Videos
Mounting the HDS5
- Category: Equipment, rigging & preparation
- Published on Thursday, 05 August 2010 19:42
- Written by Josh
There were a few tough decisions on where and how to mount my newly acquired Lowrance HDS5 sounder chartplotter so a slow, precautionary approach was taken at first. But once committed to a path there was no turning back and holes were drilled. Large holes. The kind of holes that would make most nervous about drilling into the hull of their beloved kayak. By far the greatest challenge of mounting a sounder like this into a kayak are the large plug connectors, which dictate being facilitated passage through the hull for and internal wiring installation. When the transducer is to be mounted interally it makes the process smoother, because it would be possible to get away with having to drill only one hole. But I figure that it's worth trying to squeeze every last drop from it's capabaility and that means going for an external mount transducer.
It is quite feesable to run all of the wiring for the transducer on the outside of the hull and for sure, this would be the simpler, maybe even safer way to go about it. But it's also a method that has potential to be problematic in other ways and eventually I decided to go the other way because of it. In order to have the thick cable pass from the transducer into the rear deck and then exit near the bow where the sounder is mounted one would either have to cut the cable, pass it through small holes and then wire it back up, or otherwise leave the cable untouched and drill two large holes to pass it through. Thats what I decided to do. Despite it being the most difficult installation route I could take, it's probably also the one that should offer best performance with the least likelihood of presenting unforseen problems.
I used stainless steel caps to cover over the hole, making for a nice exit point for the cable. Obviously I fed the cavity underneath the small hood with silicone to seal it up. At the stern exit point I used a small cable clip to hold the cable steady at the mouth of the cap (to prevent movement from working the silcone loose) and a couple of stainless padeyes to protect the cable from the rudder blade, which could otherwise slam into it if pulled up hard enough. The transducer itself is attached to a b size RAM ball & socket that is in turn attached to the bung-ram adaptor.
The opposite end of the transducer cable passes out of the hull from the front deck using another cap filled with silicone, once again securing the cable with a clip. The power cable comes out of the same panel (through the standard screw-in fitting position). Note that I've wrapped some electrical tape around the two power cables and then reinforced with heat shrink tubing for a bit extra shielding protection from potential noise interference with the power and transducer cables where they are cable tied to the x-bar. This is probably taking stronger measures than I need to, but when it comes to these things I reckon overkill is underrated. I had to use a long socket arm to get the sounder unit far enough away from the end of a pedal stroke. Using a standard socket arm it was way too close for comfort.
Due to being a big fan of getting the weight of the battery up towards the rear of the kayak (for weight distribution for sailing), I ran the power cable up to the rear of the kayak and into a gear bucket that I'd modified to house the battery. Here's where I have the fuse positioned, and a spare also tucked away just in case. All of the cables running the length of the hull are reasonably taught (without being overly tight) and cable-tied to various wells and posts within the hull to prevent the ends from being pulled if they get bumped by other gear being stored inside.
All electrical connections were done with a waterproof soldering conncector, which are really simple to use. Insert both wire ends so they cross, apply heat, the solder melts over both wires and the protective waterproof tubing wraps tightly around it under heat. I have reinforced all of these with heat shrink tubing over the top for added strength. Once everything had dried and was plugged in I pressed the power button and hey presto, good to go!
1 hour ago
