new fishfinder xducer question?
 

1978 23 SF CC

I currently run a transom mount and dont like it (grass build up, high speed loss, etc). Does anyone know where I could do a thru hull and be safe from the trailer?

Also how is a shoot thru the hull and where can it be mounted? Drawback is that I wont have speed and temp w/ this set up.

Am I stuck w/ a transom mount again? I guess they are cheaper so Ill live w/ it.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

I mounted a thru-hull Airmar on my 23' CC. You'll never go back! Search this site, there are pics, etc. mail me if you have specifics.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

Eagle,

I have a thru hull on my 23 footer. Currently, it is in the water up in Raritan Bay. In the October/November timeframe I will be pulling it out and bringing it down to LBI. When it is at LBI you are more than welcome to come up and check out the thru hull setup.

Regarding the trailer question, I simply had to spread out the rollers a little so that they would not hit the through hull. Knock on wood (my head), I have not come close to hitting it yet.

Peter

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

I mounted my transom mount in a bed of clear boatlife right next to the keel stringer and the resolution is excellent. Granted I only fish in H2O up to about 80-100 feet, but the fish marks and bait detail on my digital raymarine have been spot on when I've been diamond jigging. I rely on the finder for a lot of my fishing. It was an experiment, but I'm happy with it and it saved me a lot of cash on the ducer and another hole in the hull.
I'm sure I'm not quite at the level of the thru-hull guys, but you might be pleasantly surprised if you shoot one through the hull of a seacraft.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

You're using a regular transom mount transducer as a shoot thru hull and its working ?

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

Yeah-I got a great deal on my f-finder from BOE about a year and a half ago, but it came with a transom mount-I didn't feel like running it out the back so I messed around with it in the bilge-it is mounted about 5-6 feet from the stern right next to the centerline-I just got back from fishing and was marking bluefish and bait like crazy-the screen looks almost identical to the way the screen looks in simulator mode, so I think it must be getting a pretty good signal through that solid seacraft glass :D

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

Amazing- I've never heard of anyone doing that.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

That is very interesting. I have a new furuno 582L and need to buy a xducer so I guess Ill buy a shoot thru the hull.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

Worth a try-
I can't compare it to a thru-hull, which I'm sure would give me more res. on structure, because I haven't seen the same finder with one. If I get a chance to see one I will report back.

Re: new fishfinder xducer question?
 

In mid-late 70/s I had an ancient Apelco/Raytheon flasher/recorder type on my Seafari with the sender mounted in block glued to inside of hull with silicone, about 1' fwd of transom. Worked fine as long as there was water in block between sender and hull. Have heard of the same thing being done using large PVC pipe filled with glycerin. It probably did lose some depth capability as it would not read much over 100' and it was supposed to be good for 60 fathoms. But it was fine for locating the reefs I was looking for, and more reliable than current transom mount that wants to kick up after a high speed run! Have had a tough time getting it tight enough to stop that.

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.