Losing sonar readout when underway

When I get underway I lose sonar contact with the bottom once I'm up on plane and underway.

Tried tweaking the transducer at the back of the boat but can't get it to give me sonar returns when underway-anything I can do
about it?

Post a picture of your transducer installation.

Don't know how to post pictures-I'm 70.

What brand of electronics are you using?

Lowrance.

Is it a side/down scan transducer mounted outside the transom?

Probably nothing you can do except add a shoot thru hull transducer, and hope for the best.. On a standard bass boat installation, the transom-mounted transducer is either above or just skimming the surface when on plane. Even many "thru-hull" mounts are just off the pad. I only keep bottom until I hit about 45-55 mph and am at 3/4-full trim and i have both transom and thru-hull mounts. Now, i do have Raymarine units that have an imperfect network identity.....

I know I heard Aaron Martens using side imaging at 25 mph, never understood how to get it setup to work at speed...

Set it on the transom sticking down about an 1/8 of an inch below the pad. Mine reads at high speeds very good.

Nice, I wondered if that would work but I never did that thinking that it would cause too much turbulence in the water below the pad and not get a reading.

It means it's time to trim up and haul azz.

I can only get a depth reading at an idle. When I get on plane my graph shows nothing.

di/si ducers will not read above about 6-7 mph. get a thru hull and put it as far back in the bilge as possible.

I would have to see that for real. I would never take anyone's word for that.

EJ, mine works well at speeds up to about 35 mph. This is not my boat. If you mount it too close to the center of the pad like this one it will get too much air bubble interference and cause bad readings/loss of bottom signal.

My transducer is mounted off to the starboard side about a foot from this. At low speeds under 35 or so there is more of the pad in the water so you can mount the transducer off to the side a bit. That keeps it in cleaner water for a better reading.

KD,
what brand of boat do you have? Have you checked with the boat mfg. where they recommend mounting the transducer? We all know what the issue is, the transducer loses contact with solid water.. too much air between the 'ducer and the surface of the water. You just need to find the sweet spot where you maintain contact with the water.

Good Luck
BD

Awesome.

35mph.....Ken isn't that your idle speed? LOL

This is correct. My guess is the transducer on kIrdydog's boat is just a hair too high and is not touching the water once he is on plane. If there is any cavitation (air bubbles) once he is up and running it will not read properly.

The one in the pic I posted above may read okay but that close to the pad will scrub 2-3 mph off your topend speed. Also it can interfere with the water flow coming off the pad to the prop and cause handling issues, kind of like the motor mount issue, but we know how much drama that post caused.

This may not be noticeable on a 60 mph boat but when you start pushing the envelope of the upper end of your boat's performance it can have an adverse effect. I don't know too many guys that want to do anything to lose top speed on their boats for no good reason.

If you mount it about a foot to the right, it does two things. It keeps the water to the prop "cleaner" thereby allowing your prop to run more efficiently with less slip. It also allows it to read up to 30-40 mph. Once your speed increases and the strakes on the hull start to lift the boat as you trim up, that portion of the pad may not be in the water causing you to lose your reading.

Anything hanging below the bottom of the pad will scrub speed off your boat. That may not matter to some.

This is the probably why we say, "When my boat was new it would run 78 mph but now it'll only do 70" It is because we have hung 2 transducers, 80# of Talons, added a 4th battery, put an 80# trolling motor on the bow, and cram 200# of soft plastics in the front compartments.