Garmin Striker Plus 4 and Ram Mount Setup?

[niswanger]

Hi folks,

No doubt, I've settled on my depth/fish finder, the Garmin Striker Plus 4 with Dual-Beam CHIRP.

I understand I want to use electrical putty (shown earlier in this video) to mount my transducer inside my hull, correct?

Finally, the unit comes with a dash type mount. I can adapt it to use a ram mount but will have to use a piece of flat stock about 3" X 3" to screw the 1" flush-mount ram mount ball and then the dash mount of this fish finder. I would rather just have a ram mount 1" ball plate that attaches directly to the back of the unit. Any ideas if Garmin sells or if there's a 3rd party adapter plate for a ram mount option?

I'm still having trouble embedding youtube posts, I've tried as suggested in help post all sorts of methods (removing the s in https, etc. etc. still it's not working).

[youtube]http://youtu.be/jooY7777Tyk?t=2m6s[/youtube]

https://youtu.be/jooY7777Tyk?t=2m6s

Thank you,
Roy Niswanger - Round Rock, TX

[Kirk B.]

Ram makes a "universal" ball mount with a 6x2 in plate on it. (Search Amazon for ram universal electronic). Cabwlas carries them, too. Kinda pricey, but Ram mounts usually are. I ran across it searching for mounting options for my Lowrance Hook2 5x.

Kirk B.

[niswanger]

Great thanks for the reply and help. Yes, I've seen these but I'm not sure they will work. Seems the back is like a pivot hinge to a bent arm that bayonets to a flat base. So I would need this bent arm turned into a 1" ball instead of a bayonet base.

Thanks,
Roy

[Ron Mc]

how about this?

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/Produc ... 5WEALw_wcB

scroll across the bottom here to see all the pieces Ram sells individually
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAP-111BU

Ran v. Scotty is kind of like a Ford v. Chevy choice. I'm all Scotty, my buddy is all Ram, except for the first Scotty fixture he bought in 20 years last weekend.

[niswanger]

Hoping to hear from someone that has this model and adapted it to Ram Mount, because of the way the stock mount with a pivot hing works. Here's an image of what I'm talking about:



Thanks,
Roy

[Ron Mc]

that looks like Scotty - I bet you can find a Ram/Scotty adapter.

I suspect it's easy enough to bolt the Garmin base to the bottom of one of the square-base ram balls and use the same joint I showed above.
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAM-B-347U

If all else fails, might be able to use the Ram cell phone cradle
https://www.rammount.com/part/RAP-HOL-UN7B-201U

[niswanger]

Ended up having to adapt the actual Garmin base to a 1" ball with 2.5" round mounting plate. I had to cut the round plate down to about 2" diameter. Then the ball socket on the underside is open where I could tap a 1/4 20 thread. I used a SS 1/4 20 screw and some black 3M automotive double sided tape. Together they provided a very secure setup.




-Roy

[Ron Mc]

good job - that works and keeps it handy

[FingerMullet]

I also bought the same Garmin Striker 4 Plus & purchased a Ram mount
I haven’t tried installing yet, but I’m wondering if I’m going to have the same problem..


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[niswanger]

I also bought the same Garmin Striker 4 Plus & purchased a Ram mount
I haven’t tried installing yet, but I’m wondering if I’m going to have the same problem..


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Yes same situation, I already had the bottom base and short 1" ball arm and I had to settle with a 2.5" diameter mounting plate that I had to cut down smaller to fit the bottom of the Garmin Striker 4 mounting swivel base. It will work, my method was a bit more complicated.

-Roy

[FingerMullet]

I installed my unit & had real issues. Of course I also have a different kayak..I had to drill another hole on the Ram Mount base since only 2 of the holes match the swivel base mount of the Garmin..
I bolted the Ram Mount base to the Garmin base then assembled Ram arm to the Garmin unit.
It’s seems to be well secured & the Garmin base swivels fine. Just need to wire the unit.


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[FingerMullet]

Here’s the unit on my kayak..


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[Ron Mc]

that looks clean and unobtrusive

[niswanger]

I agree, looks fine to me. I didn't use the slotted base I have X'ed out in the below image. Since the ball does the adjusting I simply drilled a hold to fit a SS 1/4 X 20 screw and tapped into the center of the ram mount 1" ball plate. The hole in the center under the ball was just the right size just to tap threads. I also backed up the install with 3M automotive double sticky.

[FingerMullet]

Roy,
What are the blue & brown wires for on the power harness?



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[niswanger]

Roy,
What are the blue & brown wires for on the power harness?



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For Auxiliary Device, just snip them out of the way. I think they are mentioned in the owner's manual?

-Roy

[Ron Mc]

lighting a compass and the like

[Welderdude]

So have you used the Garmin yet? I had one and found it super easy to use, it boots up fairly quickly, and has a clear picture. To me, one of the better values out right now.

[FingerMullet]

Not yet since I just picked it up a couple weeks back & just installed.. I read & viewed videos with many positive reviews & playing with the demo at BPS, I was as sold.. There are many other brands that offer many other options but for me this fits my needs. Once I wired the unit, it powered up quickly..


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[niswanger]

I think the unit is all I need. Mine doesn't have maps, but does have GPS and does way-points (bread crumbs) to navigate start/trek/return). I am using a 7 Ah SLA and I used it on 4 trips (averaged about 6 hours total run-time). Since I use a smart charger that measures mAh in/out I determined it only used 1/2 of the battery capacity. So I could get 12 hours of solid run-time, and that's conservative estimate.

I also used the in-hull duct seal transducer install method. Fidelity/resolution on screen is perfect. Only loss is water temp reading.



-Roy