounting plate in the slide trax would only require only one hole for a through-hull conduit fitting for my transducer and power cable. I think I could rig it so that the cables are short and no problem.

You should probably go with your original plan then.  I don't think that middle area is a good mounting spot for anything.  Isn't that the only place you could put a large fish and work with knots/tackle/etc.?