Lowrance Elite 4x install

     I have seen a ton of pictures of how people have went about installing their fish finders and a lot of them involve drilling holes in the yak at some point. One great thing that Jackson has done is added inserts so you can utilize ram mounts that simply screw in. Lowrance is the first company to really start to market their product for use on kayaks and have even developed a scupper hole transducer mounting system. Although there are ways to utilize the mount with some modification on the Coosa (due to the oblonge scupper holes) it again requires you to either drill a hole in your yak or have loose wires running through the cockpit area. Having all this knowledge I decided to shoot the transducer through the hull and utilize the inserts for a no holes installation.

The mount was originally for a hand held GPS. I modified it by tapping the bottom with a 1/4" tap and inserted a sainless steel bolt and cut off the head once it was installed. I then made a plate that would fit either a Humminbird or Lowrance base.

I made a transducer pad out of some foam and used marine goop to secure it to the kayak. In the Coosa I opted to remove the large foam insert and install it just behind it and centered on the yaks hull. Once it had sat for a while with a small weight on it I filled the void with goop being careful not to allow bubbles and popping any that did form.

The transducer was then put into the pool of goop and pressed down and leveled leaving approximately 1/8" of goop between it and the yak. I used painters tape to hold it into place and checked it periodically over the next few hours. Several times I had to tweek it a bit to keep it level and centered.



I decided to utilize the day hatch as my access point for the wiring. I used a rat tail file and removed a portion of the lip to allow the hatch to remain water tight.

I tested the fit several times and removed enough material where wire chaffing would not be an issue and the wires did not interfere with the lid.

I inserted the bag portion of the day hatch and made a small slit just big enough for the wires to pass through. Now I wouldn't have to fish the wires up everytime I used the fish finder and still had the storage on the days I did.







The finished product was clean when in use and was completely stowable when not in use with minimal alteration to the yak.

I utilized the large foam insert for both keeping the 20 foot of tansducer wire neat, and to hold my battery in place. Simple zip ties were inserted through the foam block for the wire hold. I utilized a length of 1/4" bungee and secured it through the block as a battery hold.

I have had the yak out a couple times and I am still learning the unit but overall I have been really happy with the install. No problems with transducer interference and after being in the water for a few minues the hull seems to register within a degree or two of the water temp.