Depth transducer

[yellowdog]

I need to put a depth meter on my Horizon Cat. I, for right now, sail on the Mississippi River where the bottom contour is ever changing and variable. I'm afraid a transom mounted transducer will not work because of the turbulance.  Has anyone found a good product to use and a fairly simple way to install it?

[kobo]

Yellow Dog,

I installed a Hawkeye Depth meter with a "In Hull" Transducer. It works great. The installe is easy and the people who sell Hawkeye products are very helpful. They can solve any problem you might have. If you go this route let me know and I will save you time looking for the proper place to put the In Hull transducer for maximum performance in your Horizon Cat. How long have you had your boat?

Capt Mike (AKA Kobo)

[yellowdog]

Sorry, Kobo, for not getting back promptly. I was hoping not to do an in hull but rather a thru hull (less work plus I have this thing about drilling holes in a perfectly good hull). I looked at the Hawkeye units but have been thinking of getting a Hummingbird GPS/ Depth combo. My reasoning being I want to do this job only once so any future upgrading would be done and the Hummingbird would give a better picture of the bottom make up for the river and smaller lakes we mostly will be sailing on. Where did you place your transducer and where did you mount your display?
I have hull #37 and I have only test sailed it last November. I kept it in a heated building this winter and refinished the teak using Teak Guard (appears to be an excellent product. Time will tell.). Do to an endless winter and flooding on the Mississippi River, I have not had the pleasure of sailing it on our home waters. But soon, very soon, I hope.

[jerryd]

Hi YellowDog,
The former owner of my Horizon installed a Standard Horizon (no relation) depth sounder and it works fine.  I think you want an in-hull installation.  There are optional installations but mine uses the in-hull version where the transducer is mounted on the inside of the hull sitting in a waterbox.  With my installation, an opening was made in  the floor of the head section on the starboard side.  This floor section is hinged and acts as a hatchway to service the transducer.  When closed it is nearly invisible.  The owner's manual warns that this installation may degrade the performance inside a fiberglass hull but it works fine for me as long as you add water periodically to the waterbox AND no hole in the hull! 

[wes]

Others may (will) disagree, but I have no hesitancy recommending a through-hull transponder installation. My Standard Horizon DS-45 has a through-hull installed by a PO around 20 years ago, bedded in 3M 5200, and I believe the hull would have to be shattered into small pieces before that thing would even leak, let alone fall out. I gamely attempted without success to remove and re-bed it, on the theory that even 5200 doesn't last forever, but I given up hope of ever getting it out - it's essentially part of the hull now.

- Wes

[yellowdog]

Thanks for the info and the correction. I think I will pursue the Hummingbird unit with an in hull transducer. I was reading some posts I found under the "Sun Cat" category and they were discussing using in hull transducers with silicone instead of a water box. They reported that it works so I'll put the transducer up under the head and the control/ screen back by the wheel. I'll let you know if it works. The 500 series Hummingbird almost seems a little extreme but , hey, you have to have something sophisticated on such a simple boat. I can sell the Admiral on it by telling her "it's so we won't get lost". lol

[kobo]

Yellow Dog.

I can't believe  I said thru hull. Mine is an in hull. I don't like drilling holes in my hull either. You should at least go on line and look at the Haweye. Either way the in-hull is the best and the only trick is locating the best place where the transducer is to placed. The Haweye has an off set setting where you can compensate for the distance from where the transducer is located to the bottom of the keel. So that you get the actual depth below the keel.