Anyone install in-boat transducer for Garmin?

[gamoooos]

I've had my Maxum 1900 SC for a few weeks, and where I boat (Long Island Sound), there's a ton of randomly shallow areas, and in other areas there's rocks.
I have my boat sitting in a dock/slip, and honestly don't want to deal with the hassle of taking it out of the water and spending $800 to get a Garmin unit installed at this time. Has anyone tried to install the transducer inside the boat (all the way in the back by the engine?) I know there might be some signal loss, ...etc. but I'm wondering if I should give that a try until the Fall when I take the boat out of the water.

Thoughts?

[jimq26]

You would have to ensure there is only solid fibreglass where you plan to locate the in-hull transducer. The signal will not travel through wood, or any trapped air bubbles.


Fill a poly bag with water and put the transducer in it. Move it around the general area you are planning to mount it to ensure it works in that location. Mark the location and prepare a circle of a waterproof flexible sealant as a dam. Mix up some SLOW curing epoxy, and fill the area with it. Drop in the transducer and keep it in place as the epoxy cures. Slow cure epoxy when carefully mixed will not have any air bubbles.


I forgot to mention that you must carefully sand the area where you plan to locate the transducer. Here's a good link - https://support.norcrossmarine.com/h...-Illustrations

[gamoooos]

I'm rethinking the entire value proposition here. I'm testing out Navionics with an old iPad I have, and thinking between the app, and the built-in depth finder on my boat, maybe I don't need the Garmin.... Testing things out right now.

[shrew]

There are three types of transducers:

Through-Hull
Shoot Through Hull
Externally mounted.

You can't install a through-hull without drilling a hole. A Shoot Through hull doesn't require a hole, but will require some installation considerations. Externally mounted screws into the transom and you see them alot on small boats.

None of them are going to prevent you from hitting rocks or grounding in 'random' shallow areas. The transducer is in the stern. By the time you're notified of an issue, you've hit it. They are great at giving you information to compare against the charts and GPS for an additional navigation tool.