depth finder for trolling motor on bay boat

[Crawl79]

Just looking for info on what you guys use on front of your bay boat. I am tired of asking the guys in back of the boat to call out depths to me.

I will mainly use it when fishing reef humps offshore but is it worth it to have a chartplotter on it as well?

I already own a lowrance 7elite at the helm.

[marty f]

been down this road, when I got my new boat I took the old simple garmin FF off and mounted it on the TM specifically for depth, Im always fishing skinny, it has worked great. At times it goes on the blink, so for father day wife and kids got me a Lowrance 3 to replace it, 100$ at bass pro. I have a 7 mounted in the CC so I don't really NEED a chart plotter up front. I thought about taking the 3 back and getting a 4 with chart plotter but ultimately didn't. I don't REALLY need GPS up front.

[ratherbefishing186]

I need one on the front get tired of asking people in the back how deep we are!

[alphaman]

Originally Posted by ratherbefishing186

I need one on the front get tired of asking people in the back how deep we are!

I feel you on this one. Can't wait to get one for the bow

[wishin i was fishin]

if you are running a bow mount trolling motor, not an I Pilot, you can go with any stand alone unit. you can get interference between the two but i never noticed it on my older boat.

you can put a xtucer on an ipilot but you have to disassemble it.

i will be doing the same with a HDS 7 and 12 but i am going to network it so i only have 1 Xducer on the boat.

[keakar]

why not mount it on one of these then just turn it to face you http://www.cabelas.com/product/Micro...0001802&rid=20

hell in my flatboat I made my own with a nut and bolt using an 1 1/2" pvc cap as the pivot, tighten the nut until it turns with some resistance and it spins 360 degrees and stays where you leave it

[alphaman]

Originally Posted by keakar

why not mount it on one of these then just turn it to face you http://www.cabelas.com/product/Micro...0001802&rid=20

hell in my flatboat I made my own with a nut and bolt using an 1 1/2" pvc cap as the pivot, tighten the nut until it turns with some resistance and it spins 360 degrees and stays where you leave it

This is what I was doing woth my unit bc it was on a ram mount but. Couldn't really see it. Unless I stepped off the bow on the floor.

[Crawl79]

Originally Posted by wishin i was fishin

if you are running a bow mount trolling motor, not an I Pilot, you can go with any stand alone unit. you can get interference between the two but i never noticed it on my older boat.

you can put a xtucer on an ipilot but you have to disassemble it.

i will be doing the same with a HDS 7 and 12 but i am going to network it so i only have 1 Xducer on the boat.

Ok I have an Ipilot. Why would I need to dissemble?

And could I network and elite 7 with an elite 3 or 4 to run off same xducer?

[marty f]

Originally Posted by Crawl79

Ok I have an Ipilot. Why would I need to dissemble?

And could I network and elite 7 with an elite 3 or 4 to run off same xducer?

nope cant network, I already explored this option, besides I like the transducer on the TM so I know when Im getting too skinny, seems kinda late when the front is running aground and the back transducer is still reading 2.5

[Crawl79]

Yeah I'm not that worried about skinny water. I notice when mud and chunks start flying.

More worried when I am trying to setup on old platform pads offshore. I have quite a few I fish and I only have a few mapped out. I try to setup on the drop offs and need to watch depth changes.

[kcinnick]

There are dual screen set ups. For some reason the Marine Industry calls them "repeater" screens. Most common on boats with two helms, however they are becoming popular with custom boat builders to do just what you are wanting to do. But it is usually just cheaper to mount a separate unit.

[jl8200]

I've got a Lowrance Elite 5 DSI GPS unit on the front of my boat with the xducer mounted to the TM and its been great. I have a Motorguide Xi5 GPS TM and it works fine with the xducer mounted to it. I like having my waypoints right in front of me when I'm trolling from one point to another. The GPS is nice but not necessary. I just had this unit from an old boat so I just put in on the front. I bought a larger new unit for the helm.

[wishin i was fishin]

Originally Posted by Crawl79

Ok I have an Ipilot. Why would I need to dissemble?

And could I network and elite 7 with an elite 3 or 4 to run off same xducer?

HEre is a video on installing a transducer on a Ipilot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54WQVtErZ0

[Crawl79]

Thanks. That explains it.