Would like to make my 27 portable for Ice fishing and traveling. All I could find at Lowrance was fixings for the 520. Any Ideas?

Thanks for the help!

Cabellas makes a Template to mount a GPS, get a extra power cord. I fused on e to a cigarette lighter socket. Either plug it or Hard wire it to your ATV or Snowmobile. Otherwise have it wired to a Battery in your sled.

I have been doing this for the Past 6 years LCX 16c, LCX18C, LCX 28 .( different cable for the GPS to be powered up with the newer units.

It will work great.
Buy an extra power cable from Lowrance and if you want to use it ice fishing buy an "ice ducer". This is the ice fishing transducer they sell with there "ice machines". It will work great on your X27. You can by it seperately.
I have my X26 mounted on a ram ball in a five gallon bucket. I glued a piece of plywood into the bottom of the bucket and screwed a ram ball into that. I cut out the front of the bucket a bit to make the screen easy to see. The bucket protects the unit and makes it easy to drag from hole to hole.

Once open water is over I take the my Lowrance unit off the ram ball in the boat and put it on the ram ball in the bucket. I use a small 12 volt battery (fits in the bucket) and I have a gps antena mounted on the side of the bucket too. This way all my open water waypoints are right there at my finger tips for winter use. (Try doing that with a vexlar...) I bought an extra power cord that plugs into a cigerette lighter type receptical. You can buy the type to hard wire it but with this style I can use the unit in a vehicle real easy also. I just made up a short female cigerette lighter "pig tail" for my small battery.

I put the bucket with the gps screen showing on the front rack of my 4 wheeler. When I get to my spot I switch to sonar screen and I have an awsome real time large screen color ice machine.
Vexlar will hate me, by why spend another 500 bucks for a "winter time" sonar when you already own one thats sitting in your boat......
Spend a winter season using your X27 like this and your open water sonar skills will improve 10 fold. .

Thanks for the input!

Do you have to worry about freezing temps? It gets pretty cold up here in MN. Sometimes I am dumb enough to go out when its 20- or worse. Of course thats usally when me and the misses don't see I to I.

blueicecpa, what is the template for?

Crankbaiter, could you post a picture of your set up?


Also, you can have my Vexlar when you pry it from my cold, fish stinking, dead hands. But I am anxious to try the 27 on ice. And I am sure I will be much more versed when open water comes in spring.... June... July... or sometime about then.

template fits the base that holds the unit and room to mount the GPS. I hear its better to have the GPS moved further away. But I have used it for 5 years and no problem getting enough satlights (http://www.walleyecentral.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=satlights&spell=1) .

.

In Montana we see some pretty cold temps and I have never had any problem using this set up. Before the advent of the TFT display my screen would get slow (Old X85) but even then, if I just turned the light on it would generate enough heat to keep it working fine. If you were fishing outside in -40 all you would have to do is put a lid on the 5 gallon bucket and put a layer of insulation around the inside of the bucket but in all these years I have never had to. I have used a Vexlar plenty and they are a great tool. But with the Lowrance I can see things like the WD-40 streaming of my 16th ounce jig plain as day in 40 feet of water. I also like the ability to be able to isolate and only view any section of the water columb no matter the depth. As an example if I am fishing perch in 55 feet of water I will set it up to only view from 50' to 55'. This makes the size of my lures and the picture I see identical to what I would be looking at in 0' to 5' so you dont have to always be "re-calibrating" your brain to remember how big your lure and the fish should look in the picture at different depths. But as I said earlier I think the best benifit is the skills you pick up at reading your sonar. When I started using my Lowrance on ice the conclusion I quickly came to was that all sonar units are way more sensitive and accurate than most folks would ever believe. The problem is that during open water use when most folks use sonar you have to learn to sort constantly changing "clutter" from fish and structure. When you use a sonar on ice you have eliminated all the wave action, boat movment and 90% of the clutter so learning comes much easier.

I am still in full open water mode right now but Ill try and get a picture for you to look at. The set up is so simple and bullet proof. I have a lot of buddies who have said the same thing you did about there Vexlars but now there draggin buckets with there Lowrances around....

Crankbaiter,

Sounds like you have the system down. It will be great to have this set up for the winter. I am anxious to see how it performs compared to my Vexlar. I do know that with the Vexlar I can actually see the fish as is moves in for the bite. I am not sure how this will work with the X27. I am really looking forward to the GPS ice fishing and the schooling I will get over the winter on the in's and out's of the X27.

Thanks for all the info!

I will look forward to seeing your pictures of your set up. As with you, I am still in open water mode and chasing eyes from my boat.

Thanks Again!

