I won a fish finder. Now what?

[Hooky1420]

Okay guys. Last night I went to Bass Pro. They had a member club raffle there every 30 minutes for $25 gift cards, with the last drawing (the GRAND PRIZE) being a fish finder. Well, lucky enough - I've never won anything in my life... And I won the raffle on the fish finder!!!

NOW WHAT?

The fish finder is a Lowrance Mark 5x Pro. If anyone's seen my setup, I plan to mount it near the rear of the boat. However, I have a couple of questions, as this is uncharted territory for me.

1. I want to hook the fishfinder up through my control panel. Each switch on the control panel has its own fuse, though I'm not sure the amps of the fuses. In the instruction manual, the fish finder says to hook the power through a 3 Amp fuse. If I hook it through the switch panel, do I need to put this extra fuse on the lead from the battery?

2. Installation of the transducer. I'm obiviously going to mount it on the transom. Do I HAVE to drill holes in my transom to do so (which would be below the waterline), or is there another way? I don't want to drill holes, and then have them be wrong. Also, if I do have to drill holes, can someone give me the brand name of a good epoxy to use to seal the holes up?

Much appreciated!

 

[RivRunR]

Wow! Congratulations!

1. Either change out the fuse in the control panel to a 3A, or just put a 3A in-line as close to the battery as possible, it won't hurt anything to add one there.

2. Mounting a transducer (generally) does require drilling holes in the transom, BUT make yourself a "transducer board" from something like Starboard or even a plastic WalMart cutting board and mount that to your boat. That way if you ever have to re-mount your transducer, or install a new one later, then you are only drilling in the board, not the boat. I would think 3M 5200 would work fine for a sealant.

 

[Waterwings]

Congrats on the win! =D>

 

[lbursell]

Check out Old Bill's "Fish Finder Without Holes" thread:

https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2052


Congrats on the win. If you decide the water in Florida isn't deep enough to get full value from your win, I know a place you could send it to in Texas. :roll:

 

[Quackrstackr]

These guys have it covered.

Is there some particular reason that you want to run it through the switch panel? The unit has it's own switch that will have to be used as well. No way around that.

Congrats on the win.

 

[poolie]

Way to go Hooky!

 

[Hooky1420]

Is there some particular reason that you want to run it through the switch panel? The unit has it's own switch that will have to be used as well. No way around that.
quote]

I guess since i have the power to the lights and my auxillery ports through the control panel, I thought I could put the fish finder through the panel as well - also because each switch has its own fuse. I wouldn't really have to do it that way, but I would like all the powered items on the boat to go through the panel... a preference thing I guess. That way I wouldn't be able to accidentally leave it on and drain the batteries if I wasn't paying attention or something. (I commonly make sure that all switches are "off" after a day on the water.

Thanks for all the congrats guys... I really wish I could've had a picture of my chin hitting the floor when my number was read off... Would've been priceless.

 

[fender66]

That's a great win. I expect you to be posting about all the fish if finds you. :LOL2: