Kayaks and Livescope - Done Deal

[Koz]

2 hours ago, Fishingmickey said:

I didn't read your post thoroughly. I missed that you had already pulled the trigger.

FM

That’s quite alright. I appreciate your concern and doing some research. I actually found that website and offer just last night.

 

And thanks to everyone else with your opinions and ideas. I took them to heart on making my decision.

[immortl]

5 hours ago, Koz said:

That’s exactly what I just bought from them. But thanks for being kind enough to do some research.

That’s exactly my thinking and why I’m going to hold on to the Helix for a little while longer.

 

The good news is that the electronics and mounting pole will all be here by Thursday.

 

The bad news is that it’s supposed to rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and I don’t have a garage and I don’t think my kayak will fit in the big shed to work on it.

I used the front living room as my workspace when rigging my kayak.  Just had to relocate the coffee table and there was just enough room to walk around it while it was up on stands.

[Koz]

15 hours ago, immortl said:

I used the front living room as my workspace when rigging my kayak.  Just had to relocate the coffee table and there was just enough room to walk around it while it was up on stands.

I wish that would work for me. The only door wide enough for my kayak are the double doors off my two tiered back deck. I have a hard enough time loading this beast on my trailer bunks.

 

I can pull most of the kayak into my big shed. I just need to rig up some lighting.

[TnRiver46]

I’d say rig it up in the rain, it’s gonna have to work in the lake while it’s raining anyhow 

[Koz]

The Livescope package, the new 9" Echomap package with the GT54 transducer, and the Fishing Specialties Livescope mount arrived today. But I had to order a mount for the GT54 transducer because the holes on the transom mount don't line up with the Old Town mounting plate.

 

One thing I missed out on ordering was a through hull kit to run the Livescope wiring to the head unit, so that was ordered today as well.

 

It looks like I'm going to have to pull out my Yak Power switch and relocate it to the bow hatch instead of the hatch under the seat because that's where the GLS 10 black box will have to go.

 

Hopefully everything is here by Sunday when we get a break in the weather and I can get all of the Garmin stuff hooked up and install my deck lights. Speaking of lights and Yak Power, while their nav lights work fine, they don't stick to the hull. I have to glue them back on.

 

Everything looks easy to hook up. I just hope I have enough cable to reach where everything needs to go. With kayaks, it's measure and test 4 times before you start drilling holes!

 

The one thing I really don't like about my Autopilot is that the head unit is far away from the seat. For a short guy like me, that becomes a nuisance. With my Seastream Angler the rail track went right up to the seat and I could mount the head unit right there.

 

Because I predominantly cast and fish left, with Livescope I want the head unit on the left. To make teh wiring easier that probably means the Livescope mount goes on the left as well. I may end up building a center console prototype as well.

[TnRiver46]

Koz the mad scientist!!! Can’t wait to see it all ready to go 

[Koz]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Koz the mad scientist!!! Can’t wait to see it all ready to go 

Rigging a kayak where space is limited takes a lot of thought. Between finding space to mount things, taking into account how you fish, weight distribution and balance, etc. it can be a task. I want to get it right before I start drilling holes.

 

I’d hate to drill holes and run cable on one side only to find out I want that piece of equipment on the other side.

 

Or maybe I drill on both sides and put blank through hull plates where I’m not currently running wires.

 

Gotta go - my brain is overloading now!

[flatcreek]

I have a large shop if you need to use it you’re welcome.Plenty of dried in space. I’m an hour from Eatonton

[Bankc]

You can buy and install an aftermarket rail unit, if you want.  Then you can place the displays wherever you want.   Just another option for you.  

[Koz]

1 minute ago, Bankc said:

You can buy and install an aftermarket rail unit, if you want.  Then you can place the displays wherever you want.   Just another option for you.  

With most kayaks, yes. However, if you look at where the forward facing rod holders, cup holders, and trays are there is no space to add track on the rails closer to my seat.

[TnRiver46]

Don’t be too nervous about the holes koz . I put one about the size of a soft ball in a sit on top and it was easily plastic welded. A drill bit hole ain’t nothin 

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, Koz said:

With most kayaks, yes. However, if you look at where the forward facing rod holders, cup holders, and trays are there is no space to add track on the rails closer to my seat.

 

If you really want to mount it closer to the seat you can, so long as you give up a rod holder.  There are Ram mount plates that replace the rod holders.  they seal off the hold and leave a ball on top.  then you ram mount to the ball.  I think Navarre has them.

 

I forget which mount system you went with but yak attack has the lock and load fish finder track mounts.  You can add an arm or two to bring it back closer to you.  When I used a helix 7 I had the base of the L&L fairly forward on the right track and when I lowered the angle I could touch the FF by barely leaning forward.  If I pulled the L&L back to the rear of the track I could have touched it without reaching.

