Hello all: I need to mount an in-hull transducer in my Pearson 27. I know that a core hull is not good. Need a solid bottom. Which does the P27 have? If it is solid, where is best location for the transducer. Please reply to : dramsdoc@yahoo.com. Thanks, Don Ramsdell (ramsdoc)
is the pearson 27 hull bottom solid or core?
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Don Casey has a good article on mounting a depth transducer within the hull. I believe it's in his book "This Old Boat". I'll check.
Don, It is most likely cored below the waterline. You can tell if you take a flashlight and look at the inside of the hull underneath the v-berth. If you see light and dark colored squares and red lines in a geometric pattern, it is cored. Solid glass would be a medium to dark green with little color variation. It is not a probelm to install a transducer but you must remove about 3/8" of core material around the hole and fill with thickened epoxy. Then, you can mount your transducer with no concern for egress of water into the core. If you need help, give a shout. Good luck and good sailing, Ron
If you can give a reference to the vol. and pages in Casey's article in 'This Old Boat', I'll check it out. Thanks for your help! Sincerely, Don R.
Hi Don:
Here's one way to check possible locations for your transducer. While tied to the dock, measure the water depth using a line and weight. Put some water in a plastic bag and close it securely. Set the bag on the inside of the hull, press the transducer into it lightly and power up the depthsounder. If you see a nice clear return and the depth matches your line sounding, the bag is in a good location. If not, move the bag around on the inside of the hull until you do, kind of like a "reverse sonogram". Once you find a good location, install the transducer using your favorite method.
Warning! The location you finally select must be low enough in the hull so it remains below the waterline when the boat is heeled but not so close to the keel that the signal could return through it and show shallower water than the true depth. It's no big deal if you're just trying not to run aground but it may be misleading if you're trying to use a charted depth contour for navigation. Good luck.
Here's one way to check possible locations for your transducer. While tied to the dock, measure the water depth using a line and weight. Put some water in a plastic bag and close it securely. Set the bag on the inside of the hull, press the transducer into it lightly and power up the depthsounder. If you see a nice clear return and the depth matches your line sounding, the bag is in a good location. If not, move the bag around on the inside of the hull until you do, kind of like a "reverse sonogram". Once you find a good location, install the transducer using your favorite method.
Warning! The location you finally select must be low enough in the hull so it remains below the waterline when the boat is heeled but not so close to the keel that the signal could return through it and show shallower water than the true depth. It's no big deal if you're just trying not to run aground but it may be misleading if you're trying to use a charted depth contour for navigation. Good luck.
My mistake! The article is titled "A "No Hole" Transducer" by Charles J. Doane, on page 202 of a book titled "Boatworks" by the editors of Sail magazine, published by Mcgraw-Hill. Without giving away too much of the plot, you must have a solid hull for this to work, no coring.
Hello all: I got a description from a Pearson owner of what a cored hull looks like: a dark green and light green checkered pattern with threads of red running through it all, so that it looks like a matrix. Also Karen from 'This Old Boat' and her husband wrote and said that the bottom of a Pearson 27 is solid. I went ahead and bought an in-hull Humminbird transducer. I epoxied it in next to the old thru-hull transducer (just aft of the fresh water tank. You need to remove the wooden step first, to get to it. It works beautifully!! Thanks for you help! Ramsdoc (Don Ramsdell)
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