Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

I have a Lowrance unit, I also mounted my xducer in the bilge just off the center line. The techs at a marine electronics store suggested not shooting through the keel. It's mounted on the deadrise but with the boat rocking you rarely get a straight up and down shot anyhow. I also bedded the face in a splooge of Boat lIfe. It works great, holds bottom at all speeds.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

Considering all of the above comments, another further question I have is do you guys think a shoot thru the hull will read up to and over 1k feet?

Reading the deep is the main reason I bought an expensive finder.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

While I like my finder for what I use it for, if deep water is your interest, I would definitely mount your ducer as a thru-hull. I think it's the only way to go for that apllication.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

A good friend of mine just bought a new 30' Grady. Last weekend we were in 3000' of water and his fishfinder lost the bottom at about 2300' All of his electronics are Furuno. Not sure about the specifics of his transducer (I think its a 10000 kw) but it is a shoot thru.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

I am pretty sure that after around 2,000+ that is a limitation of ff and ducers in gerenal (at least the ones that i have seen)

I mean at that point what's the difference between 2,000 and 3,000 feet (most people fishing these waters would have GPS contour maps that showed them this)? For example, I don't think that i am going to be wrecjk fishing at this depth.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

I can't help you there, never been deeper than 300 ft.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

Apparently it's not as uncommon as one might think. After countless problems with Airmar shoot-thru transducers, a friend who is a member of this site recommended simply putting the transom 'ducer in the bilge. Long story short: it works perfectly! Mine isn't even bolted down to anything, just sitting there happily in the bilge reading away. I do lose bottom at 1,000' or so but it's just a Garmin 320C and I don't hear that many people reading 2500' with that model anyhow. Truth be told, I rarely fish much deeper than 600' so it's somewhat of a moot point.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

I have a 582 also and bought a M260 Airmar shoot thru and it is awesome, you would love the combo

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

Eagle- I currently run a new model thruhull transducer built by airmar- it is a tilted element transducer which allows it to flush mount on the bottom of the boat (only sticks down about 1/8") which gives you depth and temperature. The transducer is tilted inside the housing at a degree of either 20 or 12 degrees depending on which model you order. I have the 20 degree 600 watt, which was all that was available when I put it in in January 07, but now they have a 1000 watt model. The bottom step of a 23' is exactly 20 degrees, so it works out perfectly. With my 600 watt, I read at speeds up to 40 knots, and so far have read good bottom up to 2300 feet, I had to turn the gain up to get 2300 feet, but it read bottom well. At 1800 feet swordfishing the other night, I didn't have to touch the adjustments. I am using a Raymarine C120 with the DSM300 sounder module. The transducer cost me approximately 245$. It comes with instructions which give you an arrow to point toward the keel for proper orientation.