Thanks Sebastian,
Great advice and I appreciate your candor! I will probably try to remove the old fairing block and mount and "In-Hull" Transducer as it seems to be the overwhelming response from this group.
Cheers!
Chris
brockhaus77 kuhn@... wrote:
I tried my transducer both ways - first submerging it in the water,
and then, when it became completely fouled with algae, putting it
inside the hull. I'd say the latter was definitely better - how precise
can you be when the ultrasound has to go through layers of barnacles?
(This of course assumes that the hull is reasonably clean). You have to
make sure that there is good acoustical coupling between the surface of
the sounder and the hull - I sawed a piece of PVC pipe at the proper angle
so it could hold the sounder pretty much straight up although the hull
was sloping at the spot I chose; then I filled the void with vaseline.
My experience so far (with the inside arrangement) has been very good -
I watched the depth going from 5' to 4' to 3'10" a couple of times -
and sure enough, right about at that reading I could feel a distinct
"bump" as the keel made brief contact with the (fortunately soft and muddy)
bottom. (To my defense I have to say that I was heading towards a channel
marker and "knew" that the depth would increase any second now - which it
did...)
I agree with you, though, about the general issue of having a depth sounder in
the back when you are moving FORWARDS. I guess it's o.k. in the Chesapeake
Bay (because above-mentioned soft and muddy bottom never seems to slope
very steeply either way), but it would definitely not work near a cliff coast. I guess
that's what charts and chartplotters are for...
- Sebastian (V1060 VegaLyra)