transducer location

I have a DSI transducer to fit to my TI. The most obvious place would be just forward of the centre access hatch (just aft of the rear drive unit) where access is good. It occured to me there might be a problem with turbulence from the drive unit. The other location would be forward of the front drive unit but behind the mast support - access here would be tricky though. Any thoughts or experiences??

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John
2011 Tandem Island
Ocean Kayak Cabo
Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT
Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro

I put mine in your "other" location - just behind the mast.

It works fine except when I get in large chop, me in the rear seat and no one in the front seat, then I will get drop outs in my depth reading. I'm talking conditions where the front third to half of the boat leaves the water going over each large wave. The wife and I went out today in rough conditions to try our new dry gear out, wind was 15 - 20 kts, waves as much as 3 feet and it never missed a beat, though we may have missed a couple .

I don't know how much the unit has to do with it, but its a Garmin GPSMap 441S.


Edit: I put my transducer up front for two reasons - to have it out of the way and to make the depth alarm go off as early as possible. I think the early warning is only a fraction of a second so no big deal moving it as far as that goes. I moved it to under the rear seat and carved out a spot for it in the extra floatation so it is still out of the way. This cures the losing depth reading when sailing solo in rough water.

This shot is from the center hatch looking rearward under the back seat.

I tried in front of mast - lots of noise on sounder

moved to centre - still noise( I sail from rear seat)

Now located directly under rear seat - seems OK here.

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Sail it like you stole it!

Edit above superceded this post

Thanks for the responses chaps. My original plan was to fit a bracket to the rear crossbar to which I would attach a Ram mount as I could not find a suitable flat surface for the Ram mount base. THEN I realised the best place was on the vertical surface behind the net (stowage area). I chose the port side as it has the steering arm near which leaves the stbd side clear for exit and re-entry (spearfishing). From that decision it was easy to work out. The battery (7.2 A/Hr) sits in a small hobby box under the rear seat secured by a bungy attached to the seat post mouldings. The transducer will go just behind the rear drive unit leaving a bit of room for stowage of gear. I'll be using some sort of sealant (not epoxy) so if there are problems from, say, turbulence, then I can reposition it.

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John
2011 Tandem Island
Ocean Kayak Cabo
Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT
Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro

use Selley's all clear. Works as good as, if not better than the Marine goop supplied with fitting kit from Hobie.

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Sail it like you stole it!

I have mine under the rear seat, mounted with marine goop and it has worked flawlessly, even in extreme ocean conditions.
You might also want to consider mounting on rear crossbar with ram mounts. I have been very happy with my setup.

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Steve

Johnno,

Mounting a transducer in the hull is the most convienient. But it can affect temp and depth soundings. And possibly your DSI readings but not sure.

In my case I frequent ocean waters 800 - 1000' + in depth. Moreso, I monitor ocean temps. And so, it was best for me to mount my transducer outside my hull.

I started with mounting my transducer on my rudder for a little while and found it can be difficult to access when clearing tangled lines and misc floatsam. So currently I'm mounting it forward to my seated position and where it can be readily accessible.

Here's my current setup after some lessons learned over a few years. There are more specific mounts for the application; but, it's what I had in storage and adapted it to work. Note, my head unit mount was moved to the left to give me a better clearing when accessing the hatch or the front seat of my TI.



Good luck and let us know your DSI works out. Wished it worked for deeper waters.

cliffs2yak

Well I think I've figured out how to attach pics now, my first attempt follows....
. This is the set up I've settled on, though Steve yours has its' advantages. I have a spare boat compass I'll probably mount on the rear crossbeam.
. This shows the actual mounting with cable outlet (not sealed as I do not expect any leaks).
here is the DSI transducer just aft of the rear drive unit.
this shows the location of the battery box under the rear seat.
and lastly the battery box with the one 7.2A/Hr battery (the hobby box will hold two if necessary).

_________________
John
2011 Tandem Island
Ocean Kayak Cabo
Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT
Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro

OK you got that large square box in there how???

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The Wind Is Your Friend...

IF you're gonna mount your transducer outside your hull then you might take a serious look at Mad frog products. Some nice add-on stuff, especially for a FF and transducer

Love it!

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Yes Frisbee, just had a look at the MadFrog gear, the transducer mount sure is interesting. I set a transducer in sealant in my Scupper Pro Ocean Kayak - it worked fine so I had no hesitation in doing the same on my TI. Actually the unit mount used is from my car mobile assy, Lowrance apparently have an adaptor to suit the Mark/Elite series, last time I enquired it had not yet been released in Australia. Of interest Lowrance have a special scupper mount for their transducers though my first thoughts were of damage to the transducer on grounding as it looks as though it would be proud of the hull.
http://www.lowrance.com/en-nz/About/New ... ng-System/
Re the big box - well it just goes in on its side, followed by the battery!

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John
2011 Tandem Island
Ocean Kayak Cabo
Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT
Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro