through hull, in-oil depth founder

[marcin_palacz]

Hello,

I am a new owner of "Lotta", V1958.
She has spent the first 32 years of her life at the western Swedish
coast (Kattegat). A few weeks ago I sailed her to Gdansk, Poland.
She is in a very good shape, carefully and skilfully
maintained by her previous owner.

I wonder if somebody could provide me with suggestions
how to make use of the remnants of a depth finder installations,
which I find in the hull. Pictures explain almost everything:
http://members.chello.pl/m.palacz/vega/sonar1_small.jpg
http://members.chello.pl/m.palacz/vega/sonar2_small.jpg

The round metal cup is about 10 cm high, with the inner diameter of
7 cm, filled with oil, and it is laminated to the hull.
The cable going to the blue transducer (sonar2.jpg) is cut
short at the outer end of the grey "screw" (sonar1.jpg).

Has anybody seen such an installation before ?
Any suggestions how to make use of it for a new
depth finder which I want to have?
What brand of a depth finder could make use of this installation ?

Any general comments on using such a depth finder
working through the hull, placed in oil ?

BTW: Are there perhaps any other Polish owners of
Vega's reading this list ?

Marcin
"Lotta", V1958

 

[brockhaus77]

I'm far from being an expert, but we had a discussion on depth finders earlier in this group -
just search the posts. Anyway, what you have seems like one of the suggested "through-hull"
depth finder arrangements. I made a similar one myself, albeit with the "can" in the stern,
slightly off center, and I filled it with vaseline instead of oil (seemed less messy to me). I
made the cup just the right diameter to give a tight fit for the transducer, which in my case
was a unit that came with my GPS (Garmin) which is a combined fish finder/chart plotter. So
far the system works flawlessly. As for what other depth finders one can use, I leave it to
more experienced people to advise you, but I guess just about anything that makes a
reasonable fit with your cup should work.

- Sebastian (V1060 VegaLyra)

 

[matsolstedt]

See Silva Star sea data:. http://www.silva.se/marine/prod_oth/star_sea.htm
They have a special kit also for munting the depth transducer inside the
boat in the same way as you have. The transducer you show is not from
Silva but you could probably install a Silva depth transducer.

Vega 77

marcin_palacz wrote:

 

[lucas_deboer]

Marcin,
Almost all available transducers for dept sounders will work when you put them in the oil cup. If you are not satisfied with the wet (oil) setup, you can also stick a transducer on the inner site of the hull with fiberglass glue or epoxy, but the method shown on the 2 photos is a very reliable and common setup and is one of the advised installation methods in the manual of my 2004 Nasa Target depth sounder.
Bye, Lucas
V-2122 'Hakuna Matata'
Rotterdam/Netherlands

 

[imbissfrank]

Hello Marcin,
I don't know of any other Polish owners, but I am
presently in the Gdansk City Marina, by the Krantor if
you read this in time maybe you can stop by before I
leave. I am off either for Kleipeda or Kaliningrad.
Frank Gallardo Jr
Cin Cin V2184

 

[stevebirch2002]

Hi Frank

Will you being going to Latvia at all? I have a friend (sailing) who now
lives there.

Hope all is well.

Cheers

Steve B