"frank1492" wrote
Because the boat will have to be pulled ($150) in order to remove
the transducer (from the bottom), which would make total of $300, I am
looking at other options. Most obvious is to buy a new complete unit,
display and transducer. I'd like your opinion on a couple of points,
however, before I go that route.
(1) Some of these have "in-hull" transducers which are simply
epoxyed to the inside the hull. If these are accurate, they sound
appealing. Your thoughts?
Frank - These work fine, so long as you can find a good spot to mount them -
A "good spot", is one that is relatively flat, has no core material (i.e. is
solid fibreglass) and is clear of external items that could give a false
echo (keel, prop shaft etc). You can install any transducer this way, but
the more powerful ones work better. They can be epoxied in or can be
installed in a "water" box - usually a piece of ABS pipe epoxied to the hull
containing a small amount of a suitable fluid (Castor Oil works well - water
evaporates). One way to find a "good spot" is to put the transducer in a
Zipock bag full of water and then move it around until you get a good
reading. You could even buy the Datamarine transducer and install it this
way until you get a chance to haul out, but a complete new unit may be a
better bet.
Thes links provide more detail:
http://www.tomneale.com/tips13.html
http://www.tacktick.com/products/use...pthAdaptor.pdf
and to show you are not alone:
http://continuouswave.com/maintenance-logs/newDS/
Regarding a fish finder - By all means - some of them are quite reasonable
and they provide a lot more information that a basic sounder. Perhaps going
this way would not cost much more than the DMI transducer?
I have used them, but never owned one, but if you buy from a reputable
company you should be fine - check reviews on google.
If you want to go really cheap , you can buy small dash mounted sounders for
a reasonable price and I believe they work quite well:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J10325C6D
What would be interesting, is if the 200Mz transducer that comes with these
units would work with your Datamarine head?
Have Fun!
GBM