Transducer Mounting

[Badone]

Gday guys, I am replacing my faulty transducer with a new one and I am going to try to mount the unit on the floor of the boat instead of the transom. I have seen some transducrs mounted inside a short length of plastic pipe which is then filled with oil or water. The idea being to sound through the hull and get a better bottom whilst underway at speed. Does anyone know the correct way to do this ? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks Simon.

[Spaniard_King]

This works best for me, A Thru hull Transducer

Garry

[Bashir]

garry is that a plastic transducer and does it have dual frequency (50/200khz) and temp. I'm after a thru hull like yours that does dual frequency and temp.

[Spaniard_King]

Bashir, It is dual frequency but does not have temp although I think it is available on certain models.

This setup works well at speed I think mainly due to the depth of the mounting on the boat(its deep in the water getting little interference)

Garry

[Badone]

Thanks Gary, I am a bit worried about drilling a hole in my hull. Simon.

[Spaniard_King]

Simon,

where do ya live mate, I luv drillin holes in other peoples boats ;)

Garry

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

transducers mounted in hulls(not thru) in pvc seem to work best in aluminium boats and thin bottomed glass boats. temperature sensors on transducers that are mounted inside the hull, (not thru hull) won't give justice if you want to monitor outside water temperature effectively. i have transducers mounted inside the hull in pvc (sikaflexed in), and the pvc then filled with water. be sure not to let any air in under the glued in transducer. the water in the pvc helps produce a greater picture. No faults noticed by using this method. Great definition, no problems with a picture at speed. I did this not to get a better picture, but to save the transducer from damage in mangroves, rocks, etc Some people find it doesn't work for them,,,,the water in the pvc usually fixes that problem. It dries up if no lid is attached to the pvc. re-fill with water, and like magic, your picture re-appears. don't mount the transducer too far forward from the stern, and not too far away from the keel line. No more than 1/3 either way seems to be a good basic rule! Also be careful where you run your transducer cable in relation to all power and electrical cables. The electrical interferance can cause problems.
Hope this helps somewhat!
johnny M
* also note the angle of the hull where you choose to mount your t-ducer, no point having your transducer mounted at 40 degrees off to starboard!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?

[Bashir]

Simon,

where do ya live mate, I luv drillin holes in other peoples boats ;)

Garry
In that case feel free to fly down to sydney anytime to install mine then. I am also scared shitless lol

[Badone]

I live on the north side of brissie Garry but i think i will pass on the hole drilling offer, thanks anyway. Johnny, just one question - do you sikaflex the transducer to the hull inside the pipe and then fill with water or is the transducer attatched to the pipe and then it sounds down through the water and the hull ? Thanks guys, Simon.

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

The transducer is passed through a 100mm length of 90 mm diameter pvc or whatever size required. The transducer is placed into a golf-ball sized airless ball of sikaflex that is applied to the selected location on the inside of the hull. The transducer is positioned vertically/centrally in its chosen location and pushed firmly into the sikafex ball until it makes contact with the hull. Allow to dry in position, or at the same time slide the pvc back down the transducer cable and also sikaflex and seal the pvc to the hull. Allow to dry before filling with water. Use fresh water, not salt, as evaporation leaves a salty scum. Apply a lid if you can, a screw top pvc end cap is ideal.
Johnny

[richolynn]

would you happen to have a photo of your installation? very interested !!!
thanks richo

[Badone]

Thanks Johnny, Great info, I'll let you know how I go.

[zulu]

I had a wet box set-up recently for my transducer, is now working better than the original set-up. I will post a picture of the set-up. I you need any more help give me a yell.
Cheers Troy.

[richolynn]

thanks for that Troy..
much appreciated.
Richo

[ShaneJ]

transducers mounted in hulls(not thru) in pvc seem to work best in aluminium boats and thin bottomed glass boats.
So a transducer can be setup to fire through an aluminium bottom boat?

[Mantaray]

This works best for me, A Thru hull Transducer

Garry

Garry, What's on the other end of the transducer and what's particular hull?

