Depth Raider Install question

[Blue Heron]

OK - Based on the rave reviews from many members here I bought a Depth Raider to install on the little multi species boat.

I plan to install today but had a question about it

Has anyone installed the coated cable by just splicing to the end of their existing cable ( using a couple of crimps) and winding it right over the top - seems like this would be very simple to do and would solve any cannon shortstop issues ( I will be using the removable probe setup similar to what has been posted here) . My only concern with this would be potential wear on coated cable where it is touching the reg cable on the spool -

Any help or thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

Ted

[snupytcb]

why not just remove the old cable? that will be alot of cable. you should strip back the coating a little any how. it's pretty easy to install. the instructions were a little intunidating to me, but when i got done i realized it was prety easy. as far as wear goes, as long as you don't have any burr's it should be fine. no matter how you do it the coating will wind against the metal cable anyway.

[Yankee Troller]

If you dont take off your old cable you will throw off your counter. for example. I put on 500' of coated cable instead of 200' My counter is off by 10'.

[Blue Heron]

I expected the counter would be off slightly but to be honest i doubt they are that precise anyway so I can handle that - I was looking for a 'shortcut' since I expect to replace these current downriggers with cannon mag5hs in spring - this just seemed like an simple & quick approach to get up & running and then allow me to uninstall quickly and have the old riggers sale ready

[rustyrat]

I just put a new cable on my mag5. Strip about 4ft of the coated cable and put that on the spool first. Short stops work fine if you do that. I think you are just asking for trouble by splicing it on the other cable.

RR

[chowder]

Ditto what RR said above. No problem w/ coated cable & short stop. It's not really a big deal to swap out the cables & doesn't take long!

[GAMBLER]

If you are worried about the cable being off, tilt the transducer on your fish finder back a notch or two and you will see the rigger weights on the screen. Takes the guessing away.

[snupytcb]

I expected the counter would be off slightly but to be honest i doubt they are that precise anyway so I can handle that - I was looking for a 'shortcut' since I expect to replace these current downriggers with cannon mag5hs in spring - this just seemed like an simple & quick approach to get up & running and then allow me to uninstall quickly and have the old riggers sale ready

you would want the counters to work right if you are in shallow water. it's not really a shortcut by just adding new cable. it only takes a few minutes to strip the old off. all this typing you could have had it done by now

[Blue Heron]

thanks for the input guys

I had previously installed one of these on a buddies boat and did that one 'by the numbers'. Since I am planning on changing riggers before next season I was just looking for input on risks of winding over the old cable - I had hoped someone had already tried it

I did the install yesterday and decided somebody had to be first so I did wind it over existing . Counter impact was minimal and initial performance was normal . Time will tell

Ted