Transducer Location on Hurricane 211

angler1

Hello,

Have a 2003 Hurricane GS 211 with 225 Yamaha outboard.  I primarily use the boat for fishing in water lakes and rivers.  I just purchased a fancy Humminbird Side Scan fish finder for it this season.  The side scan tranducer is larger than most tranducers and if mounted in the typical transom location (starbord side left of boarding ladder) the lower unit of the engine looks like it will be in the path of the side scan when trimmed in.

I would like to set this up in an optimum way and I am considering using one of Humminbird's fancy through hull transducers (yes drill a hole).  I am considering mounting this through hull in the step area, center of the boat, directly in front of the lower engine unit, directly above the drain plug.  This would make a nice clean install, be safely tucked up in the step.  An alternate location might be towards the starboard, but still in the step.

My questions are, has any one done this?  Are there any comments about this location?  Although I would be off plane and slow cruising/trolling when using the fish finder, do you think this step would be completely out of the water on plane (i.e. I would lose my down depth readings on plane). 

Any comments appreciated.  Thanks 

FlyingV5

Yes, sort of. I once had a 16ft. Deckboat (brand name in those days) and installed a forward transducer inside the hull. I wanted to "see" stumps before the prop got there at low speed. I cut a hole in the upper deck inside the center console, and dug the foam out to reach the bottom. Sanded and cleaned the fiberglass and poured the keel rib full of Marine-tex epoxy to get a level surface, then glued the transducer down. It worked great with. You need to have solid fiberglass, no bubbles and no wood between transducer and water. A selector switch in the dash let me switch my old time flashing Humminbird to the transom mount at speeds when the forward sensor came out of the water. Now I want to see how you do this because I am thinking of the same thing for my FD196OB. I already bent the prop cruising slow and hitting a submerged floater. Could have throttled back if I had the forward sensor. Please let us hear what you end up doing.

cjjjdeck

Very cool fish finder.  When you go with through hull transducers for side imaging, they usually use two separately mounted transducers, one on the starboard side and the other on the port (so two holes). Also, they are usually set up for a boat that has a standard v-hull deadrise of about 20 degrees, so with a Hurricane you would probably need to use leveling blocks to compensate for the deadrise angle.

Or maybe Humminbird has some newer technology design I'm not familiar with.

camphooters

My Garmin 740s transducer is in the same place and it works great!! 

angler1

camphooter - same place?  center of the step in front of the engine?  Great to hear.  It looks like a great spot.  Do you have 211 or which boat?

angler1

I'd like to bring this post alive again and get some more feeback before I drill a hole in my boat.  Again, I have a 2003 GS 211.  I want to drill a hole and mount a hummingbird through hull side imaging transducer in the step area, directly behind the drain plug and directly in front of the engine lower unit.  It will fit perfectly here.

However, I have received some feeback on Humminbirds forum's that sometimes mounting a transducer in front the lower unit can change water flow to the prop or produce cavitation bubbles...causing prop spin out or water intake problems.  The general consensus is that this should work fine, up in the step area which would mostly be out of the water on plane, but recommendations have been made to keep asking this question on the manufacturers site (this Hurricane owners forum).  Has any one done this on a 211, 231, or any boat.  See picture above so you can see where I want to mount it.

Any feedback much appreciated.  Thanks

angler1

Oh..and to cjjjdeck's note above - yes these are single transducers that shoot both directions to the side and down.  Only need one transducer for side imaging both sides.

cjjjdeck

Ain't technology great!  That makes it much easier.

jakemac

Can I ask you @camphooters when you run at speed above idle did you get a good reading? Thinking of mounting my helix 7 ducer in the same spot? The old ducer was much more starboard and worked great at trolling speed but anything above that sucked.