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

Yes, transducers can be set up to shoot throught the hull of an aluminium boat. That picture pretty well sums up my description people. (its probably a bit more sophisticated than my set up, although the end result is the same.) saves me pullin my floor up to photograph it!
johnny

[ShaneJ]

Yes, transducers can be set up to shoot throught the hull of an aluminium boat.
Interesting. Thanks

I might have to order myself an in hull transducer and have a play.

[ShaneJ]

I had a wet box set-up recently for my transducer, is now working better than the original set-up. I will post a picture of the set-up. I you need any more help give me a yell.
Cheers Troy.

Troy, is your transducer glued to the bottom of the boat, or is it suspended in water within the PVC?

[Mantaray]

Yes, transducers can be set up to shoot throught the hull of an aluminium boat.
Interesting. Thanks

I might have to order myself an in hull transducer and have a play.


From what I understand shoot through Aluminium can work but is not recommended and will only work with thin guage hulls. Even with fibreglass the hull must be solid fibreglass, no air bubbles, no ply, no foam core and then depending on the transducer power there is even a max glass thinkness.

[ShaneJ]

Yes, transducers can be set up to shoot throught the hull of an aluminium boat.
Interesting. Thanks

I might have to order myself an in hull transducer and have a play.


From what I understand shoot through Aluminium can work but is not recommended and will only work with thin guage hulls. Even with fibreglass the hull must be solid fibreglass, no air bubbles, no ply, no foam core and then depending on the transducer power there is even a max glass thinkness.

Yeah this is what I'm worried about. My boat has a 4mm plate bottom which might reduce the signal considerably :-/
I guess I can only experiment and see what happens. I have ordered a thru-hull transducer to play with so if it doesn't work in-hull I'm sure I can use it for something else ::)

[Spaniard_King]

This works best for me, A Thru hull Transducer

Garry

Garry, What's on the other end of the transducer and what's particular hull?



Mantaray,

Its on a Garmin FF240 Blue which is only filling the void till me ff50 arives ::)

The Hull is a Haines 580 breeze

Garry

[banshee]

I'm with Mantaray,shooting through alloy should be avoided,my mate has a 600 watt Fuso and he is not impressed with the drop in performance since changing from a glass hull to 5mm alloy hull.

[Bay+Beyond]

Troy's picture of he wetbox sums it up. My old man has had no problems with them on his boat. But instead of using water, try glycerine. it doesn't evapoate. His koden unit has no problems with signal strength through the fiberglass hull.

I had one on my old tin boat but that was only 3mm bottom. I was told that it would be ok up to 5mm.

Thommo

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

ShaneJ.
The same external transducer seems to work fine when setting up inside the hull. No need to spend extra money on a different type of transducer. Try it and see! And as noted above, some vessels with thick plate alloy and other vessels with fibreglass and foam issues can have varied results with transducers mounted inside and shooting through a hull. Try it, and if its not what you want, mount it back outside. A thru-hull transducer is a transducer that is designed for you to cut a hole in your hull and mount the transducer inside and flush with the underneath side of your hull. Not a lot of people are happy drilling holes in perfectly and positively floating boats. A transom mount transducer shooting through a hull works fine on many boats, material dependant, and I imagine to a certain degree, the power output of a unit may be critical as it could take away some signal strength , and would most likely be noted in deep water situations.
johnny M

[ShaneJ]

Hi mate, I only ordered the thru-hull transducer because it has a nice flat bottom whereas the transom mount has a curved bottom.

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

Good point, but possibly not required if the placement of the external transducer is spot on. Best of luck . It will be interesting to hear of the results of the new procedure.
Cheers
Keep us posted,
Johnny M

[ShaneJ]

Yeah I have been playing with the transom mount the last few trips. The problem I am having is getting the transducer at a level so that I dont loose bottom but also so that I dont get a massive rooster tail. This is proving difficult at the moment but i'll keep at it :)

[2DKnBJ]

Will keep this setup in the memory bank for when i get my new sounder.If you can get a better picture at speed it is worthwhile the effort of setting up a wetbox.
Thanks and Cheers Dazza