New One Man Boat

[yoderjac]

I think I'm making some slow progress. One issue was a bad crimp on the power cable for the ethernet switch. The second issue was a bone-head thing on my part.

I decided to buzz the power cable to the ethernet switch since I was not getting a power light and I was able to verify power coming out of my new battery box. Sure enough, the wire had popped out of one of the crimps under the shrink tube. I clipped off the cable and put on a new power connector. The ethernet switch powered right up!

Now that the switch was working, I decided to try to clean power up sequence humminbird gave me again. I powered on the Megalive 2 and was supposed to wait a minute. I waited several and the ethernet port light never came on for the Megalive 2. As I was scratching my head and looking at the port on the box for the Megalive 2, Something dawned on me. What a bone head move I had pulled!

Before I got the new battery and battery box, I was using the old 12ah battery box. That box was built before I got the Megalive 2. It only has two ports, one for the Xplore and one for the charger. The 3 amp charger uses the same kind of SAE power connectors I've been using between the charger and the terminal ends (like alligator clips, rings, etc.). Because the charger is a power source like a battery, the SAE connector is wired hot-protected. So, rather than making an adapter, I simply wired that 12 amp battery box charger port as hot-exposed so I could plug the charger in directly.

Well, when I got the MegaLive 2, before the 50 ah battery and box came in, I was using that 12 ah battery box to test it on the water. I wired the Megalive 2 properly with hot-exposed (since it is not a power source). So I made a 1' adapter cable so I could plug it into the charger port of the 12 ah battery box. When I got the new 50 ah battery and box, I forgot to remove the adapter, so the Megalive 2 power was wired backwards.

I removed the adapter and plugged the Megalive 2 directly into the power port on the new battery box. After about a minute, the green light on the ethernet port came on indicating a connection!

The bad news is that even after fixing my bone-head mistake and reparing the ethernet swtich power cable, when I powered up the Xplore, it did not recognize the Megalive 2. The port like for the Xplore on the ethernet switch came on. After a minute or so, I got the same error message indicating the Megalive 2 was lost.

Something new I learned from humminbird during the email exchange. None of the mega units, DI, SI, or Megalive will produce an image if they are not in water. So, when I'm dry testing on the trailer, I can't rely on those screens to indicate whether it is working or not. The only thing I can find indicating connection is the tiny icons in the top corner of the display. There is a red question mark on the megalive 2 but not the SI or DI icons.

So, I'm wondering if testing dry is valid. I'm speculating about how these devices might be communicating. There three possibilities I can think of, a publish and subscribe model, point to point model, or a broadcast model. With options 1 or 2, the Xplore would likely see the Megalive 2 when a connection was made between the units, but with a broadcast model, the Xplore would not see the megalive 2 until it started broadcasting data, and if it won't broadcast sonar data out of water, that could be why it is not recognized.

I have a question into Humminbird to see if I could use a 5 gal bucket of water for testing.

 

[yoderjac]

I decided to try to patch the boat today. I mixed up the Aquaseal and accelerator/cure after marking and cleaning the spot of the leak. I also used 2x4s to support the frame on the trailer while the chamber was deflated. With the chamber fully inflated, I applied the Aquaseal liberally to about 1" around the leak.

I then used the Seamax pump with the hose hooked to the deflate port to put negative pressure on the leak.

I kept it sucking for about 3 minutes and then left it connected for another 5 minutes. I then removed the hose and put the valve cover back on.

I will let this sit overnight before reinflating.

 

[yoderjac]

I made one more modification today to my Megalive 2 pole. If you recall from previous posts, I did not cement the handle Tee to the pole. One thing I've noticed using it is that the handle and pointer are great when it is deployed, but they make it hard to store. There is a limited position I can put it in because the handle hits the seat.

So, I removed it from the boat. I took the inner EMT to the belt sander and slightly sanded down the end of the pipe. Now instead of a snug fitting it is a loose fitting. I then put it back on and made sure the indicator was pointed in the same direction as the Megalive 2. I then took it to the drill press and drilled a 1/4" hole through the coupling and pipe. I have a 1/4" x 3" wire lock pin on order. This will allow me to detach the top when I store it.

 

[yoderjac]

I reinflated the chamber this morning. So far, so good, it seems to be holding, but the leak was so slow, it will take me a couple weeks to be sure the fixed worked.

The 1/4" wire lock pin came in as well. I used it in the Megalive 2 pole. I put a little orange spray paint on the forward side of the top of the inner EMT. This will make it easy to make sure I put the steering/direction pointer top on the right direction.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I went fishing today. Some successes and some issues. First, the mod to the pole worked great. The big success was Megalive 2! I powered on the ethernet switch and then the Megalive 2. The port lite for the Megalive 2 turned green. I waited one minute to be sure. I then powered up the Xplore. The Megalive 2 worked great!

