Thru hull transducer mounting

[Girl Talk]

Does anyone know what is used between the xducer and the hull. Mine has popped out of place. It's not mechanically fastened....just something that looks like gel but hardens. Also do I now have to scrape the old off before applying more? Thanks for any advice.

[Garett]

I can think of several ways of doing this but this is the one I favor the most, it is also one of the easier ways too.

Depending on what's there now?, I'd be inclinded to clean it up before installing a new collar. To make a collar to size, angles and fit get yourself some putty.
* Tape the transducer in place form the underside of the hull.
* I would put one layer of duct tape on the shaft of the transducer and then a few wraps of wax paper.
* Buy some putty and form the putty into a circle about an inch inch and a half away from the shaft of the transducer (like a moat around the shaft). I would make the walls high enough so that when I poured in a liquid the shallowest depth of this moat would be 1" deep.
* Mix up a batch of epoxy and fill the small moat. Do not use any fillers or thickeners in the epoxy, you want the epoxy to self level, this will allow the bolt to be drawn tight against a flat surface.
* When epoxy is hardened, remove the putty and the transducer. Remove the tape and wax paper. Jobs done.

[charlieft]

Is this a transducer mounted against the inside of the hull and shooting the signal through, or does the transducer fit through a hole in the bottom?
If it's the "shoot through" type then I gather that epoxy is the recommended adhesive. I'll be installing one of these next month.
This web page has some interesting info: http://www.airmar.com/install/install_index.html

-Charlie

[TheBoatGuy]

I have done about ten of these and can give you a little info. I prefer using the 5 minute epoxy for this. It dries a little more brittle and generally you can break the transducer loose if you ever need to. 45 min epoxy works also but is much more difficult to remove.(usually pulls a thin layer of fiberglass up with it). The best way to do this is take some type of a sander and lightly sand a flat spot parellel to the boats bottom. Keeping in mind that the boat will not sit perfectly level in the water and some allowance has to be made for that. It is really a guessing game and thus the reason I use the epoxy can be broken loose. I pour a healthy amount of epoxy on to the spot I have sanded and you work transducer around in little bitty circles to work the air bubbles out of the epoxy. Done correctly the epoxy shouldn't be more than 1/8'' thick after you have worked the air out. This is very much a hit or miss proposition but not as difficult as it sounds provided your bilge is easily accessible. If you fish finder is the type that show an arch for a fish you will know immediately if you mounted it parallel to the water. If your transducer is mounted looking "forward'(back lower than front)
you will see the fist half of the arch for a fish but not the back half. Vice Versa for mounting the transducer with the back to high. When every fish shows a full clean arch you have the transducer mounted properly. I hope this helps......TBG

[Garett]

TBG,

So do you install the shut through while the boat is in the water over fish? How are you getting readings to know that the transducer is properly placed?

[Girl Talk]

Thanks guys! It's a shoot thru so that instruction was great.