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I'll soon be rewiring my boat. As I'm primarily a river rat, my plan is to move the t/m battery forward, ditch the old MotorGuide and replace it with a new Minn Kota. I'm also going to add a new Garmin up front. From my reading, I may need to shield the wiring for the Garmin. What exactly does that mean? What do I need to purchase? Thank you for any help.

Hi all, first time poster! what a great group on here, it’s been tremendously helpful so far. I’ve recently decided to purchase a predator 103 after whiffing on a few 14 footers and sun dolphin pro. I’m in the process of making a checklist so we are ready to go. Looking for recs on a fish finder, battery, on board charger and any other essentials! For the fish finder what is the recommended way to hook a transducer on a small plastic boat? Thanks in advance!

Which size iPad or tablet is best to add to current electronics? Needing a gift idea for the son. Thanks

I recently installed some new electronics on my Triton 189 TRX and all are wired to my cranking battery. I have Helix 7 (.9 amps), x 2 Helix 10 (2.4 amp each), Garmin Echo Map Ultra 126 (3.3 amp) and Livescope System (1.75 amp). I also have a one 10 foot power pole, and the typical other systems that require electricity such as live well, lights, and pumps. Obviously, my current battery (Interstate Marine Cranking 27M-XHD) isn't cutting it and drains pretty fast. I can't get a full day of fishing out of it. What should I do? Is there a large battery that I could go with to meet my needs? Do I need a second battery to only run the electronics? Do I get a second battery and a switch where I could go between the two if one dies? Thanks in advance for the input.

I want to save for my first nice graph and I want to get out of my comfort zone and learn to fish offshore. Which unit would get me more for my money and what’s the difference between the two? Also is a 9” graph a big enough work space for being effective offshore? Thanks!

I know how to read and use my electronics, but once I find a nice school of bass how do I know where to cast in order to be right on top of them? Are they under my boat? To the right? To the left? In front of the boat? Behind the boat? Same question goes for casting towards points and ledges holding fish. Thanks so much

Ok everyone so I need some opinions. I just replaced my trailer wiring and everything was working great for a couple weeks until now. I tested the plug coming out of my truck with a circuit tester and it all works. When I have the "not installed" wiring in the back of my truck grounded to my truck and plugged into the connection im able to get a complete circuit at the end of the wires (without the lights connected). When I connect the lights I get nothing from them. I have tested them with a battery and they do light up. Soooo....my questions..... Will the plug from my truck give a false positive if I have the alligator clip from the circuit tester attached to the truck? I didnt think so but im trying everything.... Would the trailer lights have to be mounted in order to have a ground even though the trailer wiring harness has a connecting ground coming from the plug to the trailer? Im sorry if this sounds simple. Im not well versed in electrical circuits. When I initially replaced them it was easy and worked right off the bat but this troubleshooting is driving me crazy. Thanks in advance!

After doing a lot of research I've decided I'm going with a Tracker 175TXW. I'm leaning towards getting a new one instead of used. I happened to be by the closest Tracker dealer to me yesterday so I stopped in and checked them out in person for the first time in about six years. I got to talking pricing with the sale man and he said with the "No haggle no hassle pricing" the price is the same no matter where you go. Is this true no haggling? Then came the talk about electronics. I talked with the service manager and the labor for 2 Helix units is $500! I asked the salesman if I buy this boat will you install for free? Flat out NO. It doesn't even sound like he'd be willing to negotiate on install labor. What is your experience with haggling when buying a new boat? I mean geez if I'm going to drop that kind of money plus electronics you'd think there'd be something. Side note a while back I responded to a post about installing electronics and I said I'd do it myself and save the money. I'll admit I might be eating some crow. After looking through the boat I would be a little nervous about removing part of the flooring to run wires on a brand new boat! The wiring, no problem, running/hiding the wires yup, crow doesn't taste good. Lol thanks guys!

