Depth Sounder

[Mundaysj]

Hello,

The depth finder on Blond Ambition has not worked since I bought her and I am planning on replacing it this winter.  Uniden has a model with an In-hull transducer.  This sounds like a good idea as I don't see any point in putting any thru hulls if it is not neccessary. 
Does anyone have any recommendations as far as placement?   Also does anyone know if the Uniden is decent quality or should I be looking at any other manufacturer?

Thanks,
Sherie

[kchunk]

Hi Sherie. An in-hull or shoot-thru or epoxy-the-transducer-to-the-inside-of-the-hull is the best way to go (I can't recall the nomenclature at the moment). However, consider the possibility of installing a chartplotter in the future. Many chartplotters have an option for a sounder. The one I have has a sounder and in fact, I mounted the chartplotter in the hole where the depth guage used to be.

What I'm getting at is mounting the transducer on the inside of the hull is good,  but your $$$ might be better spent on a chartplotter instead.

My transducer is mounted in the v-berth, just forward of the bulkhead, on the starboard side. It was relatively easy to get the wire back to the instrument. And mounting the transducer is much easier then it used to be.  Before, you had to bed the transducer in a puddle of epoxy. Nowadays, you silicone a cup to the hull and fill the cup with mineral oil and mount the transducer within the cup. The oil acts as a couplant for the transducer. The cup and the transducer have beveled edges so you can be sure to mount the transducer pointing straight down even if the angle of the hull is not. Works great.

--Greg

[kchunk]

Hi there David. I'm not saying mount the x-ducer in a glob of silicone. The transducer I installed came with the mounting cup and instructions to mount the cup with silicone. I dont see why one couldn't mount the transducer in silicone but you said NOT to with enough authority I'll take your word for it.

As I type this, I'm outback smoking a nice Churchill and have a Yuengling on tap. All things being the same, I'd rather be on the hook right now.

--Greg 

[kchunk]

It's funny. I've often referred to my best memories as "milestones" in my life. For such a brief time we spent together such a large milestone was planted. Every time we went down to the Keys Sarah always asked, "Will Kit be there?"

We towed Ohana back last week. It was a tough departure but some great memories thanks to you guys!

By the way, we're back on Lake Monroe for now. If you're planning a trip south Lake Monroe is at the bottom of the St Johns river. You can launch from Jacksonville and sail south down the river...we'll meet you on the way down.

--Greg

[sun17cat]

I used the Uniden on my SunCat with the shoot thru the hull transducer and it works great. If you use epoxy you have to use the slow drying kind so you won't get air bubbles. Be sure you have room to get a scraper under it if you ever have to remove it. I did not have room to do this so I used the wax of a toilet ring and wedged the transducer into it making sure I twisted it as I pushed it down. Works and will be easy to remove.

Jim

[HideAway]

Sherie

I've been trying to find a good depth finder for HideAway as well.  You want a  in hull transducer - not a through hull - that's the one you have to cut a hole in the hull.  I've been told by a trusted source not to mount a transom mount transducer as an in hull.   Some of the in hull transducers adjust to the rise of the hull so you can put them on the side of the hull rather than at the bottom of the hull.  For me it solves the problem of removing the water tank under the v berth  and cleaning out the sand that has accumulated there.  How sand got there is another mystery!


On another post I've aired my concerns about ordering from Sail net, however the product they had sounds like the right one.  Pardon the caps here  UNIDEN QT206HP BLK W ADJ IN-HL IN DASH DIGITAL DEP QT206HP.  I wanted a black one - thus the BLK - in the part number.   I understand the depth finder is usually wired to the start switch on the engine.  Since I don't have one I plan to box the display unit and put a switch on the side.  Otherwise the unit would be on all the time.

Its still too hot in these parts to be crawling around under a v berth so I haven't ordered it yet but will soon.    Any comments about that particular finder would be most welcome -- Matt

[Craig Weis]

Skip went through the hull with 2~2" dia drilled holes using a rented hole saw from Ace Hardware. Got it back so quick that they did not even charge me the rent $'s. The pics are of course in Frappr. Everybody knows my boat's instruments. Never a problem.

