Transducers

[Wrist_therapy74]

Opinion on transom verse through the haul transducer. Pros and cons please. I run transom ones now

 

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[dgfidler]

I went with an Airmar B150M thru hull chirp transducer this season. With this transducer, I can clearly mark fish and bait balls while cruising around in the 15-20 mph range. The ability to mark fish while on plane is the 'pro' with this setup. The cons are: transducer resides in a two inch hole in the hull and could contribute to sinking if jarred. It's more expensive than a skimmer transducer. If the transducer fails, it will be very difficult to remove because it's sealed with 5200.
There are people who are very skilled at adjusting a skimmer type transducer to achieve the same results as I have with the thru-hull. I was not successful in doing that so I went with the thru hull and am happy with the decision.




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[spoonfed-1]

Thru hull is better. Especially at running speeds. Have it installed by someone who knows what they are doing. Hank ( L&M ) from this board is a good choice for installation.

[Yankee Troller]

On 10/18/2017 at 10:34 AM, dgfidler said:

I went with an Airmar B150M thru hull chirp transducer this season. With this transducer, I can clearly mark fish and bait balls while cruising around in the 15-20 mph range. The ability to mark fish while on plane is the 'pro' with this setup. The cons are: transducer resides in a two inch hole in the hull and could contribute to sinking if jarred. It's more expensive than a skimmer transducer. If the transducer fails, it will be very difficult to remove because it's sealed with 5200.
There are people who are very skilled at adjusting a skimmer type transducer to achieve the same results as I have with the thru-hull. I was not successful in doing that so I went with the thru hull and am happy with the decision.




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On 10/18/2017 at 9:27 AM, Wrist_therapy74 said:

 

Opinion on transom verse through the haul transducer. Pros and cons please. I run transom ones now

 

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Thru Hull ducer is much better when looking for bait while on plane. You have multiple choices with a thru hull from Airmar. There are flush mount options like an Airmar (B60) and options that utilize a faring block like an Airmar (B45). Honestly, with the thru hull flush mount options out there if you're running a fiberglass boat you SHOULD BE running a thru hull.

 

The only cons with a thru hull is understanding the Pythagorean theorem. For example my thru hull is 20' from the back of my boat. So, my downriggers actually show deeper than they really are on my fish finders. 

 

On 10/18/2017 at 10:34 AM, dgfidler said:

I went with an Airmar B150M thru hull chirp transducer this season. With this transducer, I can clearly mark fish and bait balls while cruising around in the 15-20 mph range. The ability to mark fish while on plane is the 'pro' with this setup. The cons are: transducer resides in a two inch hole in the hull and could contribute to sinking if jarred. It's more expensive than a skimmer transducer. If the transducer fails, it will be very difficult to remove because it's sealed with 5200.
There are people who are very skilled at adjusting a skimmer type transducer to achieve the same results as I have with the thru-hull. I was not successful in doing that so I went with the thru hull and am happy with the decision.




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Should have never used 5200 for that. Like calk/seal, or 4200 is more than enough.

 

I agree bait shows up at 20mph pretty good, but single fish? I'd like to see screen shots of that. At 20mph bait balls are 1/4 the size (or less) that they are trolling at 2-3mph, so that would hold true for fish. I don't understand how you can see fish at 20mph, but I'd love to learn what you're doing to see this.

[dgfidler]

Here a pic at 15mph. In this pic there are still arches but it's shallow water. This works up to about 100fow, but I'll admit you're not going to see individual fish running on plane in 200fow



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[rolmops]

There are 3 possibilities. One is on the stern or as somebody here called it a skimmer. Then there is the through hull which is placing and gluing the transducer on the inside of the hull and sending the signal through the hull. This works for fiberglass boats ,but not for aluminum. And then there is through the hull with a hole drilled in the bottom of the boat and the transducer being in contact with the water. This works for both aluminum and fiberglass boats. But because of the electrolysis reaction of aluminum and bronze or stainless steel for that matter you must use a transducer with a plastic housing for aluminum hulls.

Edited December 31, 2017 by rolmops

[Sk8man]

You have  some good pros for the in hull transducers but you can also get good results with a high quality transom mounted transducer IF it is mounted properly and your hull design is compatible with it. It takes some care, some time, and sometimes multiple adjustments along the way till it is as good as you can get it. I had a transom mounted hard plastic plate installed on my hull with two screws and sealed at the screw holes as well as the back of the plastic with 3M 4200. The plate supports multiple transducers which can be moved around as needed during adjustment or mounting replacements or different transducers on the hull without drilling any more holes in the hull itself. Trandsducer designs (and physical sizes and shapes etc.) change with advancements in technology and when new electronics are installed.This is pretty much a done deal with thru hulls once they are epoxyed and installed. A lot more to the replacement and re-installation when you have a hole in your hull and I think it is something better left to competent professional installers rather than a do it yourself project Airmar as mentioned makes a range of transducers and types for many different applications and they are of high quality and often better than the ones that may come with some units butthey aren't inexpensive either but it is one of those things in life that may be worth the money to save headaches. None of them will work well unless properly installed and usually played with along the way to "optimize" them.

[dgfidler]

Sk8man, you make a good point about Airmar producing a variety of transducers. I was not successful getting the results I wanted from a transom mounted transducer that came with my sonar gps combo, so I go out and spend $300 on an Airmar thru hull chirp transducer and love the results. Does this new transducer work better because it's a thru hull transducer, or is it simply because it's just a better transducer? It's entirely possible the transom mount equivalent (TM150 in this case) would work just as well. One thing I know for sure is that I was never satisfied with the performance of the 'out of the box' 83/200 transducer that came with my old sonar.


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[rolmops]

Airmar makes most of the transducers sold by the other companies. These are usually the cheaper ones. But the best investment is a high end transducer . It makes a huge difference.