Lowrance Link-2 DSC Radio

I’ve just taken delivery of a new Lowrance Link-2 DSC radio to replace my ageing ICOM M33. It’s currently charging and I’ll be having a good play with it over the next few days. The biggest difference when compared to the ICOM is the addition of a GPS receiver and DSC, yet its weight is exactly the same. I’ll be posting a detailed initial review very soon!

Rigging the Hobie Outback for fishing (Part1)

I’ve had the Hobie Outback for a few months now, rigging has been steady, perhaps a little pedestrian. A times parts have been slow to arrive, a lot of time has been spent planning and there’s been fishing, Christmas, Easter and other holidays and weekends away in between.

I’ve rigged several kayaks before, mostly for other people. The Outback had to be capable of being fished in various guises, anchoring, fishing with live or deadbait, trolling, lure fishing and sailing. Obviously not all at once!, however, It needed to be rigged in such a way that would permit the role of the kayak to be changed quickly and with minimal fuss. Consideration was also given to safety and I decided early on that I’d be fitting a bilge pump. It’s something I’d always wanted to fit to my Big Game, though I never got around to doing it. With the Outback I had a plain canvas, and with several years of experience behind me, I wanted to get it right from day one.

The rigging is now effectively completed, sure, there’s a couple of minor changes that I’ll embody in time, though for all intents and purposes it’s finished and ready to tackle anything that I choose to throw at it.

Below are two photos, the first one shows the Outback as it was supplied, the one below that shows the rigging complete, but with the kayak fully stripped for storage/transport.

Hobie Outback (as supplied)

Hobie Outback (Fully rigged and stripped)

At a glance there’s not a lot of difference to be honest, though that kayak can now be rigged to sail and/or fish in a matter of minutes, day or night. Look closely and you’ll see various pieces of GearTrac, a couple of cleats and two rod holders (removable if required). Look a  little closer and you’ll notice electrical cables, the kayak is fully wired to permit the connection of a battery to power up a fish finder, GPS, a bilge pump plus a navigation light.

There’s a crossbar fixed behind the seat, this permits the fitment of Hobie Sidekicks (click the link for the full article) which are ideally suited to sailing or perhaps fishing in rough seas. There’s also an anchor trolley system fitted, a must for anchoring in tidal waters and anchoring duties in general. Also visible on the other side of the kayak, close to the nose is another trolley system. This is actually a half-trolley and was fitted to permit the use of a drogue whilst anchored.

With a few pointers you may notice that the rudder is larger than the standard item, having being upgraded to a ‘sailing rudder’. At the rear left of the kayak (behind a section of GearTrac) is a flush outlet for the bilge pump. So at a glance there’s not much change, however, there’s actually many hours of planning and rigging taken place to reach that point.

Rigging for ‘basic fishing duties’

Below there’s a few photos showing the rigging that I’d consider ideal for standard fishing duties, whether it be anchored up or drifting. This would perhaps permit some lure fishing, fishing with dead baits, perhaps a livebait if caught and used immediately.

                

The only additions have been my trusty dry box, a GoPro Hero 2 camera mounted up front on a PanFish Portrait. The PanFish is mounted to a piece of YakAttack’s GT90 GearTrac, another piece is mounted on the rear upper side of the dry box, the latter allowing the fitment of a VisiCarbon Pro flag/light and my camera monopod. The GoPro is remote controlled so it’s position up front is not a concern.

The GearTrac is strong and versatile, permitting the quick and easy fitment and removal of suitably equipped accessories as required. I also have four piece of GearTrac GT175 positioned around the kayak, more on that later.

There’s a anchor reel and anchor situated in the front hatch (in the Hobie hatch liner – not shown), though the dry box also features two anchor stowages, so there are various options for storing the anchor & reel. The kayak trolley is fitted upside down, located in the tank well scupper holes and secured using the forward straps on the dry box.

 

I fitted additional stainless steel pad eyes either side of the seat to permit the front securing straps of the dry box to be attached kayak. There are Hobie mounting points either side of the dry box though their positioning was unsuitable, however, they are perfect for securing the Hobie Livewell. As can be seen in the photos above, I’ve run two continuous lengths of bungee cord around the dry box to permit items to be easily stored, yet remaining readily available. I keep by  removable cutting board and paddle float secured in these positions.

