Depth Finder Location

[ZRX]

I HAVE A ALLISON XR2001 RIVER RACER AND WANT TO PUT A THRU THE HULL DEPTH FINDER ON IT. WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE TO PUT THE TRANSDUCER???? WILL IT WORK ON THE PAD? THANKS!!!!!:confused:

[BenKeith]

Before glueing it down, I would get some putty or something and make me small area that would hold water, place the transducer in it and try it. You loose sinsitivity shooting through the hull, if there are any air pockets in the hull between the transducer and the water, it may not work at all. The best place to mount it is some place where the hull is the thinist, but if that's on an angle you will need to make sure you can get the transducer pointing straight down. I would aslo try it at speed, you may have a problem with loosing the signal at higher speeds because of the loss of sensitivity, plus the fact if it's not a real good one, the processor may be too slow to give you a reading at much over 70 mph. There is also the chance the hull vibration will create harmonics the will drive the depth finder bonkers, causing all kinds of spurious signals.. Just some things to to check out before glueing it down, they usually don't come back up once the glue sets.

[ZRX]

thanks for the info! I was wondering if I could shoot it thru the pad? on the pad (i belive) it is cored with foam? will this work? I fnot where else could i put it?

[Miss Isle]

I had a old "Bomber" bass boat that had a flasher style depth gauge on it and it shot through the hull right at the transom. This thing worked great. I set it with a fairly wide light band and used it to show average depth when running full out. Usually you can gauge the channel of a river with this, when you see the wide orange light creeping up, turn back into the channel. It won's save you from a dike though. I wish I had the room in my dash to put another in my Hydrostream Voyager.

[BenKeith]

If the pad has a foam core and is not solid, it's probably not going to work. Like I suggested, make you a area that will hold water, set the transducer in it and try it before you glue it in. If you have a small bowl that has a flat bottom, set it in a wet spot so there's no air trapped under the bowl, fill the bowl with water, set the tranducer in that to try it. If you don't bounce the boat too much so the bowl will stay in place, that will work.
You can use the trolling motor puck style transducer if you can find an area that shoots straight down, if not, they make some that have a swivel mount that lets you mount on an angle but they are a little on the pricey side.

Another thing to think about, if your's is like most Alli's, the pad is going to be the only thing in the water when it's running flat out so you may not have any other options. If where ever it's mounted looses contact with the water, it's not going to give a reading.

I would think some of the Alli bass boat guys could give you some help on that.