22/10/2026
Sometimes a job comes into the workshop that has us needing to think outside the box and get creative…and this was exactly the case with Matt’s 7.3m Barcrusher XT!!
Matt contacted us wanting a full live scope setup and to swap out his existing Minn Kota with a new Garmin Force Kraken. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, we’ve done these installs countless times!
That was until we realised that the 49” Garmin Spy Pole was going to have a serious issue with….inadequate length🫣 Definitely a problem that no one wants!!!
By our calculations, even with the big girl sitting at rest, the fully deployed Spy Pole would barely put the livescope within sniffing distance of the water’s surface. Definitely not ideal when it’s what’s UNDER the waterline that you actually want to look at!
Enter a few head scratches, some colourful language and a much needed second coffee. After talking concept ideas with some industry contacts and drawing some mock ups in the workshop, we came up with a plan – MODS, MODS, MODS!!
We added in a cutdown carbon Transducer Poles Australia pole, coming in at 970mm, and modified the extension to fit the 360 and the LVS32 & 34 transducers. To join the spy pole to the carbon shaft we created an aluminium Spy Pole bracket from 50mm aluminium solid bar with help from the team at Winnellie Hydraulics.
Once we had all the pieces of the puzzle, the next challenge was to get it all assembled and functional, without it looking like Frankenstein’s bride🧟♀️
The end result?? We’re pretty sure the longest Spy Pole in Australia!! And the most important part – it works!!!
The whole install really ups the wow factor of this already impressive rig. She is no doubt a head turner on the water!
Tight lines!!🎣
P.S. For anyone who comments “my Spy Pole is bigger than yours”..…photos or it never happened!😉
