Losing the bottom at speed question

Got the boat out yesterday for the first time since mounting the Mega 12 SI. My only issue was losing the bottom at 30 mph or over. I’m very confident in proper mounting of the transducer so I am curious if this is typical of the all in one SI transducer?

On my Helix 10 SI I could read 2D at 20-25 mph. Never tried DI or SI. On my new boat with a Helix 12 SI the riggers put the transducer behind a string of rivets so I couldn’t even read 2D. I had them move it before putting the boat in storage so I’ll have to wait and see. They said they usually mount a high speed transducer for reading 2D. I know others have said you can get it to read SI so I’m hopeful.

I was losing mine until I tilted it down more

SI ducers are mounted high and are out or nearly out of the water on plane. My units are networked so I switch to my non SI ducer for running.

carnivore wrote:

SI ducers are mounted high and are out or nearly out of the water on plane. My units are networked so I switch to my non SI ducer for running.

Just curious, I assume that you have to manually go in and switch transducers back and forth every time?

Dave,
I’ve always had to run 2 SI ducers a left and a right because I have an I/O drive. My lower unit sets too close the the boat and Shields the signal. These are connected with a Y cable. Then because I always lost bottom when I would be in a little rougher water or travel over a wake I had to install a singular hi so=peed ducer for bottom contact. This is installed after the previous Y with another Y then to the graft. This has solved most all of my issues with my birds. I’ve had the 789csi (the very first SI unit available) then replaced with 998 and 1198 and now replaced once again with the 2 Solix G2’s I have on the boat.

You CAN get it to read at higher speeds. What a lot of people will do however, is run the si transducer a little higher to avoid the transducer getting hit by debris/ice at faster speeds (expensive). Also alot easier to get a small 2d transducer to read at higher speeds. They will then run a y cable dongle and attach to a separate 2d high-speed ducer. No need to switch between transducers as the dongle connects the corresponding transducer type to the unit.

30 mph seems very good to me. Finely got mine back up to reading in the low 20s. Happy with that. Figured I dont want to be running water of unknown depths any faster than that. Might try raising the transducer to get better readings but mark where its at now first. Dont want to loose how good it is now.

Thanks guys! Doing some research, it seems to be a common issue. I was curious if it was truly my installation or limitation of the transducer.

If your 2D is good to 30, check your DI. It may surprise you. My DI prints bottom to 44, or as fast as I can go.

I must have mine setup pretty close to perfect. I only lose bottom if I try trim to get every bit out of it and then I sometimes will lose bottom at about 57 MPH. I can’t afford to run too long at that speed.

With the y- cable installed for high speed ducer and si ducer they filter out what is needed or not need so it’s automatic, no need to go into menu to switch ducers. My last two boats were set up this way and work perfect. This allows you to keep the si up a bit for protection and you can have the high speed down in the water farther.