I've got a new, standard-issue, low-dollar fish finder/depth finder with a through-hull transducer, as well as a transom mount transducer. A couple of questions: 1. which transducer do you prefer? 2. what is the best location to mount the transducer? 3. what materials did you use to mount the transducer? I'm installing on a 1980 O'Day 23. Aloha, Stickman S/V Fun Tickets
Transducer
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Shoot through? or Drill a hole?
Is it better to know that you are about to run aground or know how deep the water is that you are aground in??? The great thing about a transom mount transducer is that you get to see how deep the water is that You just went through!!! I prefer to see how shallow the water is that I am about to sail into. I prefer to mount forward and as midline as possible. If your hull is solid fiberglass, you can glue a transom mount transducer directly to the inner hull and it will shoot through just fine. (no hole in the boat) I test-fitted a small fishfinder x-ducer with a very thin silicon bond and it works great. It measures the same depth as my through-hull x-ducer. If you are going to use the shoot-through method, you should use epoxy for the bond as it is more similar to the density of the hull. There can be NO BUBBLES in the epoxy. Someday I will epoxy the x-ducer in. Some folks recommend using a mineral oil 'bath' to suspend the transducer in. (IMHO) This sounds like the $200 solution to the $2 problem, potentially messy too.
Is it better to know that you are about to run aground or know how deep the water is that you are aground in??? The great thing about a transom mount transducer is that you get to see how deep the water is that You just went through!!! I prefer to see how shallow the water is that I am about to sail into. I prefer to mount forward and as midline as possible. If your hull is solid fiberglass, you can glue a transom mount transducer directly to the inner hull and it will shoot through just fine. (no hole in the boat) I test-fitted a small fishfinder x-ducer with a very thin silicon bond and it works great. It measures the same depth as my through-hull x-ducer. If you are going to use the shoot-through method, you should use epoxy for the bond as it is more similar to the density of the hull. There can be NO BUBBLES in the epoxy. Someday I will epoxy the x-ducer in. Some folks recommend using a mineral oil 'bath' to suspend the transducer in. (IMHO) This sounds like the $200 solution to the $2 problem, potentially messy too.
cat38skip is correct
cat38skip writes very well. I have a Catalina 22 and I tested my humminbird transducer by putting it in a baggie of water (Sealed with a twist-tie). I found a place just in front of the keel on the centerline of the lowest part of the hull. Since it worked fine this way, I created a dam of sorts and imbedded it in west system epoxy. Some use beeswax (toilet ring seal) but I had the epoxy available and I wanted it to be mounted solid for some time. As cat38skip said, leave no bubbles in the mounting. Once it is mounted I ran the line right up underneath the floor of the hull liner to the cockpit. It generally works very well but beds of weeds don't allow a proper read. If accuracy is important, the heeling of the boat in winds will probably add more depth that isn't there.
cat38skip writes very well. I have a Catalina 22 and I tested my humminbird transducer by putting it in a baggie of water (Sealed with a twist-tie). I found a place just in front of the keel on the centerline of the lowest part of the hull. Since it worked fine this way, I created a dam of sorts and imbedded it in west system epoxy. Some use beeswax (toilet ring seal) but I had the epoxy available and I wanted it to be mounted solid for some time. As cat38skip said, leave no bubbles in the mounting. Once it is mounted I ran the line right up underneath the floor of the hull liner to the cockpit. It generally works very well but beds of weeds don't allow a proper read. If accuracy is important, the heeling of the boat in winds will probably add more depth that isn't there.
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