I'm trying to decide what kind of fish finder to install on my Tarpon 160. It has the Slide Trax system. When using the FF I will have a 42" fish bag cooler strapped to the bow, so a traditional, forward, center mount is out. It would get in the way trying to get a big fish in the bag.

I like the idea of having FF, battery, and transducer arm mounted to a sliding board on the trax. That way I would get a perfect signal with the transducer being in the water. Those arms made by Mad Frog Gear are sweet, and fold up out of the water when not needed. This self contained system would be pretty easy to modify so that I could swap it to my Ultimate 14.5 when needed.

I've also thought about one of the Fishinbuddy units by Humminbird. It would be the easiest system to swap between boats. I'm worried about the large down rod and transducer adding lots of drag though.

I don't need a high end unit. I just need something to show depth, temp, and bottom structure.

Any of you folks have any suggestions for me?

I'm concerned with drag as well using the slide tracks on my Ride...I can't recall the way the stern/keel look on your model, but I've seen some guys place the transducer off the back of the Ride and it hangs just above the keel, not really producing any more drag and since it's above the keel it stays pretty protected. I may go that route and mount the fish finder on the slide tracks, routing the wires through the slide track itself into a small hole. I want to drill as little as possible in my kayak.

Here's a link to the write-up I saw: http://palmettokayakfishing.blogspot.co ... -2012.html

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Ride 135

I saw that as well. Maybe some rudder clearance issues? I'm gonna take a hard look at my yak tonight. Maybe I've got room on the standard pad up forward, and still allow me to stow a big fish.

Mount your transducer to shoot through the hull. I wouldn't recommend hanging it off the side of you kayak. Too many problems with this type of mount.

Go cheap on the FF. Forget the combo FF/GPS and the color screens. Hummingbird makes a cheap one that runs around $80. It will more than do the job for you.

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That's what I'm thinking as well, but glueing the x-ducer to the bottom of the hull looks like a poor way to do it. I guess I'm not really needing to see fish, and maybe losing some picture won't hurt me.

99% of the folks with FF have them mounted on the inside of the hull. You lose nothing by mounting this way.

Do a search on transducer mounting and you will see how to do.

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I definitely would rather glue it than make a wet well for it. That doesn't seem like a good option to me. I have done quite a bit of research on this. Is Marine Goop still the preferred adhesive?

I really appreciate your advice on this!

Yea marine goop works fine. I installed one in my old kayak about a month ago. Had to remove it when I sold it...what a pain in the ass!

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Ride 135

If you want to be able to swap it between yaks you might consider the Hummingbird PirhannaMax 160 portable.
The transducer attaches with a strong suction cup,the included battery lasts all day on a full charge with power to spare,and at the end of the day everything zips up neatly into the case. The entire unit with battery weighs about eight pounds and I think I paid about $ 120.00 at Gander for mine.