The New King of Stupid!!

[Justin2729]

Wish i had one! lol

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by TN_Bassin

Well they do have a Herpes Alert website now...

Originally Posted by Justin2729

Wish i had one! lol

I hope you were talking about the fish finder!

Nofear, sometimes stuff like this can make getting skunked even worse. Now you can see the fish and the structure they're relating to and you still can't catch em!

It's like the underwater camera for ice fishing, lol.

BB

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

Keith...I think some of the guys were talking about a Northern Event. <hint, hint>

I sure would love to go!

[TN_Bassin]

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

I hope you were talking about the fish finder!

Nofear, sometimes stuff like this can make getting skunked even worse. Now you can see the fish and the structure they're relating to and you still can't catch em!

Makes me appreciate my blissful ignorance even more.

[bamabassman]

I can see it now.....ol bryce is out there, got his rig all set up with antennea's, satelittes, tv screens and all hooked up ya know, then he is breaking the new rod over his knee as he screams," i see you down there bass, you're right under that laid down tree behind the rock alongside the grass line. I saw you eat the crawdad that came by. That's why i rigged up a crawdad fool! Now bite this thang son! BITE IT!!" AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[nofearengineer]

BAMA FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!!

Now THAT is why I went with lifetime warranties on my rods.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

I can see it now.....ol bryce is out there, got his rig all set up with antennea's, satelittes, tv screens and all hooked up ya know, then he is breaking the new rod over his knee as he screams," i see you down there bass, you're right under that laid down tree behind the rock alongside the grass line. I saw you eat the crawdad that came by. That's why i rigged up a crawdad fool! Now bite this thang son! BITE IT!!" AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

HAHAHAHA, I'm just rollin here, LMAO

[bamabassman]

Oh..i didn't tell about ol WOODY who is in the back of the boat......err i mean WAS in the back. HAHAHAHAHAHA, then ol BRYCE jumps off too, BOTH are gonna try to grab that ol bass bare handed.

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

Congrats NFE, I just can't justify that much money on a sonar. But if you're thinking of a RAM mount for that large of a unit look at this, YES it's a RAM.

I had this mount on my previous boat and it's rock solid. My present boat I went with the "normal" ball mount RAM and it's only holding a Lowrance 5200 GPS and it vibrates quite a bit at WOT. This mount is a bit more expensive, but well worth it. Available at Cabelas. Also comes in a verticle mount version should you not have a flat surface on which to mount it.

Boogie....I've been thinking about this arm for a while and something occurred to me...where do the cables go? Are they just out there swinging in the breeze? I guess I could use cable ties to some extent to attach them to the arm, but because you have to leave some slack, I think they'd still be kind of all over the place. And the search goes on....

[bassboogieman]

The one I had like this was a new installation so I brought the cables up at the base and encased them in black split tubing (the ribbed kind, and diameter suitable to the number of wires) and wrapped that with black electrical tape. If you find the best viewing angle and won't be constantly adjusting it your cable/tubing lenght can be determined and with a couple of black tie-wraps secured to the arm. I only left a couple inches of the cables uncovered for connecting to the back of the unit. Not much flapping in the wind. If you need to change the viewing angle, like turning it around to view from the front deck, don't secure the cables to the arm, they will need to be a tad longer so you can turn the unit. Either way the split tubing will reduce the cable's dancing in the wind. One difference with this type of arm, to remove the unit you'll loosen the knobs at the unit's mounting bracket. With the ball type you just loosen the clamp at the base and remove the unit and mounting arm. But that's of minimal significance.

[nofearengineer]

Thanks for all of the info, Boogie. I can analyze over and over until I'm blue in the face, but it's hard to know how it's going to work until I actually get one in my hands. I think this one is the one I want. There was one sort of like it, with an extra arm segment that seemed like it might be kind of overkill.

