Transducer relocation (w/ pics)... 2007 Gulfstream - Twins

[Keitha]

Checked one item off my to-do list since I bought my Gulfstream back in September. The Transducer was mounted in a crappy location directly in front of the Starboard motor and too high. Also, as you see in the picture is a water intake directly in front of the old transducer location. Net result is that it would lose it's signal at anything more than a fast non-plaining speed. If I could mark the worst spot on the hull to mount this, that is where they had it.
I relocated the transducer to just on the port side of the drain hole as you can see. I used a Stern Pad Jumbo (similar to the Stern Saver) to mount it to. (amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079DWDDWC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )
I sanded the bottom paint off the hull in that location. The Stern Pad has a very aggressive 3M tape on it that should stand up to the forces exerted on a large transducer like this Airmar, but I still countersunk a good size screw and fastened it right through the middle. This way I only have 1 single hole drilled in the hull instead of the 4 for the transducer mount. I had to fill in and seal the 4 holes left over from the old location - I used West Marine 8200.

The right side bottom of the transducer is just below flush with the bottom of the hull. That leaves the left side of the transducer lower relative to the hull deadrise. It has a very slight forward tilt.
I have not had a chance to test out the new mounted location yet, but will follow up here with a report once I get back on the water again.

 

[Keitha]

Where do you all have your transom mounted Transducers located? Do you get good results?

 

[magicalbill]

I had your exact boat for 10 years. And I mean Exact. Mine was a 2007 with '06 F200's.

I can't sat exactly as I have no pics, but mine was located approx halfway between the stbd engine and the stbd tab. it was an externally mounted "puck" type coupled to an old Humminbird 3004 drilled into the transom. It was located where clean, undisturbed water hit it while the boat was on plane, (this is key) and I got consistent bottom depth readings at any speed. My tech took care to mount it where there were no raw water intakes in it's path forward to disturb the water flow aft.

The only exception was when I had to lower the tabs significantly to compensate for steep head and quartering seas. As I dropped the tabs, the stern would correspondingly rise, causing the transducer puck to break surface. The display would flash on-and-off until conditions allowed me to retract the tabs. Then, the readings were consistent again.

Looking at your pics, if you have clean water flow to your unit, it's far enough down the deadrise slope of your hull that tab deployment may not affect it.

There may be other factors associated with your unit. keep in mind, I'm not a fisherman. I only used that old sounder to keep me out of shallow water. It had no "bells & whistles."

 

[trapper]

Keitha, What power ducer is that, and what sounder are you running? Still in the market looking to replace my ageing units.

 

[Keitha]

I have a Furuno TZT2 sounder going to this 525TID-TMD. The transducer is 1kw.

 

[trapper]

Thanks for that!

 

[Keitha]

Results are in: Night and Day difference. In the old location, the transducer would loose it's signal at any speed over a fast idle. In this new location, I was maintaining bottom at over 30 mph. I couldn't be happier with the performance. I could also keep an image at slow reverse. The previous location would loose signal the second the motor went to reverse as the prop wash was straight on to the transducer.