Stinkycat,

Your in for a treat as far as watching fish come to the bait. It will start as a red spot on the bottom line then it will grow into a bump and when there hot it will literally be a red streak up to the lure and then bang!
Just like a Vexlar you can coax fish off the bottom by raising the lure to reveal there presence on the sonar. By the way, you mentioned using this unit in your car, I just have another ram ball screwed to the floor off the pickup and I just mount the unit there and plug it in when I need a "poor mans ON STAR"
Have fun

blueicecpa,

I have looked extensively on the Cabela's web site and can not find anything like a template like you are suggesting.

Do you have any more info on the template?

Thanks!

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602025-cat21402_TGP&id=0013692018192a&navCount=2&podId=0013692&parentId=cat21402&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IJ&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21402&hasJS=true

It will work great.
Buy an extra power cable from Lowrance and if you want to use it ice fishing buy an "ice ducer". This is the ice fishing transducer they sell with there "ice machines". It will work great on your X27. You can by it seperately.
I have my X26 mounted on a ram ball in a five gallon bucket. I glued a piece of plywood into the bottom of the bucket and screwed a ram ball into that. I cut out the front of the bucket a bit to make the screen easy to see. The bucket protects the unit and makes it easy to drag from hole to hole.

Once open water is over I take the my Lowrance unit off the ram ball in the boat and put it on the ram ball in the bucket. I use a small 12 volt battery (fits in the bucket) and I have a gps antena mounted on the side of the bucket too. This way all my open water waypoints are right there at my finger tips for winter use. (Try doing that with a vexlar...) I bought an extra power cord that plugs into a cigerette lighter type receptical. You can buy the type to hard wire it but with this style I can use the unit in a vehicle real easy also. I just made up a short female cigerette lighter "pig tail" for my small battery.

I put the bucket with the gps screen showing on the front rack of my 4 wheeler. When I get to my spot I switch to sonar screen and I have an awsome real time large screen color ice machine.
Vexlar will hate me, by why spend another 500 bucks for a "winter time" sonar when you already own one thats sitting in your boat......
Spend a winter season using your X27 like this and your open water sonar skills will improve 10 fold. .

I'm also anxious to see the picture--how long will the small 700MA battery last with this set-up, before requires recharge??

I have an Icegator 24 v Auger works great.

It uses 2 12v 12 amp hour. I will play will doubling 2 together. These seam like a way to keep the power hungry Sonars/GPS working longer. Otherwise power from the ATV/Snowmobile with a Power cord hard wired in the unit when it runs.

This summer i purchased the Cabelas LMS522C portable sonar gps/ice machine. With the LMS522C i get between 4 and 5 hours of run time with the backlight on high. I would be worried that the X27 would need a lot more power to run.

I have a lcx28 and would not think about using it on the ice. I just dont want to beat it up and ice fishing is tough on your equipment.

I have a Vexilar and a Lowrance Ifinder for this job. I dont have to worry about wrecking my $1200 unit and no battery worries either

just my opinion

Sorry for talking about the photo and not delivering yet. I am heading to Fort Peck with the Lund this weekend for Mulie Bucks and big walleye so I am still set up in the open water mode. Ill dig my bucket out of the garage and try and get you a quick photo asap.
Battery life: I have a battery that is approx 6 inches long by 4 inches high. I have yet to run this battery down. I actually have 2 of them and that way I have one on the charger for the next day while the other is in use.
Being worried about damaging your X27 is a concern but honestly with the bucket set up it is very well protected from any bumping around. I have never had a problem. The ice ducer takes most of the abuse.
I am the same way about all my eqipment wether it be guns boats, electronics or anything I buy it to use it and it does me no good unless I do. My biggest reason for not buying a vexlar (besides being cheap) was to get very good at interputating my sonar.
Obviously a smaller color screen unit would work also and be less money I just dont have one.

If you bump your back light down a notch - it helps with life , but a big screen unit with a TON of power like that will GOBBLE up those batteries....
I bring two 7AH/12V gel packs with me using my LMS332c and back when I ran an X70A ( 'just' 3000 watts) I had a 17AH batt'y.

:muahaha:

I fabbed up a small piece of "luggage" picked up from w-mart for 12bucks.Looks just like the case the ice machines come in,its padded and zipps up on bolth sides.I used a lawn tractor batt for power and it seemed to work good .I did turn off my gps puck when I was done using it,Also would turn the sceen down a tad.The unit is currently on my ranger.Will probly take it off mid nov.It dose have a "flasher" mode,but I like the standard sceen,especialy with the fastracker on.

Thank Perchjerker.

Been on a an planning research mission for Ice fishing.:crazy: Before the soft water will not let me use the boat anymore.