First time posting in a while! [edit: I guess this is my first post under this name! all of my other posts came from the alias Castamasta] I might be the most excited I have been for fishing in a long time. Primarily because i will have my first boat! But, as the title of this forum explains, it is a small jon boat...........still a boat though! First, I wanted to see what you guys have done with your smaller jon boats. Especially with regards to how you rigged your electronics and organized your batteries. I know there is the thread with "show your ride", but I wanted this to be solely smaller craft / jon. Second, id like some input on what I am currently thinking of doing for my configuration from all your small boaters / jon boaters out there. Any advice (even if it is..."come on man, get a bigger boat!") is welcome! Here is what I am working with: tracker 1232 riveted jon (http://www.trackerboats.com/boat/specs.cfm?boat=3829) two 12V batteries 2x battery box 55 lb minn kota trolling motor humminbird helix 5 si gps 3 amp fuse 2 x rotating foam seats w bench clamps 1 x bait monkey Concerns / inexperience: Weight balance - I am thinking of putting one battery in the mid section of the boat and one in the back to balance the weight a bit. Do you guys see this as necessary due to how small the boat is? I want to be clean with cable management, but there aren't too many locations to hide the wires (just stuff it in the box is what I am thinking). Wondering if this baby will sink if I put two people in it.....from the specs it kind of seems that that will be the case. Battery charging - I am thinking of buying one of the portable chargers for like $60 at bass pro. Anything that I could put on board that someone would recommend? Ideally, I would want to just keep the batteries in place and be able to run an extension cord to my boat to charge the batteries, but that seems expensive ($150).....but kinda worth it. Transducer mounting - If I am going to be using the trolling motor as my main thrust, I was thinking that a TM mount would not be ideal due to how much error steering will cause. Is this the correct thinking? Instead, I was going to get some silicone sealant and just drill the transducer right into the transom and seal it up. Other option would be to suction cup it....which might be good as well. Again, I want to see what you guys have out there first, so I can potentially steal some ideas. if you can steer me in the right direction with some of the stuff i have outlined above, that would be great too! Thanks, Casta

I've loved my Lowerance HDS gen 2 and it's structure scan features but I have notice a problem while marking off shore structure. I will mark fish, a brush pile, etc on my screen as I see it on side imaging or downscan and fish that exact waypoint. I've noticed after marking the waypoint especially on side imaging that when I drive over the spot that I marked previously the brush or structure is not as I saw it before. I am starting to question the accuracy of the waypoints when they are used in the structure scan feature. Does anyone know how I could fix this or having the same problem?

Hey guys so I'm about to upgrade to the Garmin echomap chirp 73 sv. Im wondering if I should upgrade and add the panoptix transducer. Has anyone used it? I've seen all the videos and. While it looks sweet I'm not sure if it's worth the money. I'm also in kayak, not a big bass boat but any advice would be awesome!

Looking to upgrade my 17.5 foot princecraft's electronics to be able to find fish in a tournament or even on the weekends effectively. Trying to stay around $400. Any advice helps

Need some fish location advice.. When looking at a good quality lake map or at a graph with a good mapping chip, are there any contour shapes/patterns/signatures that can reliably indicate hard bottom? I fish a lot of milfoil-matted natural lakes in the upper midwest. Identifying hard bottom along the weed edge is straightforward enough - brighter coloring on a well-tuned side image. But what about firmer areas that are buried up underneath the foil? SI can't penetrate to see them so I'm wondering if they might be identifiable, once the boundaries of a good foil mat are known, using map contours (irregularities, presumably) under the mat. If contours aren't the answer, what are the best ways to find buried-up hard bottom spots inside of big milfoil beds? Thanks for your insights, all.. Rick Plymouth, MN

Hey guys I just figured something out and wanted to share it. This is for the guys that don't have a lot of money invested in their electronics yet. I will one day but i'm not to that point yet. I have figured out how to get waypoints on google earth on my phone. I didn't find any other topics on this exact subject so figured I'd start one. Basically what i did was use old imagry of a lake when it was drawn way down and marked brush piles, humps, old pond banks, foundations, and road beds. On a little 1200 acre lake i have over 60 places marked. After I marked my spots on Google earth I right clicked on the folder I create for this set of waypoints, right clicked on the folder under my places and emailed it to myself. I opened the email on my phone then opened the file in google earth. I was worried about the accuracy of the GPS on my phone, but after testing it in my back yard I believe i can well within 10ft of my waypoint. It will be another week or two before i get to test it, but I can't see why it won't work. Thanks!

