The Beast Arrived

[Sharphooks]

I went through a lot of nail biting about punching a hole through the bottom of my boat and sticking a transducer in the hole. Was leaning towards a transom mount but couldn't make it work because of the trim tab placement.

Then I read somewhere that all you're really doing is replacing the fiberglass with a chunk of stainless steel or bronze.... it's not a hole....

That tamed the anxiety....well, a bit, anyway.

It's a beast---Airmar SS264W (25 degrees @ 1Kw) I'll get some screen shots as soon as I get out the drill and go to work. It's going to pipe its pings into a Furuno 587

It's the type of marine hardware that once installed, you refer to as a "leverright" --- as in "leave her right there"....

 

[profisher]

I bought a 1kw bronze thru hull and mounted it on a 2 part adjustable (up and down) custom mount setup on the transom. When I'm on plane I keep it tucked up behind the transom out of the water and use my other sounder with the skimmer transducer if I need a depth reading. Once I arrive to fish I drop the 1kw down a foot so it is below the hull. The results are a strong signal and no drilling into the bottom of the hull.

 

[tykkyt e blue]

Please let us know your results... I'm dying for an excuse to upgrade my transducer.
Great idea PF!

 

[Birdsnest]

Me too. It was a big nail biter for me cutting huge holes in the bottom of my new weldcraft but if want a hassle free transducer it's the way to go. Reads depth on the fly too up to 300 feet. You will not be disappointed. No more frayed cables, or pushing the damn unit back down or having it broke off. Maintenance free!! Easy to replace too. You will never go back to an exterior. BUT transducers will shoot through fibreglass no problem as long as there is no air or foam sand or metal to shoot through. I did this with my last glass boat. Just used. The exterior transducer set in a puddle of epoxy in my bulge. Worked just fine. Actually better then mounted outside for it would read on the fly up to 3 or 4 hundred feet.

what was worse for me was cutting the holes in the bow for the bow lights. Yikes!!

 

[steel_dreamin]

Good deal.

I have a TM 260 feeding a FCV 587. We'll have to compare notes.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on performance.

 

[Sharphooks]

Good deal.

I have a TM 260 feeding a FCV 587. We'll have to compare notes.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on performance.

hey steel_dreamin---

I have an in-hull M260 feeding a DFF1 which is basically a blackbox 585/587. It won't track my gear unless I'm in a total slack tide hanging directly over the downrigger ball. Maybe a transom mount( TM260) would have given better results? I found that the 6 degree beam of the 200 Kw side makes it a great tool for holding bottom in 300 M of water going 30 knots but a bit useless for DR fishing----maybe you've had better results?

That's part of the reason I bit the bullet for a 25 degree beam --- hoping for more of a fishing tool. I'm also mounting it on the extreme port side of my boat---directly through the port aft sponson. That will basically shoot straight down from under the rail my Scotty's mounted on.

I was originally going to pick up a 200 Kw SS264W but Airmar just did an across the board recall on the 200's. Ended up getting the 50 Kw instead. I'll report back once I get some screen shots

 

[Finished Business]

from what I've been told in-hull tranducers do not work as well on aluminum boats due to electrical interference of the metal....any truth to that?

 

[profisher]

I prefer to keep the beam out of the way of the cannonballs on the rigger. I don't see any need to have an annoying line on my sceen showing me where my lines are as I already know where they are. I prefer a clear screen to show me where the fish are. I would rethink that plan..you may be having to turn down your gain to reduce how much you see that cannonball.

 

[reelfast]

i was headed in the same direction but waited for the Miami show. Ray introduced the 'dragon fly' so i am taking a different path. this is the first application of chirp i have seen that is focused on fishing. should have the install later this month.

 

[Gypseas]

I didn't think you could use an "in hull" in aluminum boats. I got a through hull and works ok. Holds bottom at cruise but for some reason shows more fish arches while cruising than when trolling. FCV 620 600w ducer. Straight from Furuno tech support was told 1kw may be a little overkill for waters I fish in.

from what I've been told in-hull tranducers do not work as well on aluminum boats due to electrical interference of the metal....any truth to that?

 

[Slabby20]

I bought a 1kw bronze thru hull and mounted it on a 2 part adjustable (up and down) custom mount setup on the transom. When I'm on plane I keep it tucked up behind the transom out of the water and use my other sounder with the skimmer transducer if I need a depth reading. Once I arrive to fish I drop the 1kw down a foot so it is below the hull. The results are a strong signal and no drilling into the bottom of the hull.

