Transducer mount??

tonto · 17 September 2012, 17:01

When I took the boat out for the 1st time, I noticed that the Echo Sounder would only work when the boat was stopped completely.

i took a pic of the problem, the transducer was installed by a "Professional" contracted by the previous owner!

I am thinking of pulling it off and mounting it in the bilge well.

martini · 17 September 2012, 17:07

That's made my day that has, hilarious!!

Sent from my portable speaking device using Rib.net

wavelength · 17 September 2012, 17:08

silicon it onto the drain well floor...make sure no bubbles. If ya want to try it first just put the transducer in the well and praps weight it down a bit or wedge it and then try it out. But you need to put a loada water in the well to cover the transducer face whatever angle the boat maybe at.

C2 RIBS · 17 September 2012, 18:25

We have transom mounts and all are at the bottom and they can be affected by water flow but they do need to be fixed down low, not up high

jezza2011 · 17 September 2012, 19:09

Dont silicone it. use epoxy resin as silicone wont give you a good signal as it absorbs the sound waves.

wavelength · 17 September 2012, 19:54

Quote:

Dont silicone it. use epoxy resin as silicone wont give you a good signal as it absorbs the sound waves.

well thats theory. And its what the manuals say but:
I dont do theory !!
From far too many years of time spent boating globally.
I'm giving you the real world experience.
It works absolutely fine. Less messy and much more easily removed esp if you make a !*!* up of it and leave an air bubble in or put it in what you find subsequently is an inconvenient place. Or you want to sell the boat and keep the sounder. Epoxy it and its there for ever.
All our boat angling club boats have been fixed like this for years with no problem, and they use their boats here and in Scotland and Ireland relying on the sounders for new fishing marks.
My training boat(s) have all been so fixed and the sounders still work faultlessly at full speed.

tonto · 17 September 2012, 20:04

Thanks guys,

I will mount it in the well, have done a search and seen other posts on it, so am happy to go for it.

I will prob silicon it in to find the best place, and see if it works, and after that probably epoxy it in, as I doubt I will be selling the boat for a while, as I really really like it

Thought it might give a few people a giggle though.

Gary

viking61 · 17 September 2012, 22:01

I have the same issue but discounted the well as there is a void between the floor of the well and the hull , thought this would be a problem , what am i missing ? Was thinking i would have to mount under the floor ( involves cutting ) on the hull ? I have a Ribtec 585 .
Any pointers gratefully taken on board ... literally !

jezza2011 · 17 September 2012, 22:44

I have a ribtec 535.
the sump on mine is the outer hull or at least doent have any air void.
Transducer sits in the well and just works through the hull.
Epoxied in and one good tap to remove and replace if needed. did when I got my new sounder

Bucksribster · 17 September 2012, 23:18

Not sure if you saw the thread where I had a similar problem with a depth and speed transducer. With some advice from rubber, the problem was cured by mounting it lower on the transom.

If you are going internal, on yachts they fill the well with cooking oil to get a good transmission between transducer and hull. Really !

wavelength · 18 September 2012, 06:26

seafarer transducers were recommended to be in an oil filled tube in the good old days. It was never neccesary as we found when the oil ran out and we put water in instead.

Quote:

Epoxied in and one good tap to remove and replace if needed

Fine. I've epoxied them myself in the early days. The issue I had was the assertion that silicon would basically cock it up.
Each to their own. On my fishing boats transducer just sat loose in the well and we threw a bucket of water in there each trip. Worked fine. Not neat and tidy but it did the job. A good bodge job

It wont work if there is a void, the sounder needs to be against a surface with the sea touching the other side of the surface. The original pic was a humber, no void usually...at least not intentionally-an unintentional bubble in the construction would be an unlucky problem.

BogMonster · 18 September 2012, 09:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavelength

well thats theory. And its what the manuals say but:
I dont do theory !!
From far too many years of time spent boating globally.
I'm giving you the real world experience.
It works absolutely fine. Less messy and much more easily removed esp if you make a !*!* up of it and leave an air bubble in or put it in what you find subsequently is an inconvenient place. Or you want to sell the boat and keep the sounder. Epoxy it and its there for ever.
All our boat angling club boats have been fixed like this for years with no problem, and they use their boats here and in Scotland and Ireland relying on the sounders for new fishing marks.
My training boat(s) have all been so fixed and the sounders still work faultlessly at full speed.

Amen, mine is siliconed inside the hull void now and works far better than the original "proper" through hull mount with funny antifreeze stuff in

The original photo is brilliant

Hightower · 18 September 2012, 12:47

If you are unsure if an area inside the hull is suitable for mounting a transducer you can try putting it in a bag of water and move it about the hull to find the best position/signal. Once found you can use the usual methods of fixing it in place.

nik · 18 September 2012, 17:34

I siliconed mine into the bilge, it worked fine.
It also has the advantage that if you want to move it, you are less likely to damage it when getting it out.