Got a new chart plotter for a "new" boat. It did come with transducer and I really don't want to mount it outside the boat and put holes below water. I've read that some people epoxy it to the inside bottom of the boat and it worked fine. I just need transducer to show depth and don't really care about the fish finding feature. Have anybody mounted one inside the 27' hunter? I would like to know where exactly so I can replicate same in my boat. Thank you
Transducer location suggestions
- Thread starter Kommy000
- Start date
Can you tell me how and where you placed it? Was it in the bilge or under the holding and water tanks?
My existing (factory install) depthfinder transducer and knotmeter impeller are under the starboard settee in the cabin. The forward one is the transducer, which puts it in front of the keel so you know how shallow you are before the keel runs aground. Could you possibly re-use the existing one and wire it to the display?
I think forward under the v-berth would be OK, do a search here and there may be some good posts about installing one.
I like the idea of something that like a fishfinder that would give me a less expensive GPS screen that I could see in the sunlight, can't easily see the tablet in the sun, even under the bimini.
I think forward under the v-berth would be OK, do a search here and there may be some good posts about installing one.
I like the idea of something that like a fishfinder that would give me a less expensive GPS screen that I could see in the sunlight, can't easily see the tablet in the sun, even under the bimini.
I got Garmin 44dv. It's pretty cheap and comes packed with features and a chart plotter/fish finder with a transducer.
It would be interesting to know if a transom mount transducer could work well as a "shoot through the hull" depth sensor. However, the easiest way to know for sure is to actually call the Garmin factory customer service or a Garmin dealer. Should save you a lot of time.
A transducer cannot transmit through air so the adequate location would be one where the hull is not cored and there is no air between the transducer and the hull. The bilge is likely a liner attached to the sole and suspended above the hull so it would not work. You may want to try a few different locations before settling on one that works and you like. A temporary seal can be made from putty so you may try different locations. I would look for any spot from midship forward to provide an earlier warning reading when slowly motoring into a shallow. When placed too close to the centerline by the keel it may give a false reading so move out or forward.
Yes, Benny has a good point, don't put it in the bilge and do the temporary thing first - that's probably why they installed them under the starboard settee, gets them forward of the keel and shooting through solid fiberglass.
I put a Garmin shoot through the hull transducer on my Hunter 31 that works with my Garmin 541s. I put it near the vberth. You can put it in a bag with water in it to test various locations. On my transducer you have to have some liquid inside the mounting puck for the transducer to work.
I have a shoot-thru-the-hull puck and placed it in a heavy duty zip lock bag, put that in a piece of PVC, filled the bag just enough to cover the puck and secured under the settee as close to center as I could get. It is not epoxied in. Just wedged in among all the other crap in there. Works surprisingly well, water doesn't need to be replaced very often, maybe every six months, reads well, and can be moved if need be. Been like that about five years.
Not sure what you mean it's in PVC....I understand it's in a bag full of water but what do you do after?
The puck is about 4 inches in diameter. I took a length of PVC pipe with just enough inside diameter to accommodate the puck and bag. Put water in the bag, sealed as much as possible around the wire, and secured to inside of hull as described.
I got one of the transom mounted transducer with my new chartplotter as par of the package. Already had a new transducer that goes through a thru-hull but wanted the extra capability of the downvision sonar in addition to my regular depth finder. Not sure how the bow of your boat is configured below the water line but on mine, I had space forward of the forward water tank where I could attach it to the hull directly. Before I did that I filled a large plastic bag with water and placed the transducer on it in contact with the hull to make sure it would work there. It worked great so I built a little box out of pvc board, puttied it down and epoxied the transducer into the box. You could also use wax in the box and could remove it easier if need be.
Just be sure it will remain below the water line during most of the conditions you sail in. When I pitch in some big waves I get erratic readings and/or "snow" on the display but then I'm not generally in shallow water. I can see some real detail on the bottom even at 100+ feet. Running the signal line to the chartplotter was the hardest part of the whole install.
Unless you buy one that is specifically designed to shoot through the hull the manufacturer (Garmin, Raymarine, etc.) will tell you its not designed for that and they won't "endorse" using it that way, even if it will work. Just protecting their produce from later complaints if it won't work and I don't blame them for that.
Just be sure it will remain below the water line during most of the conditions you sail in. When I pitch in some big waves I get erratic readings and/or "snow" on the display but then I'm not generally in shallow water. I can see some real detail on the bottom even at 100+ feet. Running the signal line to the chartplotter was the hardest part of the whole install.
Unless you buy one that is specifically designed to shoot through the hull the manufacturer (Garmin, Raymarine, etc.) will tell you its not designed for that and they won't "endorse" using it that way, even if it will work. Just protecting their produce from later complaints if it won't work and I don't blame them for that.