It's Here and Ready to Go!

It’s finally here. All my talking over the last year has come to fruition. It’s set up and ready to go. I cannot wait to put it into the water. Got it finished up on Thursday. The battery was already set up in the case so all I had to do was anchor the base and hook up the wires. I haven’t yet tied the wires down. I’m waiting to make sure I like the layout and how it works. But it is hooked up and it does work. I’ve been playing with it in simulation mode and I think I have the setup set for what I think will work best. I do still need to come up with a way to anchor/stabilize the case to the boat when in use. Oh, I’ve also sent off for the wide side transducer. So, here it is in all it’s glory. Finally on Friday morning I’ll get to use it for real. This is the big fishing weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all day, 3 days of crappie fishing. Hopefully we’ll be able to use the fish finder to help us out.

Case & Battery Assembly

Spent the few moments of free time building the base for the fish finder case which everything will mount to. Then I created a mounting system for the battery. Hopefully the battery location will work with the fish finder. Guess we'll find out on Monday!

The Saga Continues

The Quadra Beam is scheduled to arrive today. In hopes of using the system this weekend I made a phone call to Bass Pro to see if they had any luck getting the 787c2i in. They did! It came in from Columbia last night and the guy went back to check to see if it was here. I was VERY excited to finally have this whole thing in my hands. Then I got a call back. Turns out that they did receive it but the guy that was working in receiving couldn't figure out why they received it so he shipped it down to Springfield! So, in an effort to get me moving this weekend they tried to wheel and deal on a 797 with side imaging. They came way down off list price, but were still WAY out of my price range. Then they tried to sell me a Lowrance, but since I've already ordered the Quad Beam transducer, I would be out that money. So my 787c2i will be in on Monday. My wife says that this is just not meant to be. I say that the best comes to those who wait.

It's Ordered!

Took some time at lunch today to drive to Bass Pro and purchase "the fish finder". Of course, as my luck goes, they didn't have one. They took my name and number and will try to get one in. When I asked how long it would take to get they told me "could be 2 days, could be 2 weeks". So to help ensure I'm ready to go when it comes in I ordered the portable Quadra Beam transducer from Humminbird and will use the standard transducer as a trade for the Wide Side transducer. Now I just need to start putting it all together in the case and were ready to fish!

Fishing On Saturday 4/20

Moonrise 4/19/08 7:23 PM
Transit 4/20/08 12:46 AM
Moonset 4/20/08 6:01 AM
Underfoot 4/20/08 1:16 PM
Overhead (Best Fishing) 4/19/08 11:46 PM - 4/20/08 1:46 AM
Underfoot (Best Fishing) 4/20/08 12:16 PM - 4/20/08 2:16 PM
It also looks like a front will be moving in Friday and moving out on Saturday so the barometer will be on the rise.

The Ultimate Portable Fish Finder

This is the bad boy I've been eying up. This is the 787c2i Combo which features a brilliant color, ultra-high resolution 640V x 480H 5" display, DualBeam PLUS sonar (which I will upgrade to the QuadraBeam sonar) with 4000 Watts PTP power output, GPS Chartplotting with built-in UniMap, and advanced Fishing System capabilities. It also includes internal GPS receiver so I won't have to go buy the cables and hook up my hand held Garmin GPS receiver. I will be updating it with the QuadraBeam sonar transducer (XPT 9 QB 90 T Portable Transducer) which is a portable version of the QuadraBeam that has 3 sonar units operating at 20 degrees, 60 degrees or 90 degrees and a built in temperature sensor. Basically with a 90 degree cone, at 20 feet deep we can see 10 feet to each side of the boat, or 20 feet across.

To make the whole thing portable, besides the portable transducer, I plan to mount the unit inside a pistol case on a piece of plywood which will either be glued down or bolted down to the bottom of the case. The foam from the gun case will be utilized to cushion the unit during transport. To lower the footprint of the case while in use I'd like to replace the hinge with a metal rod that has a pin in one end. I can then remove the rod (hinge) and remove the top of the case.

As for power the plan is two fold. First, I did some math today concerning the use of a 12Ah battery. Ah stands for Amp Hour. to figure out the amp hour you take the Ah and divide by 20 hours. Example: a 12Ah battery is 12/20 = 0.6 amps. This means that a 12Ah battery can maintain 0.6 amps for 20 hours. The 787c2i draws 560mA or 0.56 amps. So I figure that a 12Ah battery would run this unit for about 20 hours. This will also be supplemented with a 12 volt hook-up that will have a cigarette lighter adapter and alligator clamps allowing hook-up to any 12V source. The batteries are small 4"H x 6"L X 3.7"W and are as low as $35. This would fit in the case with the unit making the whole thing completely portable.

Meetings

Meetings are sometimes a necessary evil, sometimes they are productive and other times they seem pointless. In any event, if you're scheduled to be at a meeting, you go. Yeah, sometimes you may be late, but you go. It is verry frustrating when a meeting is scheduled and only two of the seven people that are supposed to be at the meeting show up. It's as if they would rather waste everyone elses time. Bottom line, if you are scheduled for a meeting show up or let someone know.

A Little Fun

I found the above video while cleaning out an old "inbox" a couple of weekends ago. Thought it would be fun to share. Plus now I won't have to go looking for it anywhere, it'll be right here for viewing pleasure.

Taxes

Taxes SUCK,
They REALLY, REALLY SUCK!

Professional Memberships

There are many of us that are members of, and often participate in, Professional Organizations. I am a member of two (American Institute of Constructors and St. Louis Engineer's Club) and looking at becoming involved with the AGC. All of these Organizations charge a fee for their membership, but what do we gain from being a member? They all have the benefit of being able to state that you are a member of the Organization. But what is the REAL return on your investment? I'm a nember of the AIC, which does require certain qualifications and experience to become a member. But besides being able to say "I'm a member of the AIC" I don't feel that I've seen a return on my yearly investment. At the same time, I don't want to let my membership lapse, even if I don't see a return yet. Maybe if I was looking for a job this would help. We do get yearly or quarterly newsletters that try to give us insight on what the Organization is doing. But there aren't local meetings, so it's hard for me to see the return. At least with the local affiliation I'm not participating by choice.