Transducer mounting for an old tinny?

[Neil81]

Hi guys, i recently bought my first boat, 12ft front steer aluminium and am wanting to put a sounder/fish finder in it. As its a 1979 make it doesnt have the mounting bracket welded to the back. Is there anyway to mount the transducer without drilling into the hull and what size battery would i need to run it as there is nothing else in the boat running on power.

Any help would be greatly appretiated

thanks, Neil

[FishHunter]

I use a 2ah sealed battery for my sounder and it runs for a few days without charging the 7ah jobs will run a 4 weekends without charging.
Mount the transducer inside the hull either in a wetbox or glue it down with Selleys All Clear so you can remove it if need be.

[Dezzer]

I just got a marine welding place to fit a bracket on mine and it cost buggar all. Most aluminium boat builders will do small jobs and other places specialize in marine fitting. Not sure where you are but Marinefit at Redcliffe is the type of place to go.

[dreemon]

Have a mate look over the rear when your on the plane to see where the cleanest water is, then use a timber block or thick plastic cutting board stuff and sikaflex to the transom then screw into that ,. Cheers

[jason p]

I use a 2ah sealed battery for my sounder and it runs for a few days without charging the 7ah jobs will run a 4 weekends without charging.
Mount the transducer inside the hull either in a wetbox or glue it down with Selleys All Clear so you can remove it if need be.

according to lowrance a tranceducer can not shoot through wood or metal hulls.
the sickaflex option sounds like the go, if $ arnt an isue weld a bracket on
jp

[Neil81]

fishhunter- do you think a ride on mower or motorbike battery would do? not sure what 2ah or 7ah meens lol sorry to be a pain i am looking into it and thanks alot for the input.

dezzer- i m at ipswich, but that info was very helpful so i will ring around the marine shops to get a quote. Do you know roughly how much yours cost just so i get a rough estimate!

Dreemon- ive only just moved to the area from N.S.W so i dont have mates with boats near by, but i just joined a fishing club so hopefully they'll tag behind and let me know. cheers mate.

Jason P- Thanks jason, im assuming that alluminium comes under that metal group? What brand would you recomend as a basic sounder as im mainly getting it to find structure and holes more then pick up fish.

[Dezzer]

Mate it was a couple of years ago but from memory to make up a simple U bracket and weld it on wouldn't have been much more than $20 and 15 minutes to do.

[GLXMAN]

You have two options, possibly 3

I installed a sounder at Weipa last year on my tinny, (had to, couldn't see the bottom!)

I bought a sliding bracket from a dealer that was designed to retro fit transducers to tinnies,
The idea of the sliding bracket was to adjust the height of the transducer, being able to adjust the height of the transducer on a small tinny does not sound like much of a need but believe me, some transducers, and in particular some Humminbird ones will curve a nice rooster tail of continuous water into the boat,
It happened to me but after a few adjustments all was OK

If you go the bracket option, (preferred), Make sure you get some good advice on placement

Lastly, some can be glued straight to the bottom, but IMHO, they must loose performance

Regards,
Gary

[Neil81]

thanks Dezzer that really does sound like a bargain.

glxman- thanks for that i know what you meen about rooster tail, i bought a dept sounder/ fish finder off ebay for 35 bucks that takes AAA battery's that i made a bracket up for but through a rooster tail so big i had 2 inches of water in the boat after 100m lol. Then gary's mobile mechanic told me its only good for dropping over the side while the motor isnt running cause it see's air bubbles as fish :'( .
How do you think it would go if i glued it to the back of the hull, and do you have a brand of sounder you found best for the older basic tinny's? thanks for your help