Shooting Through Hull With Transducer

[geoffmck]

I am thinking of installing a Humminbird Matrix 12 and shooting through the hull rather than mounting the (somewhat fragile) transducer on the transom.
I thought I would try placing the transducer into a bed of silicone on the inside of the hull, being careful to ensure there are no air bubbles.
Has anyone tried this with a standard type transducer with any success?

[Roughasguts]

They might look fragile, but never had one get damaged, or fall off yet.

Apparently some tranducers don't like being turned on out of the water, heat damage can result. So with that in mind some tranducers wouldn't be designed to sit in a bed of silicone inside your hull, they would get hot as well.

[BM]

Rather than silicon I would be using a 2 part epoxy type glue. Sand the proposed area back to the fibreglass to get a good bond.

And check as per above about the possibility of heat damage. I wouldn't expect it on a typical small plastic transducer but a high powered unit such as a 1kW transducer could be an issue.

Cheers

[Far side]

Tried it in a wet box no good

Put a through hull in the planing plank and works great

[dazza]

hi,
you shouldn't have any problems shooting thru hull, i am currently on 3rd tranducer over about 10 years and have never had a problem, used sikaflex on the first, which was a lowerance 600w, then used 2 part epoxy on a lowerance 600w and currently running a 1kw glued down with silicone, if heat is a worry, throw a couple of buckets of water in the bilge
cheers
dazza

[Pazz01]

The bolt on ones are also good, just mount them on the correct side of the boat.

[finding_time]

If you need any depth from your unit DONT DO IT!!! The Matrix 12 hasn't got the punch and you really cant affort to loose performance at all, your best bet is to transom mount it!

ian

[geoffmck]

The maximum depth I fish is around 30 metres. Will shooting throught the hull lose too much power for that?
I had not thought that heat would be a problem with this power fishfinder, is it likely to be an issue?

[finding_time]

Heat wont be a problem at all. It's a bit of an urban myth about transducers out of water, maybe the big 3kw ones might have problems but any of the little ones will be fine , regardless of what manufactorers have on there info sheets! The guys at trymax marine have them running on there benches for hours on end with out issue!

As far as loosing power and sensitivity, well your going to loose some punch for sure but it's really up to you if you can live with it but there is no way known that i would try and shoot through such a low powered transducer! Incidently i shoot through my hull from a wet box but i've got a 1kw transducer and am happy with what i loose in sensitivity but gain in picture quality!

Ian

[geoffmck]

I ordered the sounder from Whitworths and noticed on their website that the specs for the model say transom mount ot through hull transducer?
Maybe they mean one that is installed through the hull rather than shoots through it or maybe the unit does have enough power?

[tunaticer]

Thru hull transducers are to be fitted through a hole in the hull. Glueing them inside the hull is just another way of mounting any transducer.
A transom mount transducer that is set up correctly will pop up if it hits any obstruction in the water thereby protecting it from damages.

That being said though I have smashed two transducers on my tinny travelling the 100km of dirt road to Stanage Bay by forgetting to pop them up before towing. Rocks flying at 100kph are not good friends with transducers. I have travelled that road about 20 times in the last 15 yrs with this boat so odds are i was going to cop a rock or two either through the windscreen or through the transducer. Luckily both times it has been on the return run home.

Jack.