Sorry for taking so long guys to get a picture of this bucket sonar set up. This is not the true set up I typically use but you will get the idea. Some of the parts are still up at the lake house. I use a 12 amp hour battery and charge it after each days use but have never come close to running out of power. Note the 12 volt cig lighter pig tail. I bought a power cord that plugs into a cig lighter as opposed to using a standard power cord with bare wire ends. This way I can use the unit in the truck as a poor mans On Star. Of course I dont use the bucket but I do have a ram ball on the floor of the truck I attach too.
Note the ice ducer holster. This is just the bell end of a piece of schedule 1 1/2" 40 PVC. I riveted it on to the bucket and when I move I just drop the transducer into it for storage. The tranducer cord passes through a 5/8 inch hole in the side of the bucket. I lined the holes with rubber grommets to save wear and tear on the cord.
The gps antena is shown in this picture attached to the ram base using a plate that ram sells that allows the puck to be mounted right behind the unit. I originally mounted it on the side of the bucket using an inexpensive marine band radio antena base. These white plastic bases accept the Lowrance "ice cream cone"shaped antena base. Either way of mounting works fine.
I am a tinkerer and like to come up with this stuff but it's not for everyone.

crank-

you think like me. I made one out of an old discarded plastic parts bin from work for my Vexilar. I will have to post a pic of it

Crankbaiter,

Thanks for the info. Looks like it works great. I am interested in what the "plate" that you use for mounting the gps to the Ram base. Also if you could include a picture that would be great. Just now starting to set for winter. Will finish up my boat winterization this Saturday and by then some of the shallower lakes will be froze over.

Thanks Again!

Here is a link to the cabelas site showing the plate.
It bolts between your lowrance factory base mount and your ram mount plate.
The enlarged circle area is where you attach your gps puck.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0013692018192a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=ram&Ntk=Products&sort=all&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

If the link does not work go to cabelas and look up item IJ-018192

Here are a few more shots showing the inside if the bucket without the Lowrance. You can see the ram ball attached to the plywood.
The other to photos show the two ways a GPS antenna can be mounted using either the marine band antenna base or the ram plate.

Crankbaiter,

Thanks for the great pics! What a great set up. I already have my new power cord and transducer so I will need to pick up the GPS items, battery and cig lighter pigtail outlet. Was also thinking of mounting the GPS puck on the lid of the bucket. Not sure if the lid will get in the way of viewing the screen on the unit.

Thanks for the great ideas. Plan on spending quite a bit of time in the fish houses this winter. Our temp is close to "0" right now with quite a few small lakes frozen and the bigger deeper lakes should ice over in the next couple of weeks. I hope we get good ice the year. Last year we had way to much snow before the ice was thick enough and it made it tough travel for most of the winter.

Thanks Again!

Hello Stinkycat,

I took a lid for the 5 gallon bucket and cut out a portion of it to allow viewing. It works but I gennerally leave it off. In the one photo of the bucket you can see a rod holder I made from 1" pvc. The set up with everything inside the bucket (ram plate) makes for a more protected unit when things are bouncing a bit in the sled.
I fish out of a fishtrap guide model. But a lot of the time I will drop my ice scoop in the bucket and with a rod in the holder I will hole hop around till I find fish.
We too had to much early snow last year but were a month from good ice yet. Don't usaly put the Lund away till Xmass. Let us know if you come up with any good improvments on my original design.
Good Luck

Crankbaiter,

Finally got the boat winterized and am now starting to put my new Ice machine "Winterized x27" together. I did have a question on your battery that was in your pictures.... Power Sonic..... how long does it last.. 2hrs..4hrs..6hrs... all day? Also, do you get more than one season out of the battery? I have found several spots on the internet that sell these exact batteries and was going to order one or see if I can find one in Fargo, ND in the next few days. I will post pictures when I am done.

Thanks!

Below is a link to my photo album that have pictures of a portable setup I made for my original X15 and now has my X25 on it. Send me an e-mail with your e-mail address in it and I can send you the lumber dimensions drawings and more information on my setup.

Click here to see the pictures in my album: http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/album.php?albumid=112

ALBE,

Thanks for the great pictures! Looks like you are handy at building thing. A couple of questions.... what is the yellow donut looking thing next to your gps puck? And what are the three items on the side of your battery compartment? They look like 2 power spots and a toggle switch?

Thanks!

ALBE,

Thanks for the great pictures! Looks like you are handy at building thing. A couple of questions.... what is the yellow donut looking thing next to your gps puck? And what are the three items on the side of your battery compartment? They look like 2 power spots and a toggle switch?

Thanks!

They yellow thing is a Barometer and the two power spots are cigarette lighter sockets.

The switch underneath them allows you to switch from internal power, the battery, or external power from a cord with a cigarette lighter plug on the end. It is a double pole, double throw, center off switch. The power sockets can be used when you are connected to external power. You need that center off position so you remove power from the GPS antenna when the unit is shut off.

One side of the switch is wired to the external power cord and the power sockets, the other side is wired to the battery and the middle is wired to the sonar/gps and gps antenna.