Im turning a small jon boat into a mini bass boat. i have a 10 ft sears jon boat and going to deck it out. i have a front mount trolling motor with foot controls and possibly getting a 5 horse outboard for the back. i would like to throw a fish finder in. what fish finders have you found that work for you and whats the price? im looking at about 200 possibly 300 but dont want to spend a whole lot. looking to get the best deal for the money.

what luch have you all had and what features you like on yours? was looking at this one on amazon

garmin fishfinder

looks nice never played with a fish finder though so dont know what features to look for.

thanks for looking and posting when you can.

-H

Before you go through all that work, place a piece of plywood across the seats, and with the boat in shallow water, move around on it, and do some casting to get an idea of its stability and suitability for the project.

I fish from my bass boat, and my canoe, standing and fishing from the bass boat, and always seated in the canoe. There may be times when standing is preferable, but overall, when you consider the stealth, and low profile of fishing while seated, it's a trade off.

I have two Garmins, a Humminbird, and an Eagle unit. With the exception of one of the Garmins, all are GPS/Sonar combo units, and all are color. The Garmins are junk. I've been using Humminbirds for over 20 years, so I'm most comfortable with them, though they require fine tuning sometimes. The Eagle (Lowrance) works great right out of the box, but is a bit more complex if you are going to change the settings.

I played around with a couple of different units for my Jon. I tried a Garmin and returned it the same day. It didnt read all that well and would just randomly freeze forcing you to power cycle it. The Humminbird 570 I had wasn't too bad, it just had a few quirks that I wasn't a fan of. I've got an Eagle unit on it now and am completely satisfied with it. Dollar for dollar, it's been a great purchase.

As far as decking goes, take Rhinos advice and test it out first. I stand in my jon, and that's only because I have just the floor done. I've stood on the bench seats and it's far too unstable. Easier to find out if it'll work before building a bunch of stuff that you may have to scrap later.

Here's a nice shot of the HB in action. 383c Combo:

i have been using an eagle fishmark 320 for maybe 7 years now. I a very happy with it especially for the price $160. My only complaint is that it is not strong enough to keep up with me when on plane. for you with that small of a motor you should have no problem mine cuts out at around 12 miles per hour and at 15' or more.

i have been using an eagle fishmark 320 for maybe 7 years now. I a very happy with it especially for the price $160. My only complaint is that it is not strong enough to keep up with me when on plane. for you with that small of a motor you should have no problem mine cuts out at around 12 miles per hour and at 15' or more.

If you mean the unit will not read on plane, that is your incorrect installation of the transducer. The Lowrance/Eagle transom transducers are the easiest to get high speed depth readings with.

The Eagle FIshmark 320 is plenty powerful enough when installed properly.

You can't go too fast to not get depth readings with a properly installed transducer for the hull type.

I saw one of those transducers on a 95+ mph capable boat this past weekend. His unit is an Eagle.