Thru Hull Transducer Mounting

[tj.brooks0317]

Hey everyone,

I currently have the Lowrance Elite 3X fish finder and the transducer it came with. I am trying to streamline everything on my yak. Currently I am running the side arm transducer mount, and although it works great, I am not a fan of the transducer hanging off the side. I am thinking about mounting the transducer inside the hull and mounting my unit on my console. ( Tarpon 120). Has anyone mounted this type of transducer inside the hull and if so

1. How well does it work
2. How do you recommend mounting it?

Any any other recommendations.

Thanks in advance.
TJ


Just to clarify, title can be misleading, I want to mount it inside the hull. No cutting.

[mweber02]

A duct-seal puck works well. I never tried running my transducer in the water, but I don't feel like the impact on sensitivity is noticeable with the duct-seal puck. Temp reading however is not necessarily reliable because it reads the inside hull temp instead of the water. The reading does tend to move closer to the actually water temp the longer you are out though.

Installation is really easy, basically just roll up some Duct-seal and flatten it out to about 1/4". Press the transducer down into it, then roll the edges of the duct-seal up over the transducer to help secure it. Someone here posted a step my step video to assist if needed as well.

I'm not sure if you wanted to completely avoid putting a hole in the hull, but this method does generally require a hole to run the wire through to the FF unless you have a hatch that it can go through and still seal reliably.

[tj.brooks0317]

I'm not opposed drilling holes to run wires through. I've seen some people actually mount to the bottom, which I want to a avoid at all cost. I installed my anchor trolley system and felt a lot better about mounting things above the water level after spending time on the water with it. Thanks for the information. I will search for a duct seal puck!


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[J.A. Veil]

I made a video last winter on installing an FF/GPS in my Slayer Propel 10 using the duct seal method. Although you have a different transducer and kayak, you may get some tips that give you more confidence in making the installation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdT4koUEnik

[tj.brooks0317]

I made a video last winter on installing an FF/GPS in my Slayer Propel 10 using the duct seal method. Although you have a different transducer and kayak, you may get some tips that give you more confidence in making the installation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdT4koUEnik

Awesome video, I certainly learned a lot and will looking to do this during the week. I have the same transducer so the video is perfect. Quick question, do you recommend attaching the transducer on top of the duct-seal or would you recommend doing a well and having the transducer on the bottom of the hull (with nothing in between)?

[J.A. Veil]

A few years ago, several Snaggedline members did liquid-filled well installations. I have always had very good sonar readings using just a puck of duct seal without the liquid. Maybe some of the other can offer their thoughts. I have mounted 4 or 5 transducers as I showed in the video using a duct seat through the hull installation and always had good results -- other than the temperature, which did not matter to me.

One nice thing about the duct seal installation is that it is completely noninvasive to your hull integrity -- if you don't like the way it performs, you can remove it. You would be out just $3 for a bag of duct seal and your time.

[mweber02]

John's video was the one I was thinking of. Good stuff.

I personally tried the wet well with duct seal before I found out about the puck idea. I hated the well. I had horrible interference starting at the surface and extending down through the water column until I lowered the sensitivity significantly. I then also had to remove the wet well before winter because I didnt know how the water freezing would impact the transducer. I switched to the puck out of necessity to fish for winter yellow perch and immediately noticed the difference.

[Mark]

My duct seal puck has been in place since March of this year. In addition to providing very clear sonar and down scan readings, it has held fast.

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[Skidsteer]

I also had a transducer arm and then switched over to duct seal. I noticed some reduction in sensitivity but increasing the operating frequency fixed it. I went up to 800 on the downscan image and 200 on the regular sonar. I rarely use regular sonar though given that kayaks always travel in downscan usable speeds.

[M1A4ME]

I got a couple "squares" of duct seal at Home Depot earlier this year for mounting transducers inside the hull. It turns out that one "square" can probably mount 2 or 3 transducers.

So far the stuff is still soft/flexible/sticky and the transducer is still in place.

If I remember correctly (while using my old water temperature gauge) there was only a couple degrees (F) differences between the two with the inside the hull reading higher. As long as I know the reading is about 2 degrees higher then I'm still pretty close on the "real" temperature.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-B...-110/100212441

[Mark]

For what it's worth, I got a grand tour of my local Home Depot looking for duct seal last spring. Even with the help of a sales person looking on his handheld inventory device it was hard to find. It was in the electrical department on a lower shelf in a cardboard box. So don't despair if you or even the employees cannot immediately find it. It's there. And yes, one block is all you will need and you'll have plenty left over for a transducer on your second kayak.

[J.A. Veil]

Here is what the Duct Seal package looks like.

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[tj.brooks0317]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for helping me on this project. Finally got some time today to put this together. Can't wait to get out on the water tomorrow.


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[DonV]

Here's my setup. After going through the trouble of the wet well and reading all the favorable reviews of the duct seal method, I did kind of doubt if it was worth the work. That being said the transducer is protected well from the cluttered mess my hatch can become as I am jamming things in there and pulling them back out. It's been rock solid. Kayak once slid right of my rack while driving, another bad fall with having it stand on end and just my general abuse of the kayak and it has survived so far, going I think on the fourth year.

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