 

 

[Koz]

8 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

If you really want to mount it closer to the seat you can, so long as you give up a rod holder.  There are Ram mount plates that replace the rod holders.  they seal off the hold and leave a ball on top.  then you ram mount to the ball.  I think Navarre has them.

 

I forget which mount system you went with but yak attack has the lock and load fish finder track mounts.  You can add an arm or two to bring it back closer to you.  When I used a helix 7 I had the base of the L&L fairly forward on the right track and when I lowered the angle I could touch the FF by barely leaning forward.  If I pulled the L&L back to the rear of the track I could have touched it without reaching.

 

 

I think I’m going to build a console first and try that out. The best way I can describe it is a V-wing mount.

 

While it means I will have to reach, it keeps the head unit out of the way of my fishing. This may work best if I use the Garmin unit for FFS only and use my Helix 7 for DI, SI, and Lakemaster mapping.

 

I’ll build it out of wood and if it works well I can have someone fabricate an aluminum unit.

 

I’m looking forward to trying different layouts.

[immortl]

On 2/27/2024 at 10:28 AM, Koz said:

I wish that would work for me. The only door wide enough for my kayak are the double doors off my two tiered back deck. I have a hard enough time loading this beast on my trailer bunks.

 

I can pull most of the kayak into my big shed. I just need to rig up some lighting.

Yeah, I had to use the double front doors, and move some stuff in the hallway, and rope my brother into helping me horse it into the house.  Getting it in and out was a process.  Still a little more rigging to do, so we'll be doing it again one of these days.

[Koz]

3 hours ago, immortl said:

Yeah, I had to use the double front doors, and move some stuff in the hallway, and rope my brother into helping me horse it into the house.  Getting it in and out was a process.  Still a little more rigging to do, so we'll be doing it again one of these days.

There was a break in the weather and the bracket for the DI/SI transducer finally arrived so everything is now installed and has fired up. I just need to find some time to get it on the water.

 

All of the wiring is loose and not bundled or secured for now while I experiment with placement. For now, the head unit is on the port rail but I have a feeling that I'm not going to like it there. It's just too big. I'll try it there, then on the starboard rail.

 

But this weekend I did build a prototype console mount that sits low on the deck and that may work the best for my needs. I'm just waiting for some longer track bolts to arrive so I can lock it down properly.

[Fishingmickey]

I'm looking forward to hearing your initial reaction on using livescope.

FM

[Koz]

4 hours ago, Fishingmickey said:

I'm looking forward to hearing your initial reaction on using livescope.

FM

I’m sure my i initial reaction will be a combination of awe and being overwhelmed. I’m sure that to get the most out of it the learning curve is steep.

 

There’s also a big jump going from the Helix 7 to the EchoMap 9.

 

It’s too bad the weather isn’t cooperating. I don’t mind fishing in the rain, but I don’t want to be out there learning the new electronics in the rain.

[immortl]

19 hours ago, Koz said:

There was a break in the weather and the bracket for the DI/SI transducer finally arrived so everything is now installed and has fired up. I just need to find some time to get it on the water.

 

All of the wiring is loose and not bundled or secured for now while I experiment with placement. For now, the head unit is on the port rail but I have a feeling that I'm not going to like it there. It's just too big. I'll try it there, then on the starboard rail.

 

But this weekend I did build a prototype console mount that sits low on the deck and that may work the best for my needs. I'm just waiting for some longer track bolts to arrive so I can lock it down properly.

Excellent.  Don't forget to check for firmware updates for the everything.  On my Lowrance gear, there were updates for the head unit and also a separate update for the FFS/Active Target 2.

 

Good call on the loose cables initially too, in my opinion.  I did similar and went out a few times.  Once I decided where most things were going to end up, the kayak came back into the house for another round of rigging and adjustments.  The final rigging was delayed with the unexpected passing of my wife and then the holidays came so the kayak was put out in a cargo trailer.  I need to bring it back in to the house for a few final tweaks and then get out on the water with it for some mental peace of mind and to learn the FFS and down and side scan features better.  I've never fished with electronics before, but I'm really enjoying them so far.

 

For a future challenge, I recently read about one of the Pros linking their head unit FFS display to a pair of AR glasses.  The article was light on details, but I started looking into it and it doesn't seem all that difficult.  I'm thinking if I could see the display of the head unit while looking out over the lake, without having to look down, that could be cool and useful.   That's likely a later this summer or fall project though.

