Mounting a transducer in a glass boat

I was wondering if anyone here has experience with mounting a transducer inside on the bottom (of course) of a glass boat?

Can I use my Lowarnce skimmer type transducer?

Am pretty sure Vexilar ( in Bloomington) has a kit for what you are asking about, and also an adapter to attach their kit to just about any electronics you may have, it would be worth a call.
Biggest thing is there can be no gaps or air bubbles between the tranducer and the boat bottom.

Jack..

Hmm…can you attach tranducer in an aluminium boat??? If not, why? Is it the metal screws with the sonar waves?

The puck that Vexilar sells for in-hull installation is made for an aluminum boat. I didn’t realize you could use this in a glass boat as well.

Here is a link to Vexilars kit A.C.E

Cool to know it works for fiberglass too

Chris

I did it on my Yar-Craft. Worked well for the 5 years I ran the boat. Get the big tube of marine silicone sealant. (The big one you put in a calking gun) Clean the surface completely and make sure it dry. Squirt in about a half of the tube makeing sure you apply the silicone slowly and in one big even glob, non bubbles. Then press in the ducer until its aboout 1/8 inch to the surface. Let dry for several days before you turn on the locator.

-J.

i run a x15 in my 2025 pro-v and have the transducer mounted on the outside of the hull. my friend that i fish alot with has that same unit on a glass boat with the transducer glassed in the hull. there is a difference in reception of the units. what i mean is hooks and bait balls show up on mine and not on his when we are right next to each other. also his bow unit, a x18 with the transducer mounted on the trolling motor, will show hooks and bait and the x15 won’t. we have adjusted it and still not as good of reception as mine or the bow unit. imo i think it does make a difference. with all the new bigger units, maybe not so much. but with the x15’s in a glass boat, i would mount it on the transom………..tom fellegy

BTW he has bought a new transducer to mount on the transom.

OK. Are u saying that it is possible for me to mount a shoot thru transducer on the inside hull of the lund fisherman? If so, I am going to do it!!!

http://www.lowrance.com/Tutorials/transducerguide.asp

I just went to Lowrance and they did not say that it could be mounted in an alumimium boat. So can we or can we not do it?

In the link that you just posted was this information:

Quote:

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<< Shoot-Thru-Hull Mount

In this installation, the transducer is bonded to the inside of the hull with epoxy. Ideally, the transducer is placed in the aft third of the hull close to the centerline. The signal “shoots through” the hull with some loss of signal strength. This installation must be made in an area of the hull that is made from solid fiberglass, with no air bubbles or separated layers. If the hull is of multi-layer or “sandwich” construction, you will have to remove the inner layer of fiberglass and the wood or foam core to expose the outer layer of the hull. This type of mount is recommended only with 192 or 200 kHz transducers.

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In a link I posted previously to Vexilars website you can buy the kit to do it.

So, if I understand your question then yes you can mount a transducer to the inside of a fiberglass OR aluminum boat.

Chris

Like Jack said earlier though, make sure there are no air pockets/bubbles in the epoxy.

Wow. I found what you were talking about at Vexilar. Seems that only the vexilar transducer is best for aluminium. Check it out and also check out their video on installation. Looks easy except that for me, I got it do it thru an inspection hole. Sigh.

http://www.vexilar.com/products/alumaducer.html

http://www.vexilar.com/help/alumaducer_install/alumaducer_install.html

Sounds like fun to me! Good luck

I know I’m crazy, but I bit the bullet and drilled a couple holes and mounted a plate on the back for the transducer to be skimmer mounted. I did a lot of research, and no matter how you look at it, you lose senstivity shooting though the hull, and I’m not willing to give that up. No regrets, not yet anyways and yeah it was really hard to do to my new boat I get bottom reading at 55 mph (gps).

I found that most people reccomended a slow drying epoxy that should elminate air bubbles. and you can use the skimmer transducers, never really got anyone to say the puck transducer were actually any better.

Bring her over, it’s much easier to drill into someone else boat

I guess for me I was torn with the same questions. On my 621 I didn’t want holes but I didn’t want it mounted internally. In the end I sanded a patch on the transom and custom made 2 plastic mounting boards. Using Marine epoxy I stuck the boards to the sanded spot and they have worked flawless. I can change ducers without additional holes and no leaks. I imagine if you really wanted to be able to remove things you could use some 3M 5200 and try to stick the baords on with that as well, then just pull it off if you wanted, on a 50 MPH boat it may not hold though and in my case that means the ducer is going to be prop bait. Just another option…