This works fine, but will clean this up with something better going forward. I wound a piece of copper wire off the D-ring in the back to hold it like a twist tie. The transducer is a bit heavy so the valve handle isn't strong enough to hold it in place by itself. I used clamps instead of fasteners for the transducer arm in case I needed to tweak it or it failed prematurely. The hollow pipe also allowed for running the transducer wire internally which keeps things a bit neater. This ensures that I can swing it up and lash it to the tube for transport and launch/beach and then swing it down into rigid position at a perfect 90* angle for operation. I wanted the transducer to be able to swing to/from position and thought that the handle on a ball valve would work great for this - and it has so far. Two short parallel sections would straddle the top my float tube and I would use a pair of 1" wide straps to lash it down. The Garmin unit mounts with 3 wood screws (which PVC pipe accepts nicely) so a standard tee fitting worked well here. Here is the finished prototype using 3/4" PVC pipe and fittings. PVC is light, rigid, impact resistant, cheap, versatile, modifiable, and hollow - which I'll explain below. I wanted to make my own mount and would need to summon all my PVC skills from building multiple ice sleds over the years. Also, I have concerns over the transducer picking up too much surface congestion be mounted that close to the surface. This means that when you launch and/or pullout, you need to be real careful not to damage it. The big drawback here (for me) was that the transducer straps directly to the bottom of your tube. Scotty makes a strap device which (by all on-line accounts) needs to be modified a bit. Having said that, there is the challenge of MOUNTING it, and the transducer, to your float tube. If you can swing it, I highly recommend it. I finally added a fish finder to my float tube, opting for the Garmin STRIKER Plus 4 and I have to say that after only two trips to my favorite reservoir this past week, I learned a LOT about what is going on below the surface and why certain areas have been holding fish these past few years.
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