[Bankc]

Leaving the wires loose is definitely a good idea.  But don't be too afraid of making the wrong holes.  I've filled a ton of holes in my kayak.  All you need is a plastic welding kit (or something like a 15 watt soldering iron you don't mind ruining with melted plastic), some HDPE plastic, and a file or sandpaper.  If you can find the same color of HDPE, even better.  My kayak came with some of the cutout plugs from the scupper holes still inside.  And whenever I drill out a hole, I save the shavings from the drill.  So if I need to plug a hole, I just melt the edges of the hole and feed some scrap HDPE plastic into the hole to plug it up.  Then, file or sand it smooth.  I won't look perfect unless you're really good at it.  But it'll work perfectly.  I've also had my kayak warp on me (got a dent in the side from a strap that was too tight on a hot day) and used a heat gun to warp it back straight.  That's the beauty of a thermoplastic kayak.  It's so much easier to repair than fiberglass, wood, or aluminum.  

 

And it's not just repair.  You can semi-permanently attach things to your kayak by plastic welding them.  Just make sure to use the same type of plastic, because if you try to weld too different types of plastic together, it doesn't always work.  And easy way to identify HDPE is to look for the recycle code (the three arrows forming a triangle with a number in the middle).  If that number is 2, it's HDPE.  

[Koz]

29 minutes ago, immortl said:

Excellent.  Don't forget to check for firmware updates for the everything.  On my Lowrance gear, there were updates for the head unit and also a separate update for the FFS/Active Target 2.

 

 

For a future challenge, I recently read about one of the Pros linking their head unit FFS display to a pair of AR glasses.  The article was light on details, but I started looking into it and it doesn't seem all that difficult.  I'm thinking if I could see the display of the head unit while looking out over the lake, without having to look down, that could be cool and useful.   That's likely a later this summer or fall project though.

Dang you! 😀 I was hoping to stop pouring more money into my kayak!

[Fishingmickey]

Hi Koz,

     Garmin has the update's listed on their web site. You can download the software updates to a SD card. I think it has to be a 32GB or under card.  Once you download to the card you take that card out to your 93sv HD unit and make sure everything including your live scope box is on. And then you put the card into the slot and follow the prompts. With a new unit you shouldn't have to do this.

FM

[immortl]

6 hours ago, Koz said:

Dang you! 😀 I was hoping to stop pouring more money into my kayak!

 

When you figure out the trick to that, please share it. 

[Koz]

2 hours ago, immortl said:

 

When you figure out the trick to that, please share it. 

I **think** it might be relatively easy with Garmin and their Active Captain app and the right pair of glasses.

 

The Garmin head unit can create a WiFi network and you can connect your phone to that network and use the Active Captain app to display Livescope on your phone.

 

If you have AR glasses that connect to your phone you should be able to see Livescope on your glasses. It may have to connect through the AR app first.

 

I’d love to try this, but for me it would cost a lot more than buying a pair of AR glasses because I would need prescription AR glasses.

 

**UPDATE** XReal makes AR glasses that use The USB-C connection to show what is on your phone (i.e. the Active Captain app) on the AR glasses. This WILL work. They also have prescription lenses through partner websites. The glasses are about $450 and the prescription lens inserts are about $200. This might be my Christmas present to myself this year.

 

 

[immortl]

14 hours ago, Koz said:

I **think** it might be relatively easy with Garmin and their Active Captain app and the right pair of glasses.

 

The Garmin head unit can create a WiFi network and you can connect your phone to that network and use the Active Captain app to display Livescope on your phone.

 

If you have AR glasses that connect to your phone you should be able to see Livescope on your glasses. It may have to connect through the AR app first.

 

I’d love to try this, but for me it would cost a lot more than buying a pair of AR glasses because I would need prescription AR glasses.

 

**UPDATE** XReal makes AR glasses that use The USB-C connection to show what is on your phone (i.e. the Active Captain app) on the AR glasses. This WILL work. They also have prescription lenses through partner websites. The glasses are about $450 and the prescription lens inserts are about $200. This might be my Christmas present to myself this year.

 

 

Funny!  I was referring to the 'trick' of stop pouring money into the kayak.

 

I was figuring on using contacts, but I can't see close in with those any more.  I wear progressives as a daily driver.   I like the prescription lenses option, a lot.  I believe those are also the AR glasses I was looking at. 

 

This is why I like discussing projects with others.  You went about a different way than I was thinking.  I've been trying to see if Lowrance HDS Pro has a video/HDMI OUT.  It seems there is an HDMI IN to display phone content on head unit, but I'm not sure yet if there is an HDMI OUT.  I haven't put much time into research yet.  I need to dedicate some time to it, and now I'll look up the wireless options.  That is much nicer, even if tethered to a phone in my pocket, than the cabled version described in the article.