I recently purchased a Lowrance elite 7 HDI unit and am now looking to get a lake map chip for it. I have found that their are many choices and i would like to know which maps have worked the best in units similar to mine, and more importantly which has the most detailed maps and largest selection of maps for the lakes i fish here in southern and central Maine. Thanks again for all the help!

Hello there, I'm new to these forums and a relative beginner fisher and was looking into getting a decent fish finder, but am so overwhelmed by my options! I'm managed to narrow down my options to the Lowrance Elite 4x HDI with Downscan or the Garmin 501c . Any input into which would be best would be greatly appreciated Thanks in advance

Looking to update the electronics on my boat an was wondering what features are most important? I will be fishing for largemouth and smallies in Maine away from the bank. Is side imaging worth the extra $$ for finding fish and structure off shore? How important is size of screen? Lastly what model fish finder do you like the best and which would I get the best bang for my buck for under 700? Any help and recommendations would be great thanks!

I've been searching for a small size simple fish finder to fit to my kayak. I have found that the Lowrance Elite 4x is probably my best choice. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with it and what their thoughts would be on it. Can anybody help me out? Thanks. And here is the link if anyone wants to take a gander, http://www.lowrance.com/en-US/Products/Fishfinder/Elite4x-en-us.aspx -Will

Forgive me if this topic is a repeat. I've searched Forums as best I can and came up short, so if you know of a good topic on this subject please post a link for me. I've just purchased the Lowrance HDS-7 Gen 2 with Structure Scan and I'm planning my installation. I'll be using my boat (when i get it back) on the Potomac River which has, from time-to-time, a lot of flotsam or other things to hit. I don't want to install the LSS2 transducer where it can be hit and damaged. So my question is "where do you believe is the best location for the Trans on the rear of my "Step Back" Ranger? I don't have a jack plate, my Mercury 150 EFI is mounted directly to the transom. Here are some options from the installation manuals. Here is another option.... I just don't have a good understanding of the bubble turbulence in the transom area at low speeds on the Ranger.

Hey Guys and Gals, I purchased a Hummingbird 570 DI and am pretty impressed but I feel like maybe my settings could be tweaked to gain some better results. If someone has something similar and understands all of the settings, could you take a look at my settings and let me know if there is somewhere I could do something better? 1st menu: Sensitivity: 10 out of 1-20 Lower Range: Auto Chart Speed: 8 Bottom View: Structure ID <---set here White Line Bottom Black Inverse 2nd menu (sonar) Beam Select: 455khz (highest setting) Imaging Frequency: 800khz Structure Clutter: 5 out of 1-10 Switch Fire: Max Mode Fish ID +: On Fish ID Sensitivity: 8 out of 1-10 RTS Window: Wide Zoom Width: Wide I understand depth has a lot to do with the settings, so just as an FYI, the deepest I have fished is 32' with it and will probably never see 50'. Always freshwater, always Bass. Thanks for all the help.

I want to buy a fish finder to catch shad & catfish in freshwater. I fish about once a month, and I recently bought my first boat (19 foot aluminum ski boat). I don't want to break the bank, but I'd like a solid unit. I know very little on the subject so thanks for the advice. What would you recommend for the budget end of quality fish finders? What additional equipment would I need to purchase (transducer, mounts, etc)? If I wanted a model with GPS/lake maps what would you recommend? Thanks, Mike