thru hull of drift boat

[DWiseman]

Since I want a drift boat to do double duty by also fishng still water for kokanee by trolling deep with gear, I'd like to mount on a fish finder. Since the transducer mounted to outside the hull would be unwise for river fishing, I thought it might be able to be mounted inside.

Perhaps someone here has some experience with this that I could learn from.

Does shooting through fiberglass cause any problems?

What would be best position - middle of boat?

[BFK]

If your boat is fiberglass, then you should be OK, as long as you find a position where you're shooting through fiberglass only. Some boats, not necessarily drift boats, use wood internally for stiffness--generally end-grain balsa. I'm guessing that's not the case.

You want the transducer to shoot straight down, and in the middle somewhere is your best option because of the rocker. You'll need to find a spot where the transducer can be mounted with silicone or something similar. You don't want air trapped under it, because that's what keeps sonar from working well. You can also epoxy it in place, but that's pretty permanent. You can make a small well using something like a short section of PVC pipe and filling that with iiquid...the idea again is to exclude air.

Unless you're going to use the depthfinder when you're river fishing, it might be a better idea to get a clamp on bracket to hold the transducer. A bracket will be your only real choice for an aluminum boat. For a wooden or other composite boat, you would need to cut a hole in the bottom of the boat for the transducer to shoot through and build a fiberglass plug for the hole.

Good luck and have fun with it.

[fatguide]

I have a drift boat also. I use a portable transducer that suction cups to the side. The suction cup holds very well as I have to slide it off to un stick it. Even if you do not buy a portable fish finder you can get the portable transducer as an add on.

[zeelander]

Not sure if this helps at all or not but I have a FF rigged shoot through on my kayak. The kayak is made of a polyethylene plastic and I still gets a crystal clear picture on the FF.

As far as mounting the transducer goes, to have it non-permanent you can go the route I use on my kayaks. I mount them using a kids pool noodle and some marine Goop. I cut the noodle perpendicularly and trace the outline of the transducer on one side. I cut through the noodle just inside those lines. A tight fit is important. I then Goop the foam to the bottom of the kayak. When it's time to fish I fill the small void w/ water and squeeze the transducer in until water bubbles out.

Z

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/gallery/62_03_12_07_12_44_52.jpg

[Mike Monsos]

I used plummers putty to test the transducer position on a fiberglass tru hull installation(did not cut a hole in the hull). It worked well enough to just leave it as it was as it was below deck level inside the engine compartment.
Mike

[EHB86]

This suggestion may be a bit late to the party, but here it is anyway. You can get a good result through a fiberglass hull by making a nice mound of silicone putty on the inside of the hull at the point you want the transducer. Then, just slowly wiggle the transducer down and into it, so that it forces out any air bubbles in the silicone. Then leave it to dry. You will have as good a picture as shooting through liquid.

[bfic]

I've seen a fiberglass drift boats that had a piece of plastic tube (PVC or CPVC?) bonded inside the hull against the floor. It was mounted verticallly. against one of the seat pedestals. When in use the tube was filled partially with water and the transducer was just dropped in. Obviously the tube needs to be water tight and you could add a plug to drain the water from the tube when not in use. I saw this in an older model boat in the Lavro yard in Monroe. If you gave them a visit he may be able help.

Personally I still use a clamp on Fishin Buddy portable on my aluminum boat. They find the bottom well but with a 9 degree cone they don't cover much area. The side finder work O.K. and battery life is reasonable.