My Fish Hawk modification.

[garrymny]

I drilled a couple holes so I can put a cotter pin through to keep the paddle from spinning 60 mph while going down the road. Got tired of using rubber bands and losing them.

 

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[Fishmaster 196]

Curious as to why you are worried about that spinning while going down the road.

[Fat Trout]

2 minutes ago, Fishmaster 196 said:

Curious as to why you are worried about that spinning while going down the road.

Its not good for it to spin at high speed for long periods of time (hours of driving).  I use rubber bands when trailering distance but don't even know why I care.  My top speed is off by at least 30-40% from GPS, always was.  Reality is I only have the fish hawk for the down speed & temp which work fine so even if the paddlewheel came flying off it wouldn't bother me.

[Sk8man]

I don't think the Fishawk impeller/unit is actually designed for high speed use and all the impeller speed  trackers can be off by a considerable amount at the top end of their range which often is about 45mph.

Edited June 11, 2018 by Sk8man

[garrymny]

Yes, the fish hawk book said this would wear out the bearings in the unit. Also, fat trout, you should calibrate your unit, see instructions in the book. It Should not be off that much. Mine is usually within 1/2 to 1 mph of my GPS.

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[joe g]

1 minute ago, garrymny said:

Yes, the fish hawk book said this would wear out the bearings in the unit. Also, fat trout, you should calibrate your unit, see instructions in the book. It Should not be off that much. Mine is usually within 1/2 to 1 mph of my GPS.

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if you calibrate your fish hawk to your gps then you are defeating its' purpose

[nysrx01]

It would defeat the purpose to not have it calibrated. Wouldn't make much sense to have a probe that isn't reading an acuarate speed. It says right in the manual to drop the probe a foot or two and calibrate the probe with the surface speed on your GPS. 

[joe g]

that is not at all what i am saying. it is unclear to where the probe in question is reading the same as his gps. if it is at surface , then ok. if probe is down 70ft reading the same as gps because of calibration then it is an expensive thermometer at that point

[Sk8man]

The GPS measures speed over ground (basically over the lake bottom) via satellite transmission. The water impeller paddle measures the speed of the water resistance on the paddle wheel which is translated as the speed of the boat through the water; either near the surface of the water at the transducer location, or sub surface as in the case of the Fishawk X4 series probe impeller. These are three different measures of speed reflecting different conditions, and as such it may be useful to keep the conditions separate to be able to interpret the information for use fishing. If you synchronize them they become a relative measure of speed in a way much like when you average something and you actually lose functional information that way. It can useful to know these different sources of information.

Edited June 11, 2018 by Sk8man

[Decoy Hound]

Great idea Garry!!

[garrymny]

8 hours ago, joe g said:

if you calibrate your fish hawk to your gps then you are defeating its' purpose

On a calm day with no current; with the probe down a foot or so, the surface speed readout, the probe readout, and the GPS speed on your fishfinder should all read the same.  If not, something needs calibrated. Once set, yes you will get a different speed at the down probe, but I was just saying it is not that huge, on most days/areas. Usually within a half or one MPH of my surface probe and GPS speed. Of course, some days and areas it can be more different, depending on current.   

[joe g]

1 minute ago, garrymny said:

On a calm day with no current; with the probe down a foot or so, the surface speed readout, the probe readout, and the GPS speed on your fishfinder should all read the same.  If not, something needs calibrated. Once set, yes you will get a different speed at the down probe, but I was just saying it is not that huge, on most days/areas. Usually within a half or one MPH of my surface probe and GPS speed. Of course, some days and areas it can be more different, depending on current.   

just making sure you werent trying to calibrate downspeed with gps

[kingpossible]

You should calibrate downspeed with GPS!  And the surface speed with GPS and downspeed too!  BUT...  Make sure there is no current where you do the calibration.  I calibrate going about 3 mph GPS.  To check the water is calm, I go in one direction set the calibration, then troll back the opposite direction and make sure the speeds match.  If it's slightly off you have current (if it's not much you can figure out what the difference is and factor that into the calibration.

 

Make sure to calibrate water temp at the same time too.

[joe g]

9 hours ago, kingpossible said:

You should calibrate downspeed with GPS!  And the surface speed with GPS and downspeed too!  BUT...  Make sure there is no current where you do the calibration.  I calibrate going about 3 mph GPS.  To check the water is calm, I go in one direction set the calibration, then troll back the opposite direction and make sure the speeds match.  If it's slightly off you have current (if it's not much you can figure out what the difference is and factor that into the calibration.

 

Make sure to calibrate water temp at the same time too.

 

how are you calibrating surface gps, probe just below surface, and downspeed all at same time..... and why? you can count on one or two fingers  the amount of days there is so little resistance under the water that downspeed and surface speed are the same. and if you do calibrate those two together then your downspeed on any other day is not a true reflection of speed at ball.  also if you calibrate downspeed and surface together then you take yourself out of the information loop with other fisherman who are running a certain speed using the same unit as you.  

[ontherise]

Things that make go hmmm.


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[kingpossible]

I'll put some more details on the calibration in a bit, but here is my experience:  On several different Fishhawk units from the factory, the speeds vary!  Switch probes out to another head unit and the speed changes again.  Unless you calibrate your unit together with all the other fishermen on the lake all your units will read slightly different. 

[kingpossible]

King Possible - Fish Hawk Calibration Method.pdf

[kingpossible]

[Ric66]

Thinking we got off the original topic which was Garry finding a way to keep the paddle wheel from spinning while trailering. I too, used rubber bands that I would forget to take off before launching. Fishhawk mentions to do this to keep gears from getting damaged. Great idea! Thanks, Garry