You may (mistakenly) believe that fishfinders are only good for fisherman or are maybe less "in" than standard depthsounders. Quite the opposite is true. Rob installed an upper end fishfinder on his boat & it is FAR superior to any depthsounder either of us has had. It shows a rough contour of the bottom, shows obstructions & FISH (or at least what the finder *thinks* is fish). Look into this option cuz they really are the cat's meow!LaDonna
I installed a base model fishfinder on my Capri 18, and it works great. The better models have speed, water temp, dual/wide beam signals, and a greater variety of display and operation modes. And the good fishfinders cost about the same as a depth-only instrument.
Several months ago I passed on a $100. fishfinder with depth, speed, and water temp. New, in the box, made by Raytheon!! And it had a solid bronze thru-hull(No, they are no longer available.) Since then I have watched fishfinder prices but they are all transom mount. Who makes one with a thru-hull?
This is in reply to Ed Schenck's question. I recently installed a new Garmin fishfinder on my Cat 27 -- after realizing that they are about half the price of a regular "sailboat" depthsounder. I found that although they generally come with a transom-mounted transducer, you can exchange it for a thru-hull type for a little extra money. I have been very happy with mine.
Humminbird (www.humminbird.com) also sells a line of fish finders that can use a transom transducer or an optional thru-hull transducer (bronze and plastic). I have the TX300plus with the plastic thru-hull transducer and speed and temperature sensors (also using an optional thru-hull). Also available are switches that allow 2 displays with 1 set of sensors or 2 sets of sensors to one display. Good resolution and depth alarm are definite pluses. The tri-beam setup allows a side looking capability that I have found useful to warn be of underwater obstructions before a tack.
We use a Garmin GPS/Sounder and, at their recommendation, I glued the sounder 'puck' to the inside of the fiberglass hull. The transom mounted sounder didn't work with any amount of heel and it's really nice to have the sounder as far forward as possible. It's stuck to the inside of the hull with silicone adhesive and can be removed with a razor blade and some care. Everything works great to 70' which is the deepest water I've found in lakes. You can experiment with locations inside the hull by using KY jelly to temorarily test a site. Just like the medical people do ultra-sound! I sure hate to cut a hole in a sound fiberglass hull if not absolutely necessary.KenS/V Wouff Hong
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