I’m about to take the plunge and buy a hardcore riverboat with a jet pump. Obviously with a boat like this a conventionally mounted transducer wouldnt last very long. Does anyone make a fish finder with a through hull transducer that would penetrate .200 thick aluminum hull?
Hoping Wade might chime in on this one as well 
Check out Vexilar’s alumaducer…. designed for thru-hull installations on aluminum hulls.
I checked for you and found this on the alumaducer…
“Shoots directly thru aluminum hulls up to .150″ thick!”
Sounds like you might experience signal loss going through a hull that thick.
I would check with the folks at Airmar, 603-673-9570. They know more about transducers than anyone in the industry. I generally defer to Lowrance or Airmar for thru-hull questions. It can get a little tricky. We mostly see it done in fiberglass boats. The thicker the hull, the less effective the sonar will be. For aluminum, I think they generally do the ol’ hole-in-the-boat method rather than shoot-thru-hull.
The other issue is generally one of poor installation.
You might also call Kevin Turner at RiverPro boats, 636-797-2628 and ask him about standard transducer installation on a jet boat. He should know…
By the way, most Lowrance, Garmin, Humminbird, and Raymarine units will offer several options in transducers, depending on your needs.
I was typing my response when James was posting. That’s a good idea that I didn’t think of. Give Vex a call and see what they think…
Here’s the Alumaducer .
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Him and I discussed this yesterday on the River while chasing bronzies
Did he say if anyone uses transom mount transducers on his rigs? Or just thru-hull?
You know, I would think that you’d be okay with a transom-mounted transducer on a RiverPro boat. As long as you mount the transducer so the bottom of the transducer is perfectly flush with the bottom of the boat it should stay fairly well protected. Just a thought…
When you are doing 30 mph across 4 inches of water why do you need to know the depth
Ron
Hey Guys,
For what it is worth, my family has a River Pro on the Mississippi in Anoka, we use the alumaducer from vexilar with our lowrance X-52, and it works awesome, good quality readings and no worries in the skinny stuff. Any questions let me know.
Good Luck in your quest!!
Lakeskipper
Quote:
Hey Guys,
For what it is worth, my family has a River Pro on the Mississippi in Anoka, we use the alumaducer from vexilar with our lowrance X-52, and it works awesome, good quality readings and no worries in the skinny stuff. Any questions let me know.Good Luck in your quest!!
Lakeskipper
That’s good info. Alvinmack, you can see the alumaducer in the link above. They have a list of the different adapters need for various fishfinders on the description page.
Alvinmack5,
We purchased the alumaducer through Kevin Turner when we purchased our boat. He mounted it, and his partner in crime Sherry ordered the adapter from vexilar for us. Although, like you I was skeptical and had a very informative talk with a vexilar rep. They were very helpful, told me all about the transducer and then let me know what parts I would need to make it work. I was very impressed with both companies, Riverpro and vexilar.
As far as signal loss, I have not noticed any, although we fish very shallow here. When it gets under 6″, the X-52 starts to freak out a little, but resets itself to normal operation when it gets deeper. Very happy with the whole set up. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Good Luck,
Lakeskipper
Mike, I must have mis-spoke about the thru hull ‘ducer. It seems to work well with my standard .190 hull, but will not work with the additional .250 Skid plate.
BTW, The boat your are buying already has the alumaducer in it!
Lakeskipper, Glad to hear you & the boat are doing well. Keep me posted…KT
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