Hey Guys,
Using a 16' jonboat and wondering where the best place to mount the transducer at. I was thinking about putting it in the boat at the rear by the moter. Will it read through the hull? trying to keep it from getting knocked aroung by stumps.

You can buy a removeable mount that clamps onto the transom at the rear of the boat. I have seen these in Bass Pro Shops Marine catalog. With a flat bottom you will need to make the transducer stick out a little bit deeper under the boat to get into smoother water flow..........I would try midway between the motor and side of the boat first, and between any "ribs" that might be under the boat bottom.

BassinBufford,

Look at the installation instructions that came with your depth sounder. Usually they have some good general rules to go by such as:
�It is very important to locate the transducer in an area which is relatively free of turbulent water. As a boat moves through the water, turbulence is generated by the weight of the boat, and the thrust of the propeller(s). This turbulent water is normally confined to areas immediately aft of ribs, strakes or rows of rivets on the bottom of the boat, and in the immediate area of the propeller(s).�

Unless you have a fiberglass (and some plastic) jonboat it will be hit-and-miss as to whether the transducer will work when mounted inside the hull. Officially we (Humminbird) say that it won�t work but the truth is that it will work but only sometimes. There is a lot of signal loss even if it does work and since the thickness and alloys used in aluminum jonboats varies; it would be hard to design a transducer for this without it being expensive. I have had a few fishermen who have installed their transducer inside the hull of their aluminum boat and were happy with the result but I have heard from more that weren�t. Now there is a company that markets a transducer that they claim will work (Radarsonics - http://www.radarsonics.com/) that produces a transducer (�AlumaDucer�) that they claim will work through an aluminum boat hull. I have not tested one so cannot offer any more information than that.


Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com

Do you have a Trolling Motor?
I had a Bass Buster and put it there!

I use an Alumaducer in my aluminum Tracker hull. Works great.