In Hull Transducer

bigshrimpin · #1 04-04-2003, 10:10 AM

Has anyone mounted their transducer inhull? if so were you pleased with the results that you got?

bigshrimpin · #2 04-24-2003, 10:51 AM

mmmm.... this looks like a nice spot. * There is a great flat area in the bottom of the bilge that looks promising. *

bigshrimpin · #3 05-01-2003, 09:06 AM

sunk a drill bit into this area and there's plywood under the flat area. I am going to mount a puck to the side, once I get the boat back into the water.

chumbucket · #4 05-01-2003, 10:36 AM

I set a transom mount inside my hull on both the Grady that I had previous to the Wellcraft and an old Stamas that I had. Didn't perform well on the Stamas, but I was fairly happy with the Grady application. I think I can attribute the difference in performance to output power of the unit. Most of the units that are available on todays market are of higher wattage than what was available back then and I think the higher wattages give back what shooting through the hull may take away. A lot of the manufacturers today are using the Arimar transducers which are among some of the best made. I'm still trying to make up my mind as to mount my new Garmin (Arimar) transducer on the transom of the Wellcraft or in-hull. The Garmin shows water temp, which I know is only surface temp, but is sometimes useful. You still get a temp reading through the hull, but not real accurate.
On the Grady, I used a cardboard tube cut to the angle of my hull and set the transducer in a bedding of thick two part epoxy.

#5 12-10-2003, 05:31 PM

so, reading through this - what finally happened ?

I have a tranducer mounted on right stern side of my 21V
and it works so-so on low speed, but when I get the boat up, really anything that causes a wake, the depthsounder bails out on me and is worthless..
I have been thinking about replacing this with an in hull also
any more experiences with this ?

thanks,
chipde

chumbucket · #6 12-10-2003, 09:09 PM

chipde, they work pretty well when mounted in the hull. You shouldn't need to buy another transducer. Just remove yours from the transom, find a spot suitable in the bilge where it'll point straight down. Then what I did was to use a cardboard tube cut to the angle of the hull but level on top, probably 2" tall. Fill the cardboard with a thick two part epoxy, then set the transducer on top of the epoxy. You mainly want to make sure that there are no air pockects because they will affect the sonar signal.
You can try this setup before commiting yourself with the epoxy buy filling a large ziplock bag about 1/2 full of water. Have someone hold the transducer on top of the bag while underway to see how it works.

#7 12-11-2003, 12:41 PM

thanks chumbucket - I'll try this out and see how that works.

I think instead of the bag-o-water thing i'll try to use some silicone adhesive (the stuff you use around bathtubs etc. from a squirt gun) -
figure that stuff doesn't realy harden, will keep the transducer in place, but is not permanent, which allows me to try out different positions if needed..

/chipde

chumbucket · #8 12-12-2003, 11:07 AM

That's an even better idea.

bigshrimpin · #9 12-12-2003, 12:15 PM

Chipde,
I did the bag of water trick on my boat and it worked great shooting through the hull. I ended up mounting the tranducer on the transom . . . b/c I was meeting CB to go fishing the next day and didn't want to bother cleaning the bilge.

chumbucket · #10 12-13-2003, 01:22 AM

Ya didn't have to clean it just for me. I wouldn't have minded a dirty bilge. Hell, I've fished on MJ's boat! :o ;D