Valinote

No I'm using the old triducer from my 840 with the new X4 and it works fine. It's actually is probably a better ducer because the original is made by Airmar and the new one seems to be a no-name from China. -Steve D

Thanks, Cap'n. Always enjoy reading your reports. We still hit a fish once in a while on the Window Spoon recipe you gave me years ago! Tight lines... -Steve D

You need the triducer to receive the RF signal broadcast by the probe. Getting the surface speed/temp is a bonus. With the old 840, the surface temp used to give you something steady to look at when the down temp was jumping around or not working at all! Nowadays, most fishfinders have temp, and people use GPS SOG for topside speed. It's just an extra reference point really. Kindest regards... By the way, Cap'n Carl, are you going to be posting your weekly exploits to your web site the year? I always enjoyed reading your fishing reports from the Point. -Steve D

I installed a whole new X4 system a couple weeks ago including the display and I'm still using my old 840 triducer and original power cord. Works great with the new system. In fact I heard that the old style (Airmar) triducers are better than the new (Chinese lower cost?) triducer that comes with the X4. I've had the new mini probe down to 200' and it maintains rock solid readings. Still on the 1st set of batteries too. Hard to believe we all suffered so many years with the old 840's. Hope this helps. -Steve D

Just took my new Fish Hawk X-4 out for a trial run last Saturday. I was an 840 owner for 15 years, and WOW what a difference! Probe was rock steady down to 120' with a 13# torpedo weight. Didn't try any deeper than that. Display is a huge improvement too. After all those years of frustration, I'm finally a happy FishHawk owner! Now to find out how long the batteries last... -Steve D

Sounds like you have them attached too close to the bow. I have a pair of the 36" Amish bags on my 30' Baha tied to the middle cleats. Usually I troll with only one bag port or starboard and don't notice the boat pulling to that side. Try moving them and let me know how it works out. Kindest regards. -Steve D

I spoke to someone in customer service at RM before I installed my S1000. They told my it's not really the length of the boat that matters, but the capacity of the ram on the hydraulic steering. My ram is an SeaStar HC5312 which is about 118cc.; and the S1000 is rated to work with rams from 80 to 120cc; so 2 years of hard use in all weather conditions and no problems yet. Raymarine provides either a DB9 connector or bare wires to make your own NMEA 0183 interface. I made my own adapter cable to go to my old school 1995 Raytheon V-850 and it worked fine. Now, I just bought a Lowrance LXC-113cHD and before I install it I will be cutting and soldering up a new cable to work with that. As far as the slow trolling issues and the "Crazy Ivan" complaints, I haven't had any issues since Raymarine upgraded my software (for free). The age of the GPS can also a factor if you don't have control of the NMEA refresh rate and enable the correct sentences. I may someday upgrade to a fancier AP, but until they provide the option to turn off the rudder feedback when trolling off a single screw on a twin engine boat, I'll stick with what I have. Especially since $$$ was right too! -Steve D

I've been using the Raymarine S1000 on my 30' Baha w/ twin inboards for 2 years now and love it. Most difficult part of the installation was changing the boat from cable to hydraulic steering. Price was right at <$1K, and it does everything I need for fishing. Wireless is great as it allows you to steer the boat to port or starboard when you're attempting to net a fish. The main advantage of autopiloting off the GPS instead of a fluxgate for a twin engine boat is that there's no rudder feedback sensor to get confused when you troll off just one engine. When you shut off one engine, the S1000 just compensates to keep you on course regardless of the position or your rudder. Same thing when you throw out the trolling bags. With the latest firmware upgrade I can troll down to ~1.5 mph without it losing course. Although the Autolearn feature does a good job of setting the autopilot parameters, I tweaked some of them manually to get a little better trolling performance in wind and waves. Pretty easy to change from the remote when you're on the water. Overall it's the most significant change I've made to my boat. Not sure how I ever fished without it before. Good luck shopping and kindest regards. -Steve D

Skeiner, I really like the look of those Stingease Super Stakr cheater clips. Are there any on-line stores that sell them? Thanks for any advice. -Steve D

I've bought various fishing tackle from Brett Walker and have been very satisfied. Him and his wife run a nice business. Great communication and quick shipping. -Steve D

Thanks for the report, Dan. Glad you had a good day. My son and I will be up to FH on Sunday for the Valinote maiden voyage if the weather cooperates. Give us a holler on the VHF if you're around. Kindest regards. -Steve D

Zeb, let me know how your new Heartlands work out for you with the wire. I bought a pair of the new 10'6" black-colored model HL-D1062HR-G Heartland's last year from BLO, and after one season the guides are so heavily grooved that the rods are unusable and need to be trashed (or have the guides replaces). It's *all* the guides too, from top to bottom, not just the tip. On the other hand, I also have 2 of the older 9'6" brown-colored Heartlands that I've been using for over 10 years and the guides look like new. Go figure. I guess they don't make them like they used to. Hope you have better luck than I did. Kindest regards. -Steve D

Scott's right. Black is that absence of all color. If the only color is red, it will gray out the deeper you go, as the frequency of the light that illuminates red fails to penetrate. After about 15', it will turn black; not necessarily a bad color for fishing, but certainly not clear or invisible. -Steve D

The instructions for my Airmar thru-hull transducer recommended using 3M 5200 (the white stuff), not Silicone. The disadvantage of using the 5200 is it's permanent. If you ever needed to remove or replace your transducer you won't be able to get it out without taking part of the hull with it... -Steve D

Erin, did you also have to purchase the Fish 'n Chip to get the detailed 5' depth contours around Fairhaven or does that come on the Hot Map Premium as is. All this map stuff is very confusing... -Steve D

Jeff, I would like to get the best mep for the eastern end of Lake Ontario centered around Fairhaven. What would be correct chip to purchase? Would the addition of the Fish'N Chip give me the detailed bathymetric contour lines of the bottom off Fairhaven? Thanks in advance for your learned advice. -Steve D

Bill, I am also looking for a good Chartplotter/Radar combo after the magnetron on my 1988 Apelco radar died last summer. Also, my GPS is Raytheon circa 1995 sans any plotting functions. I notice that Lowrance has a beautiful new series of large color daylight viewable GPS/Chartplotter displays of various sizes (7200c/8200c/9200c) that can be mated to any of their LRA series radars to provide both functions. They are also touting new software that will enable you to superimpose the radar plot on the chart with the addition of an optional fluxgate compass (to give the radar a directional reference point). They also make reasonably priced fuel GPH meters that display on the same screen so that you can find your optimum cruising RPM. Personally, I'm looking at a combo of the 8200C Chartplotter w/ 8.5" screen (~$1200) with the LRA-2000 4KW radome (~$1500). I'm just a little worried about interface issues I read regarding Lowrance products on the web. I will continue to investigate over the winter and let you know of any newfound info. Appreciate if you could do the same. Kindest regards...

It makes it a lot easier, Rod. When I installed the S1000 on my Baha, I spent 80% of the time installing the hydraulic steering, and only 20% installing the autopilot. If you already have the Sea Star installed it should be a piece of cake. Good luck. -Steve D

I know that Lithium batteries have excellent performance under very cold conditions compared to Alkaline which are terrible. However, they are expensive at about $10 a pop for a 9V. Theoretically, they are supposed to last 4 to 5 times as long as a standard Alkaline. I might give one a try next season just to see if it helps with the "cold water signal loss" problem on my Fish Hawk. -Steve D