Hooking up a fishfinder to a Float tube

[Chris Krikorian]

Hi,

I hardly ice fish but rent a lot of boats and this year I will be doing a lot of float tubing. I was thinking of buying a Fishin' buddy sidefinder but they are quite expensive and only about 50% of people that had them liked them. So I decided to get a nice new standard fish finder like an Eagle fish easy. My question is if I am going to hook it up to my float tube which model do I get? The standard or the portable??? ALso will I be able to hook this up to a rental boat that is in the water easily withought having to hook up accessories?

[Gunga Din]

I've seen float tubes with a holster fitting that's made to put a Fishing Buddy into. You might want to consider a similar set up, mounting your transducer to the bottom of a section of PVC or aluminum pipe. That way you could slide it into a holster on your float tube, or rig a C-clamp for a rental boat.

[Larry]

I have used an Eagle z-6100 portable for over 10 years. It would be to bulky for a float tube and they haven't made it for years anyway. I belive the newer portables are smaller. The transducer attaches with a suction cup and they will work any boat. I have taken it on fly in trips to Canada. It works on internal lantern batteries. I don't know how you would mount the transducer on a float tube. I used a Fishing Buddy once at a fishing camp. It seemed to work all right. It is all in one piece. The portable sonar units are all one piece also but have a long cord for the transducer. I suspect that the Fishing Buddy may be the better choice for a float tube. The portable sonars have the same features as the standard units.

[Roscoe]

Scotty makes a mount for a depth finder that attaches to a float tube. I believe the website is scottyusa.com.

[Tim FRick]

I have been using the fish-n-buddy for 3 years now when I go up to canada and using my 12ft. aluminum boat. AS far as batteries goes , you can't beat it. 3 "c" batteries and your good for all week. Depended on the how cold it is of course. I have tried converting a regural fish finder into a portable and it's a pain. Especially when it comes to batteries. Your best bet is two 6 volt lantarn batteries ran in series or a motor cycle battery. The unit my be a bit exspensive but it will pay off in the long run. I think it marks fish pretty good, plus gives you the temp, and side finds.
Good Luck!!
Tim FRick

[bernie]

had a tube with a bottom line on it for years and loved it my power source was a 12v 7 amp hr gel cell battery cabelas sells them for around $40 this went in my back compartment for my screen i asked my mom to sew on a piece of velcro to the tube (where io wanted my screen to sit)then i glued the other piece of velcro to the bottom of the screen mount when this was done i used small nylon belts (like the ones off of a backpack) about 1/2 inch wide thru the transducer and over the screen mount then tightened it up sounds like a pain in the butt but when you get this started its not that bad and it worked very well for me the keys are mountingg the screen out of your way and getting a transducer that is easy for you to mount without any sharp edges good luck