260 depth sounder or fishfinder?

[GBGraham]

I had a srern mounted transducer but found it would fall off and sometimes misread ,usually as you were docking .
Installed a B&G Vulcan 5 with a thru hull mounted next to the bilge pump under the aft berth.
Very stable location . No water temp but that was not much use to me.

That looks a decent piece of kit but remember that I'm the other side of the pond and it is about twice your money here which is more than I wish to pay.
I have rightly or wrongly bought a Condor 340c and intending to glue down the transducer in the same place you have placed your thru-hull.

 

[Johann]

If you have a transom transducer and want to try it as a shoot thru, use some toilet ring wax and press it to the hull. Just be sure there's no bubbles in the wax. That's a good way to test without permanetly installing it. Though I have heard people say their's has been working in a bed of wax for years.

After 5 years in “temporary” toilet wax under the aft berth, my garmin transducer started giving spurious readings, so I cleaned it off and used some fresh wax. Maybe I’ll put that on the list of things to do every other haul out.

 

[GBGraham]

O

After 5 years in “temporary” toilet wax under the aft berth, my garmin transducer started giving spurious readings, so I cleaned it off and used some fresh wax. Maybe I’ll put that on the list of things to do every other haul out.

OK, thank you. The wax ring is not readily available over here, all composite these days. I was going to try MSR adhesive?

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Suggest plumbers putty which works folks. Kermit can tell step by step how to as long as that green frog is not croaking

 

[GBGraham]

Suggest plumbers putty which works folks. Kermit can tell step by step how to as long as that green frog is not croaking

Plumbers putty does dry out quite quickly especially in Med with the high temps, that's why I was opting for MSR. Am I wrong please?

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

I will refer to Kermit but summers can be hot and muggy where @Kermit lives and on a funny note uses his long tongue for insect desert

 

[Kermit]

I can’t speak for the Med. My transducer is still transducing after 4 years in South Carolina USA. It gets hot and humid here for at least 4 straight months.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

He did croak early for insects Thank you for responding Mr. Frog

 

[GBGraham]

I can’t speak for the Med. My transducer is still transducing after 4 years in South Carolina USA. It gets hot and humid here for at least 4 straight months.

If I can easily obtain some I may give it a try . . . . Ribbit croak croak

 

[Kermit]

If I can easily obtain some I may give it a try . . . . Ribbit croak croak

You should be able to get it at a hardware store.

 

[Will Gilmore]

It gets hot and humid here for at least 4 straight months.

That's pond life for you. It's not easy being green.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[JimInPB]

I prefer a fish finder type display to a numerical readout of depth because it lets me know what type of bottom is below me & helps me to choose a good place for anchoring.

My H212 had a glued in transducer when I bought it. That transducer croaked, probably from overheating. I made a clamp-on bracket out of starboard scraps that I had laying around & now have the new transducer mounted to the transom, with no holes drilled. When you glue a transducer in on the top side of the hull, you loose sensitivity & you loose the ability to read water temperature & they run hotter, but they are well protected from getting knocked around.

It's been my experience that even a cheap $100 4" color fish finder will still read to probably around 200 feet deep with the OEM transducer fully potted.

Many transducers, especially the higher powered ones, will be rated for very short periods of time with power on when they are not immersed in water for cooling. 10 seconds seems to be one of the common numbers that I run into.

 

[GBGraham]

JimInPB@ Thank you for the sharing your views. Sea surface temperature can easily reach 30c+ (86f+) out here in summer.
Is it me or does the Condor Fishfinder resemble the old Eagle classic?

 

[JimInPB]

I don't know the Condor nor the Eagle. I use Garmin or Lowrance products most of the time.

 

[mm2347]

I have a new Garmin Striker 4. It has depth, temp. ,and GPS.
the GPS gives speed and a "bread trail"and heading and location but is not a chart plotter. Cost is around $150. The transducer is mounted on the hull as per Dave, but I used a putty from Home Depot for elect boxes. If you go this way make sure the unit will give speed to tenths. My old one gave to tenths only up to 5. At 5and up it only gave full numbers. I never knew if the adjustment I made changed boat speed from 5.? to 5.?.. Tenths of a mph or knot are huge when you have a slow boat! At least to the obsessed.