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Depth Finders

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karagreg

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Anyone have recommendations for a depth finder? I need one to keep me from getting into water that is too shallow.

What type is best? The kind that are permanently attached to the boat or the kind that hangs on the side of the boat?

Thanks!
 
I would say for ease of installation you should just get one of the round ones that you can put in the dash. They are 2 1/8" in diameter. You can epoxy the transducer to the floor of the boat under the storage compartment and don't have to run it all the way to the back. Not to mention there is no drilling holes that need to be sealed up. Hummnbird has a nice one for $100 on ebay. Just type in humminbird depth finder. My boat had one on it already but the transducer got kicked off in the back. I think thats a poor place to mount that part of it.
 
I have the same boat as you and just installed the hummingbird depth finder this past weekend. I drilled a 2" hole next to the fuel gauge. We had to make a quick modification to the back bracket that holds it in place but over all it was very easy.

I ran the transducer back so it will be epoxied just in front of the intake next to the bilge pump. I tested it this weekend without glueing it in place just to ensure this spot will work. I was getting accurate readings while on plane.

To get the wire for the transducer to the back I tied a piece of string to a flexible thin fiberglass pole. I used the pole found on the orange flags used for kids bikes. It is about five feet long and flexible. I was able to wiggle and maneuver it from the front(through the front seat back rest) to the back of the boat running the string along the port side. I then tied the end of the transducer cable to the string and pulled it back through. It was alot easier than I thought it would be.

Hope this helps. Oh in also bought the 'silver' bezel to match the other dials in the boat. It was an extra $10 but looks great with the white face on the depth finder.
 
I've had terrible luck with that Humminbird unit...

I installed their model 610 (I think it was). The first transducer didn't read above about 20 MPH. I got a second transducer (too risky trying to remove the first one after epoxying it down) and relocated it. Things improved, but now this year (less than one year later) it doesn't matter which transducer I use - stable readings vanish above 20 MPH.

I'm thinking about moving to a new unit from a different manufacturer, but I'm running out of good places to glue down the transducers.

Caveat emptor!
 
I also have the Hummingbird unit with externally mounted transducer. Mine does not read at speed either and just flashes... I think the turbulance causes it to not read. Seems fine at low speed.
 
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I also have the Hummingbird unit with exteranlly mounted transducer. Mine does not read at speed either and just flashes... I think the turbulance causes it to not read. Seems fine at low speed.

I have the through-hull, glue-down transducers, so it sounds like the fault lies with the electronics in the gauge itself. Perhaps a poor firmware algorithm.
 
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