Amphibious Fish Finder Tower

thingiverse

I was looking for a radio control (RC) boat to tow a castable fish finder. There are designs for bait boats on Thingiverse but they are more complex than I wanted to undertake. Another issue with a bait boat is that it is not always easy to launch and recover the boat from shore. You can also purchase bait boats online, at a price that is more than I wanted to pay. As I was looking at cheap RC boats I noticed amphibious toys that had wheels with paddles on the sides. These vehicles work on land and in the water, albeit much faster on land. The nice thing about these amphibious toys is that they are inexpensive and already have all the RC and mechanical work done, and they can be driven into or out of the water. After purchasing one of the boats (sadly, it no longer shows up on amazon.com, however, this toy looks very similar https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DDZCQ89?pd_rd_i=B09DDZCQ89&pf_rd_p=7672bfb7-93b0-4322-b745-2104db09c4df&pf_rd_r=ZBVNCDGXE624NNF9WY0A&pd_rd_wg=kTQRs&pd_rd_w=Z2w3l&pd_rd_r=e340f8eb-cec9-4e78-8383-0f05fbe7b5f9), I decided that I could replace the battery cover with a structure to tow a fish finder. I needed to use longer screws than those supplied with the toy. The toy uses M3 screws for the battery compartment. I would strongly recommend using stainless steel screws to avoid corrosion. I also decided to make the superstructure that holds the horizontal mast for the fish finder removable, mostly so I could print most of the structure flat on the build plate. The superstructure screws onto the battery compartment with plastic nuts. The structure for the battery compartment extends beyond the wheels to help avoid the tow line from tangling in the wheels. The mast is attached to the mast holder using an M3 screw and nut. Again, stainless steel would be recommended. I have included the Fusion 360 file I used to design the battery cover, in case the amphibious toy you purchase has a different rectangular battery compartment. You should be able to adjust the dimensions in sketch 2 to fit your toy. The tow vehicle, remote control, fish finder, and equipment fit nicely in a 50 caliber ammunition box. I designed an organizer that holds the tow vehicle in place and provides a place for an M3 screwdriver, 3 batteries, and a tow line. For the tow line I used floating 30 lb. test fly fishing line with snap swivels on each end, with the hope that I could cast across it and snag it if something happened. I have tested the tow vehicle with the fish finder (Deeper Sonar) in my pool, but the few fishing trips that I used the finder we rented a boat instead of fishing from shore. I have also designed some modifications to the Deeper boat mount, but that's another thing.