Best transducer type..

[Hou-Chap]

I noticed the thread that stay bent started about the Fishfinder, and had a related question. I am doing a restore/rebuild on my boat (20' chaparral CC), and am flushing my fishfinder in the dash of a new console. I currently have a transom mount transducer, but it is in bad shape, so I am going to purchase a new one. When I replace it, what would be the best type to replace it with? Do I go with another transom mount, thru hull, or the kind that shoots through the fiberglass bottom? I do not go far offshore, so I would not be looking at extreme water depths. I mainly fish the bays, but may try to go hit the short rigs on few blue bird days this summer. What are the pros and cons with each, if any? I am leaning towards the kind that "looks" thru the hull, but am wondering if there is performance loss due to having to shoot through the hull of the boat. Thanks, Shane

[capt4fish]

Go with the shoot-through option. You must be certain the the area you mount the ducer on is 1) very good fiberglass with no core material 2) positioned in flat manner so that your signal is shooting straight down and not off to one side 3) when you epoxy the ducer to the bottom use liberal amounts of epoxy to eliminate any air bubbles between the transducer and the fiberglass. tihgt lines.

[gregd]

I have a humminbird NS25 cmap/GPS/fishfinder combo. It came with a transom mount. I was not happy with the transom mount transducer. Any air bubbles in the water would cause noise on the screen and I'd lose the image. Humminbird sells a shoot thru transducer for that unit so I switched out. I have not had any problems with it and though I'm sure there must be some loss of signal, I haven't noticed it. I still pick up fish on the finder and mark bottom just fine. I did notice that I lost the bottom when out at the East Breaks. When I got to about 550 feet, the finder went to zero. That doesn't bother me though.

The humminbird transducer is an angled puck that mounts with epoxy in the hull. It's angled so it does shoot straight down. When you epoxy it in, follow directions, you have to use slow cure epoxy because fast cure will have bubbles in it and effect the finder signal. Also, before you glue it down, fill the hull with enough water to submerge the transducer and verify that you are picking up the bottom and it works. You can do this with your present transducer.

I left my transom mount attached so now I have a backup in case something happens to the thru hull one. Also, before you glue the thru hull one down, use fine grit sand paper and sand the face that will be glued. I didn't the first time and the transducer came loose from the epoxy, couldn't believe it. There was not one bit of epoxy that stuck to the transducer plastic. After sanding and resetting, I've run all this year with no problems.

So check around for a brand that has the angled puck transducer option.

Good luck!!

[Stay Bent]

Thanks for the question Hou-Chap and advice Capt4fish and Gregd. I'm still trying to boost my confidence to do the install vs pay for performance and you guy's advice was a duplicate of what I was told. Thanks for the extra on light sanding too. I will be re-hearsing all of this with the distributors at the boat show, so I'm getting braver every day. I CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!
Bernard

[Zach H]

I agree, go w/the shoot-thru-hull. I just mounted one in my boat (Lowrance), but instead of using epoxy I used some marine glue. I plan to eventually epoxy it down, but I wanted to make sure I wasnt having any problems w/it, plus, at the time I was still trying to decide if I wanted to mount it on the transom so I could use the water temp fxn or go w/ the cleaner looking shoot-thru-hull.

Good luck!

Zach

[Hou-Chap]

Gregd,

The unit I am using is a hummingbird DF/GPS combo. It is not fancy, but has worked well for me. I was having problems with the transom mount loosing bottom at times, and figured it was due to bubbles. I will go with the puck style hull mount transducer. I am glad to hear it has been working good for yall, because that was the style I was wanting to go with. Just concerned that maybe the signal would have problesm shooting through the hull...Thanks for the feedback guys!

[captbennie]

Hou-chap, If you are at the boat show go to the Lowrance booth and ask for Bob Green. Ask him about the shoot-thru ducer. Just put one on my boat and it works great. All of the above post are correct regarding the installation.(no air bubbles allowed). Bill told me most "professional" installations were not installed by professionals. The low man on the totem pole in the shop got to do these jobs. So be careful if you get it done professionally and make sure they know what they are doing. otherwise do it yourself.

Capt Bennie

[Stay Bent]

Thanks Capt Bennie and others,
I heading to the boat show about 2 and will look for Bob Green at the Lowrance booth about the install. I'm sure I can do just as good as the lowest man in the shop.
Bernard

[Stay Bent]

Made it to the Boat Show and met both Capt. Bennie and Bob Green. (Faces with names and voices) After my lesson in installing and tuning from Bob, I'm ready. Secondly, after speaking with the Raymarine guys, I now know of the best and easiest transducer to install with the DS500x unit. (The transducer is round and made especially for shooting thru the hull)
Thanks all,
Bernard

[CHARLIE]

If you dont fish deep thru hull is best. Trnsom mount if you fish deep. But you have to play with transom mounts to get them to read. It can be done. Most people dont put them down deep enough in the water so they get bubbles under it. My transom mount works good at 30 knots in 200 feet of water. Furuno machine.

charlie