The cutting board is a must for bait fishing and was simple enough to manufacture. I utilised a MightyMount from YakAttack and associated T-bolt, thus allowing it be fitted and removed from the front right GearTrac in seconds.

Ok, I’ll take a closer look at the permanent fit as well as the electrical items.

The rod holders are modified composite RAM tubes. I’ve fitted them on either side of the seat in the recesses that permits the storage of pliers, etc, whilst fishing. They weren't a straight forward fit and required spacers and a longer bolt for the handle to permit them to be correctly fitted. They’re ideally placed and provide an ‘armchair’ fishing position. Rod leashes are also attached in this location, keeping those expensive rods and reels leashed to the kayak at all times.

I found the centre 8” ‘Twist & Lock’ hatch not that user friendly to begin with. Like most hatches it opens up directly to the hull and does not permit the easy storage of tackle and other items. Hobie don’t produce a ‘hatch bag’ for the 8” hatch so after a some thought I produced my own hatch liner (click the link for the full article) for little money. The end result was a cavernous compartment that allows many items of tackle, a flask, food, etc, to be stored as required.

There was of course the requirement (luxury) of having an electronics fit. I did consider a fish finder/GPS combo unit, though once you combine the initial purchase price with a mapping card they suddenly become very expensive. I already owned a Garmin 60Csx GPS with Bluecharts, so I decided to stick with that and to add a new fish finder. After an awful lot of deliberation I settled on a Lowrance Elite 4x DSI. This is a small down imaging unit and from the various reviews that I’d read, it’s performance (and price) were quite impressive.

The GPS was already mounted to a RAM cradle and could be fitted to the GearTrac in seconds. The Lowrance is supplied with a rather bulky mount, though for some additional expenditure a dedicated RAM mount can be purchased (part No.RAM-B-101-LO11). This negates the requirement for the supplied Lowrance mount and permits the unit to be mounted directly to the GearTrac using a ScrewBall from YakAttack. Both the fish finder and the GPS are easily removed and stored for surf landings if required.

  

The transducer for the DSI units should ideally be placed outside the hull, as opposed to a ‘shoot through hull’ configuration and generally used with traditional sonars. This did prove somewhat difficult on the Outback as the only suitable mounting points were the rear scupper holes. I didn’t want to lose the facility of using the Hobie kayak trolley so an alternative mounting point was required. I’m not a fan of mounting a transducer on an ‘arm’, hanging it over the side of the kayak, though after quite some though I worked out that by removing the thread from a seat scupper that the transducer would pass through. The transducer mount needed quite some modification, though the end result was neat, tidy and very functional.

 

I’ll cover the fish finder installation in a little more detail at a later date. I also took the opportunity to fit a an electric bilge pump (click the link for the full article) to enable water to be quickly removed from the hull should I ever experience a leak whilst I’m afloat. Sure, it’s unlikely, but if it does happen I’ll certainly be happy that I took the time to fit the system.

  

The last electrical item that I fitted was a homemade navigation light. It’s nothing special, an off the shelf light unit, aluminium pole, foam grip and a waterproof plug. I modified the base, fitting a T-Bolt from YakAttack, thus allowing me to fit the light to a section of GearTrac. A mating waterproof socket was fitted to the hull and it was wired into the main electrical loom. The light is easily removed when afloat and can be stored for surf landings if required.

The main wiring loom was made in one piece and fully sealed to prevent corrosion and the ingress of moisture.

  

An anchor trolley was also required so I chose to fit the genuine Hobie trolley system (click the link for the full article). This came supplied with some quality components and was fitted in well under an hour. I modified the suggested routing a little to meet my own requirements. It’s a full length trolley, running from the bow to the stern, permitting the positioning of the anchor anywhere along the trolley run.

As mentioned earlier, on the right hand side of the kayak I fitted a ‘half trolley’, running fully forward from the centre of the kayak. This was fitted purely to permit the use of a drogue whilst at anchor. If you’re subjected to a cross wind whilst at anchor the kayak will tend to swing across the tide. This can be quite annoying and doesn’t provide the best fishing position. With a drogue deployed just ahead of the kayak, with the trolley fully forward, the kayak will (with some tide running) swing back into the tide. I use this method a lot and it works extremely well.