I like the idea of the custom transom mount set up. Do you have photo you could post?

 

[profisher]

If I can't find one that I have already I will take a shot of it today and post. I'm just charging the batteries on all cameras as I type this as I have a trip in the morning. I'll do the description now and send the pic later. Basically a piece of stainless tube that has a mounting flange welded to it that attaches it to the transom with 4 stainless 1/4 screws. Another longer stainless tube slides up and down inside of the outer one, just like a Scotty downrigger boom. I had a stainless nut welded to the outer tube and a hole drilled through the outer tube behind he nut. I use a Scotty swivel base mounting bolt (with the plastic grip) as the locking device....when screwed down it squeezes/locks the inner tube tight. I had a piece of stainless rod welded onto the top of the inner pipe for a handle for raising and lowering. On the bottom of the inner pipe is a bracket to allow mounting of the transducer. The transducer cable runs up through the inside of the inner pipe (for protection) and out the top. There is enough slack in the cable to allow full up and down trave before it goes into a thru hull fitting above the transom and up to the sounder.

 

[profisher]

Here are the pics...it is in the up position.

 

[Aces]

Ingenius, Rolly. Nice

 

[Sharphooks]

Slicker then slick, Profisher, although it looks like it's not the type of installation you'd want to forget to retract out of the water before changing fishing spots or heading back to the dock?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm not seeing a break-away fitting to protect the transducer head or the stainless tube if you hit a piece of driftwood

Airmar makes a retractable bracket that has a break-away foot--- well thought-out design but the cost is in nose bleed territory

 

[profisher]

The only time it is below the hull is at trolling speeds....I don't use that sounder for high speed bottom tracking. It is exclusively my fish finding sounder. I have forgotten a few times to lift it when I first installed it on the boat. It is really beefy so it can take it. Not hard to tell right away you forgot to lift it as I get air bubbles into my main's prop causing cavitation.

 

[Rockfish]

I didn't think you could use an "in hull" in aluminum boats. I got a through hull and works ok. Holds bottom at cruise but for some reason shows more fish arches while cruising than when trolling. FCV 620 600w ducer. Straight from Furuno tech support was told 1kw may be a little overkill for waters I fish in.

Could be wrong, but I recall something of the same. Something about the use of at least some/if not all alloy "In hulls" (whole in the boat below the waterline) on Aluminum boats because of electrolysis leading to corrosion and erosion of the fitting/hull, leading to failure and swimming and a difficult conversation with your insurance company.. Again, could be wrong, never paid a lot of attention to it as my hull, accept for the pod is glass.

 

[Birdsnest]

Could be wrong, but I recall something of the same. Something about the use of at least some/if not all alloy in hulls on Aluminum boats because of electrolysis leading to corrosion and erosion of the fitting/hull, leading to failure and swimming and a difficult conversation with your insurance company.. Again, could be wrong, never paid a lot of attention to it as my hull, accept for the pod is glass.

I have have a through hull on my aluminum boat for 5 years. I changed the transducer out last year ant the was no indication of corrosion. It is plastic. Anytime you contact different aloys with some electrical field you will get corrosion.

typed on iPhone. Pftt

 

[fshnfnatic]

If I can't find one that I have already I will take a shot of it today and post. I'm just charging the batteries on all cameras as I type this as I have a trip in the morning. I'll do the description now and send the pic later. Basically a piece of stainless tube that has a mounting flange welded to it that attaches it to the transom with 4 stainless 1/4 screws. Another longer stainless tube slides up and down inside of the outer one, just like a Scotty downrigger boom. I had a stainless nut welded to the outer tube and a hole drilled through the outer tube behind he nut. I use a Scotty swivel base mounting bolt (with the plastic grip) as the locking device....when screwed down it squeezes/locks the inner tube tight. I had a piece of stainless rod welded onto the top of the inner pipe for a handle for raising and lowering. On the bottom of the inner pipe is a bracket to allow mounting of the transducer. The transducer cable runs up through the inside of the inner pipe (for protection) and out the top. There is enough slack in the cable to allow full up and down trave before it goes into a thru hull fitting above the transom and up to the sounder.

That's a great innovation,profisher.I'm thinking about an upgrade to the sounder soon,and I think this is the way to go.
Is that an airmar transducer as well?

 

[profisher]

Yes it is.