Thanks for the great info... next time. I didn't actually set it "in stone"
until I tried it. I tried to get it as center line as possible, but tried to
avoid right over the keel.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Jere Lull wrote:
In article ,
"JG" wrote:


Interesting. I used a piece of PVC pipe slightly larger than the sensor.
I cut the PVC at a slight angle, so it would sit flush against the side
of the bilge, then epoxied it in place so it would hold fluid. I put the
sensor on another piece of PVC with a small groove on it and the pipe so
it would stay in the right orientation, put in the oil, then put the
sensor/piece combo in, and put a cap on (unglued). The cap keeps the
mineral oil from sloshing out.


A number of people on the Tanzer list simply caulked glued the transducer
to the hull. Doesn't have to be straight up and down, just a good, solid
connection.

I did that with my last boat and would not hesitate to do it again. Since
the newer fishfinders are pretty sensitive, the minor loss of power
doesn't affect them much. In fact, the old Apelco 260 glued inside the
hull was a bit more reliable than the newer 262 mounted though the hull -
the new one needs the sensitivity backed off at times or it focuses on
powerboat wakes more than the bottom. Still, a FF is much better than a
simple digital sounder.

Even if you plan to mount one of those fluid chambers, or drill a hole,
its worth trying it simply glued on to make sure you have a good spot.
Sometimes a sounder will unexpectedly see the keel or rudder, etc.

Some people get confused about the tilted transducer, thinking it will
give false reading due to the off-axis geometry. However, the sounder
will respond to the first returned echo, which will be the shortest path
and the true depth - not counting weird effects or fish, of course. The
problem with being tilted is that the strength is reduced off-axis. This
is not a problem at 5 degrees, but a narrow hull may only have a mounting
spot at a steep angle. Since such a hull probably heels more, its
conceivable that the sensor could be almost horizontal on one tack - not a
good thing. One should consider the beam width of a candidate unit - they
are different, and some have multiple frequencies which have different
beam widths.