Self powered plotter bag assy

[Paul]

Blootac was asking on another thread how I was powering my plotter so thought this might be helpful to others
Plotter bags are £60+ and I've put this bag together for under £10 (yes I'm tight) and it's less bulky to use than the proper bag
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking but for a quick summary what I did and how much here goes
Shoe/trainers bag £3.50 from Sportsdirect is pop riveted onto a cut down plastic chopping board from Tescos costing about £1 with washers to stop rivets pulling through the fabric.
Attached 4 plastic hooks £1 with rivets on all corners to the plastic base to hook bungee cords onto. Plastic container £3 with hole cut in the lid to pass electrical wires through connecting the battery to Plotter and the lid acts as a mount for the plotters mounting bracket. Fabsil water proofer applied to the bags outer fabric and jobs a good one

Here's the components put together

All zipped up and easy to carry/transport with all wires and transducer in one place

Here it is bungee strapped to the seat ready for use

The battery is a 12v 7ah from Toolstation part no 79562 costing £14.98 http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p79562.

I'll also add that this battery will power my Bravo BTP12 to top up the tubes whilst out on the water should the need arise
I wouldn't recommend running the pump on this battery all the time as it's on the battery's limits but I've checked and it does work

Paul

[Martin]

And don't forget to tune in next week when Paul will be making a microwave oven from a nuclear warhead, paper plates and double sided sticky tape...
Excellent post as ever Paul, a handy set up indeedy for a fraction of the cost of the proposed solution.
I take my hat of to ya!!
Blue Peter has nothing on you

[Paul]

And don't forget to tune in next week when Paul will be making a microwave oven from a nuclear warhead, paper plates and double sided sticky tape...

Blue Peter has nothing on you

Cheeky whipper snapper

And where do you suppose Blue Peter got all those ideas from then in the first place


Paul

PS. anyone got a nuclear warhead laying around unused coz they're better than the flux capacitor of 1.21 gigawatts of power I ripped out of that old DeLorean from the Back to the Future movie set, Ta

[philpot]

Very neat Paul. Forgive me but is the bag so it is easier to carry around when not strapped to the bench seat because the plotter head is waterproof.

Here is a thought, I am going to try mounting the transducer inside the Frib hull and leave it there as the hull is single skin, the signal should go straight through. We used to mount the transducer in the kayaks by this method which gave a good reading on the screen but no temperature of course.

Phil

[Paul]

TBH Phil I'm just trying to 'organise' myself
By that I mean putting everything in its own place so I don't forget taking it and ease of finding and carrying it. The bag also carries my DSC VHF radio, knife, car keys and other small items which is very handy
Everything for going out in the boat is in its own large box which I can chuck into the Navara pick-up along with the boat and engine and I'm good to go at short notice

Yup, the transducer mounting to the hull is a great idea but I sometimes go out in someone else's boat so I can still use my set-up if needed.
Please do a 'how to' with photos when you do your fixed hull transducer as I for one would be very interested how you go about it

What with the boat, the caravan and all the associated equipment this old git finds it hard to remember to bring everything these days

Paul

[philpot]

Will do Paul, also need to sort the fishing cuddy now that the weather is warming up.

Phil

[Paul]

Will do Paul, also need to sort the fishing cuddy now that the weather is warming up.

Phil

Thanks Phil
BTW, there you go again tempting me with another purchase
Yup, I'd be also interested in how you get on fitting and using the cuddy (bow cover) because I reckon it'll be great for the Scottish Gathering trip and for those windy wet days on the Solent

Paul

[Corey538]

Was looking at these bag the other day for a fish finder, what fish finder is it that you are using? And is it good? I Will certainly be using this DIY plotter bag thanks

[Admin]

Hello Corey538, and welcome to the forum.
Sorry for the delay clearing your first post.
Paul has a lowrance elite 4 HDi. I'll leave him to explain it in detail.
It's not compulsory, but we do appreciate members using the introduce yourself page when first posting, it helps notify members of your sign in, but more so, we all get to say a big HELLOO !!

[Paul]

Was looking at these bag the other day for a fish finder, what fish finder is it that you are using? And is it good? I Will certainly be using this DIY plotter bag thanks

Hi mate and welcome to the forum
The fishfinder I'm using is the Lowrance Elite-4 HDI which isn't cheap at around £230-250 and then you've got the price of the map you wish to load onto it
Great bit of kit and covers everything I want, need and more.
You need to first ascertain what you require from your fishfinder to do for you and then start looking around for the kit to fit your needs and then read the reviews before you spend your hard earned cash.
Blootac found a good set-up with maps included for less money and I believe Martin is looking at the Lowrance download option to his phone/ipad for less money.
So in short, these kits are very much a personal choice based on what you're willing to spend and what you want from it in performance.

Maybe if you can tell us what you're wanting to get from your 'kit' we can help you in your purchase

Paul