Now, the bad news. The Side Imaging stopped working! This makes no sense to me. The 2D, SI, and DI transducers are combined into one package and it is directly connected to the Xplore with no networking. The Down Imaging and 2D work just fine. I'm afraid this means the SI sensor has an issue, but I'll wait to see what Humminbird support has to say.

So, I just used Megalive 2 imaging to fish today. I did learn some stuff. Most of the videos I've watched, guys use SI and DI to find structure holding fish and then Megalive 2 verify fish and guide their casting. I think things might be different on small lakes that only allow electric motors. I simply drove around using Megalive 2 and spotted groups of fish. I was fishing for crappie today. I would simply find a school (there were many) and cast to it. I caught about a dozen crappie today, but they were all too small to bother filleting. I threw them all back.

I learned some stuff about both megalive 2 and crappie fishing. I'm new to crappie fishing, so I'm just figuring out techniques and such. My first use of megalive 2 was when bass fishing a week or two ago. I was able to watch my swim bait and how the fish reacted to it. I could not do this with crappie. A small crappie jig and soft bait don't really provide enough sonar profile to see them. This, I'm sure, will slow my progress in learning to crappie fish.

Now for my last screwup! When I was winching my boat on to the trailer, the winch made a funny noise and stopped. I took a look at it and the cable had gone outside the spool and wrapped around the shaft a couple times. Fortunatly, the boat was 80% on the trailer by then. I was easily able to pull it the rest of the way on and strap it where the winch would normally hold it.

So, fixing the winch is on my list for tomorrow. I think the issue is the place I located the fairlead. I think it is too far forward allowing the cable too much left-right room. After thinking about it, when the winch is on an ATV, the fairlead is mounted very close to it.

 

[Drycreek]

Put a split shot 18” to a couple feet above your jig Jack. Not only will it get the jig down faster when you are using a light jig, (which usually catch more crappie), it will show up on your sonar better. I have zero experience with Humminbird, I only ever used Garmin.

 

[yoderjac]

Put a split shot 18” to a couple feet above your jig Jack. Not only will it get the jig down faster when you are using a light jig, (which usually catch more crappie), it will show up on your sonar better. I have zero experience with Humminbird, I only ever used Garmin.

I'll have to give that a try. The fish were suspended pretty high today, so I did not try that with my jig. However, I did use a micro crank bait for a while. It floats until you crank it. It seemed to be running awfully shallow, so I did add a split shot to that about a foot above it. I also wanted to see if I could pick that up on the megalive 2. I could not. I've watched a couple videos on settings for megalive 2 and modified my accordingly. I have not used it enough to play with settings any more than that. So, it could be that I don't have settings quite right to pick up the small jig or crankbait.

Another issue that could be affecting this is boat motion. I'm still using the Minn Kota Edge tolling motor. With the wind profile, the raft is almost always moving and thus the Megalive 2 sensor. My long term plan is to get a Kayak Terrova with spot-lock. I'll face the boat into the wind and turn on spot-lock. With the boat/sensor constantly moving, it would be difficult to know if I was just missing the bait. There were a few times during the day when the breeze stopped and the boat was fairly still. I still could not see the small just and soft bait.

I think I have the unit set for a pretty clean view. I think that works well for bass fishing. I may need to up the sensitivity increasing the noise a bit for crappie fishing.

I don't know if was just this lake or if I just don't know how to find schools of larger crappie, but the largest of the dozen fish I caught as only about 9".

 

[yoderjac]

I had a little back and forth with Humminbird support. They think I may have screwed up some settings. They said I can put the transducer in a 5 gal bucket and double check the setting tomorrow. I plan to do that.

On another note, I finished one more boat related project. So folks don't need to read back up through the thread, one of the issues I have with the pumps, both manual and electric, is that you have to rotate the entire hose to screw in the Leafield fitting into the valve. This is awkward at best and problematic at worst as a significant amount of air can escape while unscrewing if you are not careful.

I know it is screwy looking, but I'm hoping this solves my issue:

The left side is the original Leafield fitting without the center unit that lets air escape. It is the same as the one on the manual pump NRS provided with the boat. I bought a second one from NRS because I wanted to keep the manual pump as a backup. Next is the male garden hose to Jag fitting with 5/8 id tubing between. The key is the middle piece which is a swivel garden hose adapter. So, half of it, and everything to the left will rotate independently. There is a female garden hose to jag connector next and another piece of tubing. I found one of the adapters that came with the SeaMax electric pump that fits pretty well inside a 5/8 id tube if I heat it slightly. The other end has the threading to make with the SeaMax hose. I plan to test it out tomorrow as well.