Marine Electronics Forum - Is it possible to get a bottom reading in a skiff?

I have a Garmin 541s on my 226 Bayrider skiff. What do I have to do to be able to keep a bottom reading at speeds above 5 mph. I have tried all angles, verticle and lateral positions to no avail. Since I fish in skinny water, I need to know when the bottom is coming up, (Pamlico Sound). Can I mount the transducer in the bilge in the stern of the boat or somewhere else to be rid of the cavitation. Or do I have to accept the fact that it is a flat bottom boat and only be able to keep bottom at slow speeds in calm water?

You use a B117 ( flush thru hull ) since you are basically flat bottomed.

Hopefully Semper Fi will confirm that this is true; I've recently read that for a standard rotation, right rotation wheel, the transducer should be mounted on the starboard side to minimize interference.

A flat bottom skiff is a b***h to get a good bottom reading on plane. The nature of the bottom traps air all the way back to the transom. A hull with a deadrise sheds the air. The most success I've had is to lower the 'ducer beyond what would normally be the mounting area to get to clean water.

You may have already tried this but manually turning down the gain on the transducer and setting it to the 200hz (maybe 50) frequency from the dual, helps the reading in shallow water.

Even when doing this I have a hard time getting my Garmin to read in under 1.5 - 1.8 ft of water, so not sure what you mean by shallow. In deeper water it reads up to 50mph, although mine isnt a flat bottom. I have a transducer mounted in my pocket tunnel and it work a little better than the in hull shoot through one (not a thru hull fitting) that I have as well.