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The boys decided another pre fish at the Clyde was on the cards, rain, hail or shine (Well rain anyway, bucket loads of it). By the time I had arrived at Braidwood I realised I hadn’t purchased AA batteries for my Lowrance X67c sounder (Yep, still using the Hobie Fishfinder kit install). No biggie, just stop at the local IGA and buy a bulk packet like I normally do. Im not big on battery quality and have only had leakage or failure once (In my GPS of all places, dang) so a 20 pack of red Eveready batteries for $12 didn’t sound half bad.
Rigging up quickly under the bridge at Nelligen the batteries popped into place and the dry bag was sealed before moving off to find the others. After an hour in sopping wet conditions I noticed the sounder was off, turned it back on and it would turn off immediately. I was here pre fishing so depth information would help but as it was not critical, I was well upstream from the launch spot.
Thinking it was water ingress of some description I unplugged the sounder and fished the remainder of the day without forcing it to try and generate power. Last night I figured I would peep the unit and make sure everything was all ok before Sundays tournament when I noticed the dry bag was well and truly wet on the inside, not a good sign. Again thinking it was a water ingress issue I removed the battery and housing, disconnected the power cable and filled the dry bag with water to check for leaks. While it stayed drip free in did house a black smelly sludge, similar smell to mud from the river.
It had stained the bag with this black substance and my skin was feeling slightly irritated... This was an odd experience. Then it clicked, inspecting the power source for corrosion of conformity I found 2 x AA batteries had split and emptied, melting a small section of the battery housing and spewing its load in the bag. Luckily I have plenty of 8 x AA Digitor battery housings in my garage (Cheap from DSE) from previous sounder wirings so after a little clean up, fresh batteries and a bag wash the unit seems good as new, even if I haven’t powered the unit on.
I have 12 of these AA batteries left, brand new in box but will turf them before the weekend. Having used Rocket, Energizer, Digitor, Eneloop and various rechargeable batteries before I am a little disappointed but only because I put my faith in a quick and cheap solution that could of had negative and disastrous effects on a rather expensive and important part of my kayak fishing kit. Don’t get me wrong, I love the quick and handy setup and know I can get a whole tournament off them without dying halfway through. While there is a cost associated with purchasing its part and parcel with my tournament fishing and much easier running power (Due to convenience) than using anything else.
Protect your gear and beware the cheap and nasty IGA special...
