Need info re vee berth sole

[Seattle Scott]

All my dead instrument through hulls (speed temp depth)are mounted below the raised sole in the vee berth. I am going to pull them all out this winter and glass over the holes thru the hull. This will give me inner hull space to mount the "in hull" depth ducer. I can get to the area thru the small floor hatch outside the head but it would be alot easier to access thru the vee beath floor. Anyone remove the vee berth floor and what is involved?

 

[Ed Schenck]

Done it.

The v-berth sole is 1/4" veneer "glued" to very thick fiberglass. Those bungs are fake. Take off the trim over the edge. I think I had to remove the vertical trim in the corners so that I could lift the panel once it was loose. Work a screwdriver and putty knife under it and it will lift. The adhesive is more like a weak caulk.I cut a six inch hole with a Roto-Zip. But I cut it too close to the step edge. That area(step edge) is heavily reinforced. Go forward at least three inches from the step. My H37C transducers are in the big v-berth locker. I added two more and had to cut that hole to run the wiring back. The original depth and log wiring ran through there. Now my Nexus depth, log, and compass wiring also go down the middle of the bilge.

 

[Seattle Scott]

So Ed, under the veneer

is fiberglass? If I understand the construction, if I remove the wood veneer alone, that will not give me access to the inner hull.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Yep, heavy fiberglass.

They put in those transducers and wiring and then laid the inner liner right over them. That step is a very heavy fiberglass. I ended up drilling 1/4" holes on the perimeter of the six-inch hole, one about every half inch. This made it easier to Roto-Zip because the glass was so thick. And that glass just eats up the Roto-Zip blades.

 

[keystroker]

are you positive an in-hull depth will work?

i was advised by garmin that their depth sounder 178C and in hull transducer would not go through the thickness of the hull (i think it would penetrate 3/8 or 3/4 and i believe at this point the hull is 1 1/2 to 2" thick...perhaps an in-hull depth as opposed to a sounder would workand no i don't love to fish that much but i am on an inland lake with a tremendous water level variation and i want to locate the below water structures in the winter with something other than my keel or ruddersmooth sailing

 

[Seattle Scott]

Hayes, I have a garmin fish finder

can't remember the model, with a transome mount ducer sitting in a water filled baggie inside the hull. Placed it by going thru the floor hatch outside the head, so it sits under the raised vee berth floor area. Finder works great. As I said, I can't do a permanent mount until I get rid of the speed, temp and depth ducers (thru hull) in the same area. For the shoot thru hull, inside mount, you need to test the locations for performance before sticking the ducer in place. That was what I was doing with the water filled baggy around the ducer.

 

[Rich Woodward]

I used a Hummingbird Fishfinder......

on my last boat (a Sovereign 23). I simply used vaseline, smearing a bunch on the inside of the hull, then pushed the transducer down into it. That was a temporary measure to determine if it would work. It worked so well that 3 years later, it was still there. Cheap and easy.