This is my basic fishing setup and as I mentioned earlier I’ve already covered the rigging required for sailing the Outback. The Part 2 ‘Rigging the Outback’ will look at setting up the kayak for live baiting and trolling.

Bilge pump test

Below is a short video and a few photographs showing the basic installation and test of a Rule automatic bilge pump into my Hobie Outback.

People keep asking 'why?'. Seems an odd question to me...

ANY kayak has the potential to start leaking, whether it be a cracked scupper, perforated hull, open drain plug, leaking hatch, etc. It's piece of mind should the worst ever happen. No different from carrying a manual bilge pump,flares, radio, paddle float, throw line, strobe lights, compass, etc.

The advantage over a manual pump is that in this case it operates electrically, manually or automatically (model dependent), you can head into shore without being sat their pumping. What's the chance of it ever being used?, hopefully nil... but there again we say that about all the other items of safety equipment that we carry with us.

 

It was suggested on a UK fishing forum that my 7aH SLA battery would be drained in no time by this pump, especially as I run my FF, GPS and navigation light off the same battery.

The current draw of the Rule 500gph pump is 1.9A, the Elite 4 DSI pulls 0.75A, navigation light 0.2A and my Garmin 60CSx 0.15A (these are all manufacturers figures). That said, I've used the Lowrance and Garmin for 10 hours with the battery still showing over 12V. That did raise questions over the ACTUAL current draw of these items.

So I popped into the garage and broke into the circuit with a multi-meter and took some readings.

The Lowrance DSI (backlight on full) current draw varies between 0.15-0.19A
The Garmin 60Csx (backlight on full) current draw is steady at 0.06A
The navigation light pulls 0.12A
The Rule 500GPH pulls 0.69A (no load)

Looking at those figures, during a night trip, my current draw is 0.37A. Even if I was afloat for 6-7 hours I'd have used well under half the battery capacity. Theoretically that give me at least two hours bilge pump running time (using the Rule current draw figure of 1.9A). That's MORE than enough to get me back to land should the worst ever happen.

Review - Guardian Expedition Light

I recently took delivery of a few items from Escape Watersports, included in my order was a Guardian Expedition Light. It cost around £12 and to be honest I didn’t expect too much for that sort of money!.

The light arrived sealed in bubble packaging and once removed I was left with the light, a clip and a set of instructions. The light itself is small, robust and well manufactured. It’s CE marked indicating that the product meets EU safety, health or environmental requirements.

The light source is a high power LED which is visible for over 3 miles. Power is supplied from two CR2032 batteries which are replaceable. The light is fully waterproof to a depth of 100m, more than sufficient for kayaking use!. It has two modes of operation, steady and flashing. Battery life is a very healthy 250 hours. I chose the white coloured light, however, they are also available in blue, green, yellow and red.

A clip is supplied and this attaches to the rear of the light, fitting takes seconds. This permits the light to be clipped to the strap of a PFD.

To switch the light on it’s a simple case of rotating the lens clockwise until the light illuminates, to switch it off the lens is rotated anti-clockwise.

As mentioned the light can be operated in steady and flashing modes. To swap modes the battery needs to be inverted in order to reverse the polarity.

To be honest it’s not something you’d want to do whilst afloat due to the chance of either losing the battery or inadvertently allowing water into the light. The flashing mode is best suited for emergency use, a flashing light being ideal for attracting attention. The steady mode can be used to aid location in an emergency, however it also makes a great backup light. Should your headlamp fail this light provides more than sufficient illumination to enable you to continue fishing. As I already have a strobe light fitted to my PFD I envisage that I’ll keep the Guardian light set to the ‘steady mode’ of operation.

The video below shows the light in action, swapping the battery over and a submersion test. It can be purchased from Escape Watersports where is currently retails at £12, for that kind of money you can go wrong!

Product review

Bilge pump installation

The first question is probably ‘why fit one?’. Someone even asked me if my kayak leaks. To answer the second question the answer is no it doesn’t, however, it may in the future. I’ve read plenty of horror stories or kayaks flooding and capsizing as a result. Why would your kayak suddenly start leaking?, after all it’s been fine for a long time. Well there’s always the chance that a kayak may get damaged during loading or unloading, whilst in storage, general fatigue, hitting rocks or unseen objects… the list goes on and on. The chances are that a leak would be slow and you may not notice it for some time, perhaps you’d find yourself a mile or two offshore when the symptoms become all to apparent.

