Please look at this and tell me if you think the mounting is correct. When we are underway the depth reading does not register. My question is do we need to mount the transducer below the "step" you can see forward of the transducer. this on a Lorance elite 7 HDI
Thank you!

Going to be a lot of turbulance there but I'm not sure under the step will work either. So until someone can answer that really knows.

Thinking I could mount it with the mount facing down on the furthest back flat. that would get it below the forward flat on the bottom.

Another thing to add to Azles post is that the transducer comes out of the water at low speeds. Is this normal? I don't think it is because it stops it from reading water depth.

4 Rods Bwahaha.. any input out there??

Yes, you need the ducer in the water for it to work. On plane, it appears it would be out of the water where you have it mounted.

SE Kansas grass grower

Thank you Fry!

Azle

As Fry said, if you need it to work on-plane it needs to be in the water when planed out - for a skimmer transducer like the HDI one you have, that means about the lower half of the transducer needs to be below the bottom of the hull, and where there is the lowest turbulence. Judging by the pic of your transom, you probably have a transom design similar to mine. If you look to the right of the trailer bunk in view, there is probably a relatively flat area of hull bottom between the trailer bunk on the right side of your pic and the next trailer bunk to its right. If the bottom of the hull in that area has strakes, halfway in between them on the lower transom is a good place to start for finding a low turbulence area. If you tape a straight edge of some sort to the bottom of the hull there (extending out to the rear), the lower half of the transducer body should be below that straight edge, but horizontal - don't tilt it to match the deadrise of the hull. If that is all as clear as mud, I can take a pic of my HDI Skimmer transom mount & post it. My location works great for me, both the 2D sonar crystal and the Downscan imaging crystal in the HDI transducer hold bottom lock to 35 + mph, and I think a lot more for the 2D side, but I haven't tested it out running full speed yet.

Was reading post also having trouble getting readings could you post pic howardh10

Yes Please picture. I really don't want the expense of in hull mounting. Thank you.

Azle

I'll try to get to my shed tonight to cut a pic. The ones I have now were taken in the daytime & didn't work out too well with my cell phone camera.

I put together a set of pics with some info on some of the most important things to consider when mounting a skimmer transducer. I hope it makes sense. Some of the pics are a little blurry where I was holding the phone camera with one hand while trying not to fall over, but you should be able figure out what I'm trying to show. These pics show the HDI Skimmer transducer mount on my Nitro Z-7 RPS (Rapid Planing System)transom, but the principles should apply to most any transom and any skimmer type transducer. Azle, you are using this same transducer, so you should be glad to know that this installation gives me a clean signal on both the DSI and 2D sonar sides at 35-40 mph. I haven't run it fast enough yet to find the point where I get interference or break lock,but so far it's great. Also,I saw your in hull mounting comment - Lowrance says that the DSI signal from your HDI transducer can be "significantly degraded" by mounting the HDI ducer as a shoot-thru installation, so you really should avoid doing that, because that could ruin your ability to generate good HDI sonar displays.











On this last pic, the text says "3-5 deg referenced to --", but the dash is hard to see - wouldn't want you to put a 35 deg downtilt on your transducer!!

Thank you!!

Azle

Howard wins most helpful and informative post of the week right there! Very nice

I have that exact same unit, and have mounted the transducer on a similar spot on my center console. Let me know how it goes. I am having intermittent problems where at times my sonar will stop working and it reads 2.5 feet constantly.