bowmount transducer question

[RIVERRUNNER]

Does the transducer mounted on an elec moter work well or are their any problems, such as; air bubbles,losin off orlose signal and have to be powered up and set up again? thanks for any feedback

[REW]

In general, most transducers on electric motors -- will get intereference readings at some point of motor speed, and or depth range and or sensitivity setting on the depth finder. Many of these problems can be minimized by changing depth ranges or slightly tweaking the gain settings on the depth finder.

One of the depth finder companies (Pinpoint) have done a marvelous job of combining a trolling motor - depth finder - and depth finder transducer in such a way -- that they don't have any interference on the screen - with any setting of either trolling motor or depth finder. However, you will find this to be very rare -- for most situations of "typical" depth finders and "typical" trolling motors.

In any event, if you do have a bow mounted trolling motor -- even if you are considering mounting a depth finder transducer on your trolling motor so that you can see front - back differences on the lake - with respect to each end of your boat: also install a transducer on the stern of your boat for your bow moutned depth finder. If you are like most of us -- ther will be a very large amount of time indeed -- when someone is fishing in the front of the boat -- and the trolling motor is not in the water. Many many drifting as well as other fishing options mean that the bow mounted trolling motor is never in the water. For those times -- and there will be many -- it is very nice to have depth and fish information readily availble to the bow fishing person.

Also, when going across the water -- driving from a cnsole steering wheel -- it is very nice indeed to either look over or through the windshield and obtain bottom information from the bow mounted depth finder. The nice thing about doing this is that the driver is typically having his eyes on the horizon. With the bow mounted depth finder, the typical driver, in his typical positon - with the typical mount of the bow mounted deth finder -- can observe the horizon and the depth finder at the same time -- and thus not lose track of surroundins as he is obtianing bottom information.

In most cases, the driver needs to take his eyes off the horizon, if he is to interrogate the console mounted depth finder - when travling across the lake. This leaving of the horizon to obtain navigation information from a console mounted depth finder can lead to serious accident.

Take care and enjoy.

REW

[BILL]

I SOLVED THIS PROBLEM MOUNTING A 2" THICK BLOCK OF OAK ON THE FRONT LEFT SIDE OF THE BOAT. THIS BLOCK HAS A 13/16"" DIA. HOLE THRU IT. I MOUNT THE TRANSDUCER TO THE END OF A 3/4" DOWELL AND USE PLASTIC TIES TO HOLD THE CABLE AGAINST THE DOWELL. I SLIDE THE 3/4" DOWELL THRU THIS HOLE UNTILL THE TRANSDUCER IS JUST INTO THE WATER WHEN I'M IN THE BACK OF THE BOAT. THIS WAY IT'S PLENTY DEEP WHEN I'M IN THE FRONT. I NOTCHED THE DOWELL AT THAT POINT AND MADE A LITTLE SLIDE BAR THAT LOCKS THE DOWELL IN THIS POSITION. NOW I DON'T HAVE TO DROP THE TROLLING MOTOR ALL THE TIME AND TAKE THE CHANCE OF POWERING UP AND BREAKING SOMETHING IF THE TROLLING MOTOR IS FORGOTEN. WITH THE DOWELL YOU JUST POWER UP AND GO TO THE NEXT SPOT WHEN YOU STOP THE TRANSDUCER GOES BACK INTO THE WATER AND YOU ARE IN BUSNINESS. I FISH ALL DAY AND NEVER LIFT THE DRANSDUCER UP UNLESS IT'S ROUGH WATER THEN I JUST LIFT IT VERTICLY TO A HIGHER NOTCH AND RECLAMP IT. IT'S CHEAP AND EASY TO MAKE. GOOD LUCK.

[AquaMan]

Trolling motor mounted transducers are very common for the bow section sonar screens. There are two types of transducers that you can use. Lowrance, Eagle, Hummingbird and several others make a trolling motor puck style transducer that have a concaved top that conforms to the motor body. They also offer a kit that allows a skimmer style transducer to be fitted as well.

I have found that, if you cut a piece of inner tube rubber and fit it between the puck style transducer and the motor body, you can virtually eliminate all motor vibration or electrical feedback. Use a hose clamp to attach the puck to the motor body and you're all set. Be sure to allow enough slack in the cable to avoid pinching or cutting the cable when you deploy or store the trolling motor. Remember that the distance from the bow to the puck is different when the motor is up versus down. Use cable ties to keep the cable from getting near the scissor action of most bow mount brackets. This should give you a good reading all the time.

However, I have found that a through-hull setup works best and creates less issue with cable clutter and convenience. It is hard to store all the cables above deck in the motor mount method and if you run it under deck to the screen, you will run into issues when you want to remove the bow mount motor. The tranducer and calbe must be removed from the motor first since or you fish the cable back out of the hull. (Make sence? I might not have covered that clearly.)

I posted instructions for through hull installation under the "Autopilot Bow Mounts Systems +/-" post.




AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.·´¯° --- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[RIVERRUNNER]

THANKS for the info!! still curios about having to reset finder when you pull up the moter drive up a drift they put down Do you need to reset the unit.THANKS AGAIN GOOD LUCK GOOD FISHIN

[AquaMan]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-28-01 AT 03:52PM (CST)[p]Not sure what you mean. Reset what part? Slow down, give better detail and check spelling. It would be helpful in reading your posts.

Everything should remain set when deploying your trolling motor as well as pulling from the water. Of course the depthfinder will not work unless the trolling motor is in the water. The sonar screen should reset it self when you turn it on and off. Turn it off when you pull the motor up to run to the next spot. If you keep the motor pointed in the direction of travel, you can drift or even back troll with the trolling motor in the water and keep the sonar running >>>>DO NOT forget to pull the trollong motor out of the water before you take off with the main motor. Been there, done that. $$$$$$$

If you are refering to the setup after removing your trolling motor entirely from the boat, then setup is required depending how you have run the cable to the transducer. That is why I recommend setting up a through hull transducer since each time you remove the trolling motor you will have to either remove the cable and transducer from the motor or pull the cable from the sonar. And, if you have fished the cable throughout the boat, then it needs to be pulled out each time. A real pain in the ...!

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.·´¯° --- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[RIVERRUNNER]

NICE SPELLING ,sorry guys,still currios about have to reset the settings every time you take the trolling moter in & out of the water. thanks again

[AquaMan]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-28-01 AT 04:52PM (CST)[p]There should not be any resetting required. Do you have to reset your depth finder every time you put your boat in the water? You should just have to turn it on. It is the same thing with the bow mount. Just deploy the trolling motor, turn on your depthfinder and away you go. When you pull the motor out, you can leave the depthfinder on if you are just running a short distance and when you put the motor back in the water, it should read like it did before you moved.


AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.·´¯° --- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"