[mrb]

Hi Sheri

I've had good luck with a using a transom mount transducer as a in hull.  I would recommend doing mount with boat in the water where you know the depth.  After picking out a couple of possible mount sites ( stay away from keel, areas where hull has a pronounced curve and try to locate a site as far as forward as possible )  put a glob of Vaseline on face of transducer, press into place then turn unit on and check reading. If you hear unit clicking you probably have air bubbles between transducer and hull, try repositioning and test again.  You will loose a little sensitivity due to diff. in hull conductivity and water but not really enough to worry about.

After you find a site where you want to make a permanent mount I would again suggest mounting transducer in a liquid such as mineral oil or water in such a manner which transducer can move like a pendulum. ( When transducer is fastend down permanently it will read one depth withboat on even keel.  When boat is sailed heeled over hard you will get a reading of greater depth as signal is being shot off at an angle, increasing as heel increases. 

As for Uniden no comment as I have no experience with their depth sounders.
Fair winds, Melvin

[brackish]

Sherie,

I have a Raymarine ST-40 bi data depth and speed with thru hull transducer and impeller that was already installed on the boat when I got it.  It works great.  Some thoughts:

If it wasn't already there, I would just put a little more into my recently installed GPS chart plotter and have it all.  For about the cost of the ST-40 bi data I could add a "black box fish finder" to mine and get not only depth but rolling bottom contour, fish finder, and much more.

I have no aversion to the thru hull's, my last boat had the same ST-40 rig for the 16 years I owned it without any problems.  I think it is currently still working for the current owner (twelve more years) so great durability.  If I were racing, no thru hulls to create any drag, but I'm not.

My last boat stayed in the water year round and the speed impeller thru hull offered great excitement when I took it out with the boat in the water and put the plug on the threaded stub.  This to keep the impeller from fouling.  I used to do it when the boat wasn't going to be used for a month or greater when the water was too cold to clean it.  Great fun down below the forward cabin bunks getting it out and capped before any substantial amount of water came in and hoping I didn't fumble.  An operation best done fully sober.

I will admit it is nice having that very large display for depth when you are picking your way through shoal areas as I often did with my last boat and surely will with the 23.  Not sure my GPS display with a 5" shared data screen could be seen as well.  If you decided to go with the GPS chartplotter with depth transducer, you might check the display size for the depth reading or if it has a full screen repeater feature.  Since I already had the ST 40 Bi Data, and I added a gps chartplotter I can view both course and depth in very large scale.

Good idea to make sure that what you get has a shallow water audible you can hear over the motor, seas and wind.

Frank

[doug]

Sherie,

I installed a Uniden In-hull spring of 2008 and I have been very happy with it. It does seem to lose the bottom at depths greater than 65 or so feet, but I haven't been worried about that. While installing the transponder in front of the keel is best, i installed mine in back of the keel on the port side of the craft near the center line. While my new boat has many holes cut though it, I couldn't see cutting the hole in my 16.

PS I got my unit from Defender and saved significant $$ even after paying for shipping.. Don't know if the pricing is still the same a couple of years later.

[Craig Weis]

The Raymarine ST-40 unit with the Raymarine Chartplotter mounted above.

Great planning and pain was put into the project so no holes or wiring showed on the inside of the cabin.
If I had more $$'s I would have purchased a Raymarine ST-60 with there 'Sea Talk' and the chartplotter and the two instruments projecting thru the hull would be able to 'talk' to each other.

Note the compuss is mounted on a teak ring to pull that away from the cabin far enough so no hole inside the cabin was needed.
The wiring for the red light inside the compuss is tied into the navigation lights and the wiring was twisted in a shop vice with an electric drill real tight so that the wiring does not effect the compus reading.
And the compus is mounted opposite side of the 'heavy' electric consumables. Again so these don't influence the reading.

I should say as well that he ST-40 unit speed has been adjusted to read the same as the chartplotter/GPS speed. So now the nautical miles and totalizing nautical miles are 'spot-on'. And a piece of scrap teak was fitted to the stern pulpit for mounting the ship's bell, nice and solid.

You'll see two Harken jam cleats facing backwards for the head sail sheet. But this turned out to be a bad move on my part. I never use them. They slip.

When I bough Comfort & Joy, she had no stern pulpit and the flag staff coveres the hole in the cockpit combing that the stern light had made. The stern light I moved up to the mounting plate welded into the stern pulpit and the wiring is contained within the stern pulpit tube.

I also installed the stanchions, life lines and the blue cushions.