[bassboogieman]

I can analyze over and over until I'm blue in the face

Then you'd be nofearsmurff. I think you made the correct choice, you'll need something solid, and this one should do the trick. There is another cheaper brand - Johnny Rays but it's not as versitile as the RAM. I have no experiece with it, but if you haven't seen it: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st..._SearchResults It will give you left/right adjustment only, the RAM will allow adjustment in all directions.

[nofearengineer]

Boogie, I've got a little problem though. I want to use the existing hole in my console to mount it. Unfortunately, it's not perfectly level. The stock fishfinder (Lowrance X37TX...POS!!!) has a swivel on it to deal with the slope. I'm thinking I'm going to have to fabricate a shim to make the base level.

Also, I'm a little worried about mounting this thing on a swing arm (the 1197 weighs a TON), and putting that torque on a fiberglass console. Thinking about possibly making that shim out of some sort of hard rubber for shock, and putting the same under the console to put the bolts through. I'd hate for a rough wave to rip this thing out of my console. Thoughts?

[Bob Smith]

Did you buy two skimmers, one for the TM and one for the transom/jackplate? A lot of guys have dual connections at both points or two of the units (more money than I'll ever spend). I heard they are great for finding brushpiles under boat docks!. Seems like you may be limiting yourself with it only the dash/console.

[nofearengineer]

Bob, I can still find those brushpiles. I just have to drive past it once first.

Yes, a lot of guys are starting to put them on their trolling motors to "sweep" an area in front of the boat while sitting still. I've heard it's hard to do, but definitely something that can be learned.

I agonized over whether to go with SI at the bow, but I would have had to live with a tiny screen like I have now. In the end, I decided the best bang for my buck was to get a big screen at the helm, and flip it when I go up front. It will be used primarily for its GPS and Charting capabilities then; i.e, staying on all of that structure and cover I found while trolling with the SI on.

I still have my Fish Mark 480 at the bow. I'll eventually trade it in for a nicer unit, but it's not even a blip on the radar (sonar?) right now. I don't know about anyone else, but once I'm on the bow deck, the time for "finding" fish is over. I'm in attack mode.

[bassboogieman]

You may want to mount it up front. You're aware those things only side scan below about 5 MPH? Then you could mount a small video camera in front of the F/F with a small monitor on the console, to see it from the helm.
I see you're turning blue......................
How thick is the console 'glass? A picture of your intended mounting location might help. You aren't mounting this unit on top of the console, are ya, to the side is the usual location. I'm not familiar with the Avalanche, so I don't know what kind of room you have at the helm. The hard rubber sounds like a good idea, to decrease the stress on the 'glass itself and avoid it possibly cracking if you go airborne off a wake or something. My concern still is the vibration factor while running at speed. I have very little with the 5" Lowrance on the RAM mount but it's not near as heavy as the unit you intend to use. The ball mounts come with different length arms (I think) so shorter may be better. They are also a hard plastic, whereas the swing arm is alum. (hence the expense). Getting a solid mount will be key. I know it won't be pretty but you may be better off finding the perfect location for THIS unit and plugging the old holes, and using a little touch up paint or gelcoat. Or glue a litte POPPA SMURF doll over the holes in remberence of me.

[nofearengineer]

Boogie, here is a pic of my console, with the hole already in it.



I think this mount should work fine in that spot. I also plan on using a rubber space of some kind...maybe a mouse pad cut down to size (a good idea from a guy at BBC) to help with vibration and stress on the console.



It's got a 2.5" bottom ball, and a 2.25" top ball. I hear good things about this mount's strength. It costs a ton, though....$110, shipped.

[bassboogieman]

$110? OUCH! Let's us hear how the big balls works out.

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by bassboogieman

$110? OUCH! Let's us hear how the big balls works out.

I just scored a base, arm, and a 3" plate on the top for $50 on BBC. Can you say sweeeeeeeeet?

All I need to do is buy the big plate on top for $40, or fab one myself out of Aluminum. Either way, this took a tiny bit of sting out of the purchase.

[bamabassman]

NOFEAR, how in the world are you gonna fish after getting all this on your rig? You are gonna be so busy looking at that thing and forget to use your rod man. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sweet set-up for real man.