Ok, so I carry a manual bilge pump, most of the time. However, if you’re pumping you can’t paddle, or pedal for that matter. It’s certainly better than nothing, though I’d rather be underway whilst the kayak is pumping out water. I’ve seen videos where kayakers have just capsized, unaware that their kayak had flooded to a point of terminal instability!. I’ve wanted to fit an electric bilge pump for some time and as I’m currently finishing off the rigging on my Hobie Outback I decided now was as good a time as any.

What pump?. Rule pumps seem to be the most popular on the market for marine use and they have the advantage of being able to run dry (without water lubrication). After much research it became apparent that the 500gph (gallons per hour) was the model to go for. That narrowed it down to an automatic or manual version. I was originally going to go with a manual pump on cost grounds, though an Ebay bargain saw me go with an automatic version at the last minute!.

So the parts required, a bilge pump, 19mm piping, stainless pipe clips, waterproof switch, thru-hull skin fitting,foam pieces and Marine Goop. Total cost to me was under £50.

 

The next decision was where to fit the pump. Kayaks tend to sit down at the rear somewhat when loaded so it made sense to position it towards the rear of the kayak where any water would initially start to collect. I also wanted it situated where the hull was strongest so I chose a position in between the rear tank well scupper holes. The internal hull surface is smooth and requires ‘roughing up’ with some wet and dry paper, I used 300 grade. This enables the adhesive to bond more effectively to the hull. I’m a big fan of Marine Goop adhesive and have used it with excellent long term results on transducers. However, it tends to spread out quite rapidly so I first glued a circular ‘dam’ (neoprene ring) to the hull to hold the Marine Goop.  With about 3mm of Marine Goop retained within the foam ring the base of the bilge pump was firmly seated and allowed to dry for at least 24 hours.

 

With the base of the bilge pumping drying into place I switched my attentions to placing the vent for ditching any pumped water overboard. For this I used a 90 degree skin fitting (19mm), the problem was where to position it. I finally decided on a flat area just behind the seat on the left hand size. The hole for the skin fitting is large so check you marking out twice before you drill the hole!.

The skin fitting was supplied with a lock nut, though the use of that pushed the 90 degree fitting a little to close to the rudder lines for my liking. Again I roughened both the internal and external surface where the skin fitting would sit. Thought need to be given at this stage as to how you intend to route the pipework, as once the fitting is glued into place there’ll be little chance of moving it!. Marine Goop was again used to seal the fitting on both sides and it was left to dry thoroughly overnight.

With various parts of the installation drying I switched my attention to the electrical side of things. I was making a completed wiring loom for the kayak at this stage so introducing the bilge pump into the design posed no problem. The main kayak battery is a 7ah SLA unit. This is used to power the LED navigation light, the fishfinder/GPS and the bilge pump. The Rule 500gph pump pulls 1.9A whilst running which means even with a partially discharged battery would give me plenty of time to return to shore should the pump activate.

The switch was mounted on the right hand side of the kayak just behind the RAM rod holder. A three position ON/OFF/ON switch was used. This enables the pump to either be in the automatic or manual mode of operation, the other position switches it off.

Saltwater will quickly destroy any exposed electrics so thorough sealing of the switch and associated loom is of paramount importance.

Full electrical installation for the kayak will be covered in more detail in a later article. With the electrics in place it was merely a case of routing the pipework and fitting the pump into position. It’s recommended that you place a loop in the pipe close to the skin fitting to prevent back flooding of water in rough weather. Routing the pipe in this way within the confines of the hull was one of the trickier aspects of the installation!

You can see in the above photograph that I added a foam packing piece between the pump and the hull. As much as the pump is glued solidly to the hull, the kayak travels upside down on the car roof and I was concerned that the weight of the pump could possibly cause the pump to loosen over time. The foam packing piece is lightly glued to the top of the pump and the hull to prevent any possibility of it falling out.

That concludes the electrical and mechanical installation of the pump. I’ll probably partially flood the hull at some point to give it a full functional test, however I’ve watched a few videos on YouTube and it will no doubt be very effective.