Raymarine Ice Kit

[Mchmss]

I just found raymarine announced an ice kit. I've been really impressed with my dragonfly pro I got on my kayak. This is really tempting to have my charts and navpoints all on one unit for year round use. The company seems to be moving more into the inshore boating and fishing market.

http://www.raymarine.com/dragonfly/accessories/ice-fishing-kit/

[Unclegillhunter]

I saw this too. Sadly I have the dragonfly 6 and that unit won’t work with the kit.
Keep it safe! JDL

[Mchmss]

Y won't it work? It looks to me it says any size dragonfly gen 1 or gen 2?

[3300]

too bad it's an extra wide beam and only a single beam ice transducer. they missed an opportunity to offer a better option. 10/20 dual beam is the preferred so they could have split the difference if the head can't switch beams.
it only has a 25° angle beam. problem with wide only is when in weeds, the weeds will give the head too much useless info or clutter while trying to see your jig. the same thing goes with plankton.
 it also takes more power for deeper waters.

if you go this route or are thinking about it, also check into the interference rejection your head unit offers if any.
the float system is not what i like using at all. it gets in the way and the wind likes to blow it to one side and tries to freeze to the side and gets in the way of landing fish and keeps the bottom of the transducer too low in the hole. being lower than need be means it can pick up more signals from other sonar nearby easier. it means more fish line tangles and can cut the cable and lose fish and if you pull it and drop/bang it on ice it can damage the crystal inside of it slowly (most common) or suddenly.

i'd make/buy an arm to hold it up high and centered in the hole to help with all of those problems the float/swim noodle creates. only the air under it needs to be removed to work correctly in up to two feet.

[Unclegillhunter]

Y won't it work? It looks to me it says any size dragonfly gen 1 or gen 2?

it has to do with the mounting bracket. And according to the guy I talked to at Raymarine no the 6 will not mount in the ice kit.
Keep it safe! JDL

[DeepFisherman]

Uncle gill, I would call Raymarine again.  I purchased one of these for my legacy Dragonfly 7 that just arrived today, and the mount bolts in perfectly, The instructions the kit came with even list it as working with a Legacy Dragonfly 6.   The only issue I could think that you may run into is if you have the older Red Keyway on the back of the receiver, then you may need to get an adapter. 

[Unclegillhunter]

Well at this point it no longer matters, I ended up getting a Helix ice 5. Now just need to get the open water ducer. Using it for ice now and then on my small boat. The mounting bracket on the gen1 six, clipped onto the sides of the unit and  the ice bracket goes into the base of the unit. So does the bracket of the ice kit go on the back of the unit? Just wondering!
Keep it safe! JDL

[DeepFisherman]

Hey Gill,
Congrats on the Helix 5. I should mention, I have no affiliation with Raymarine, so take my info for what it is, hopefully it helps someone.   

The Dragonfly ice kit does not come with a mount, but has a base that your existing factory mount attaches to. 
That is how they have made it compatible with the newer and older models.  It is give and take I suppose, you have to move the entire mounting base and bracket not just the head unit.  I attached a couple of pics

The Gen1 Dragonfly 7 uses a similar system to what  you describe, setting into a cradle that clips on both sides.   

I would love to get my hands on a spare Legacy Dragonfly 7 mount so I wouldn't have to bolt/ unbolt every change of season.  I managed to get the part number ( R70302 )  from Raymarine's tech support, but the mount is discontinued and I cannot find anyone who has them in stock. 

We will see how it performs on the ice, unfortunately the package arrived about 2 hours after I left for Friday's fishing trip.   

[Unclegillhunter]

This was spring of 2018. So last spring. The original mount was kind of not working wanted a new one got in touch with customer service the rep I talked to checked the warehouse and they had them. The home site said they were no longer available?  She gave me the part number and a direct number to order it from, sorry can’t find the number. May have it at work. I talked to CS not a tech rep. Maybe give them a call the rep I talked to was very helpful. If I find the number I will let you know.
Keep it safe! JDL