Finder/ Transducer Mounting

[riponfisherman]

Over winter a bought a 1992 Ebbtide Dynatrak bass boat. It did not have a finder mounted on the console, only one on the bow mounted to the trolling motor. I bought a Lowrance M52 GPS/chartplotter to put on the dash that would read from the rear of the boat. The only problem is that im not quit sure how to mount the transducer. The boat has a 150hp so I need it to be able to read at high speeds, which would indicate mounting it inside the hull, but I would also like it to be more accurate and would like the temperature reading to work when im bass fishing. What would be the best way to go about this? Would it work to buy a cheaper finder like a Lowrance X-4 and mount that in hull to read while driving and then switch to the M52 mounted on the transom when fishing? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have 2 pics of the transom attached.

 

[flightdoc]

Re: Finder/ Transducer Mounting

Not to sure about your lowance but I have a hummingbird finder that has the possibility of hooking up a speed wheel. Not super accurate but it is within 1-2 MPH of my GPS so it does the job for me. Just an idea.

 

[riponfisherman]

Re: Finder/ Transducer Mounting

The boat speedo works and the unit has GPS which tells speed, im more concerned about depth/terrain an temp reading at high speeds.

 

[etracer68]

Re: Finder/ Transducer Mounting

At any speed, by the time you read it, it will be gone. At low idel speed you can turn back around, and find the spot again, at high speed, good luck.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Finder/ Transducer Mounting

Get inside about 4-6" ahead of the transom near the centerline (keel if it had one). Ensure that you have solid FG, and not a glass/balsa/glass hull. We are dealing with an acoustic device so you want a solid connection between the transducer and the water. Think about a boat going by with your head out of the water and in it. Noise is much more enhanced with your head under water due to the solid nature of the water (doesn't compress and attenuate the sound like air).....same thing applies to what you are doing.

Thoroughly degrease and rough up the spot you have chosen to mount it and do the same for the bottom of the transducer. Mount with epoxy so that you will get a hard interface. No bubbles are best, but a few should go unnoticed, in the epoxy....stirring carefully will help to prevent them and there are epoxies on the market that don't bubble up much.

Get a solid layer of glue on the hull and prep the transducer with a coating and stick her down.

Regardless of your speed, this is about the quietest place in the boat.

I currently can run right at 50 and read the bottom. Yes there is some interference (looks like a lotta fish), but the bottom is still recordable. Checking temp, on my boat, it is easy to read the one in the boat and the same unit (2 finders) mounted to the trolling motor-motor and 2 degrees difference is what I get. If the boat sits for a few minutes at rest, they are almost identical....gotta give the hull a couple of minutes to adjust to the new water temp.

HTH,

Mark