Mounting depth finder transducer.

[davidpm]

The manual says it has to be mounted within 10 percent vertical. The bottom of the hull has no accessible part that is shaped that way.

The old transducer was set in a 5" square wedge shape of wood mounted on the outside of the hull, very ugly.

My thought is to remove the wood, wrap the new transducer with plastic and hold in place temporarily in the proper orientation even if it is not flat on the hull and mix up some thick epoxy and fill in the space making a large wedge shaped washer of epoxy.

I donn't like the idea that it is sticking below the bottom of the boat and could be sheered off if grounded just right but it does have to be mounted vertically.

Any other ideas besides an interior mount in that special goop.

[sailingdog]

That's actually not a bad way to do it. A block of PVC cut to fit the hull would work too. You could also mount the transducer inside the boat, provided the boat has a solid fiberglass (not-cored) hull. This has the added benefit of avoiding drilling a hole in the boat's bottom.

To check, use a plastic baggie filled with water and try the transducer in various spots on the hull in the bilge. Once you find a spot that gives a clear signal... glass a 4" PVC tube into the spot and put a cleanout fitting on it... add the transducer to the cleanout cap and fill with mineral oil.

[scottyt]

go get a piece of 4 inch pvc, take it to the boat, cut it off at an angle to match the hull. epoxy the pvc to the hull inside, then get a pvc cap that fits the pipe. mount the trasducer to the cap so it sticks down as far as you can get it. or drop it in the pipe. then fill the pipe with mineral oil and put the cap on, then tape it on with rescue tape. the nice thing about mounting it to the cap is sealing the tranducer to the cap with a "nut" on each side is easy. or you have to run the wire to the ducer thru the cap and seal it some how.

this will work if you have a solid hull, as not cored

btw the "nut" is blue

[scottyt]

da.m my ms paint job took too long and SD stole my thunder

[sailingdog]

You snooze...

Originally Posted by scottyt

da.m my ms paint job took too long and SD stole my thunder

[MikeAR]

I've read of others effectively using plumber's bees wax, molded and placed inside the hull forward of the keel .... and the transducer is pushed into that. I was thinking of doing that eventually.

[KindOfBlue]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

To check, use a plastic baggie filled with water and try the transducer in various spots on the hull in the bilge. Once you find a spot that gives a clear signal... glass a 4" PVC tube into the spot and put a cleanout fitting on it... add the transducer to the cleanout cap and fill with mineral oil.

Can you explain what to do with the baggie again? Does the transducer need to be wet to work? Also what does the mineral oil do?

EDIT - never mind. I just googled "transducer mineral oil" and found out why you use it.

[sailingdog]

The reason you want to test the hull with the transducer and baggie is to find a spot where the hull layup is free of voids, which can cause the transducer not to read properly.

[davidpm]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

To check, use a plastic baggie filled with water and try the transducer in various spots on the hull in the bilge. Once you find a spot that gives a clear signal... glass a 4" PVC tube into the spot and put a cleanout fitting on it... add the transducer to the cleanout cap and fill with mineral oil.

Good tip to make sure a good spot is selected. I doubt if their is anyway to do this if the boat is on stands though.

[KindOfBlue]

Just checking. This method with the PVC and mineral oil is to mount a through hull transducer without going through the hull?