Hi,
I have been trying to get my sounder which is a through hull set up to be able to read at speed on my haines 600 f 2004. I am wondering if anyone else is having difficulties getting there's to read at speed, or is there something I can do to help hold the bottom and get a better read? I have tried many things and have read the manual but still can't seem to get it right.
Cheers
Mckanah
When you say a through hull set up, do you mean shoot thru hull (transducer mounted inside and nothing visible on the outside) or a through hull where a hole is cut in the hull and a transducer mounted in it?
Through hull where there has been a hole cut out and the transducer put through the boat and sealed back up. B60 bronze I think it is
That makes it somewhat tricky then. Firstly you need to identify if the picture is breaking up due to bad transducer location or whether it is simply noise being generated by something, most likely the propeller.
Break up due to poor location can be caused by either air traveling under the hull or dirty/disturbed water flow. It will tend to present no matter what depth or gain setting you are running when the vessel is at speed and will present as gaping in the picture or loss of picture and digital readout. Unfortunately there is generally only one fix - relocation of the transducer - a somewhat involved and costly process with through hulls. Check to make sure there are no fittings or hull damage forward of the transducer - all the way to the bow, that could be disturbing the water flow.
Noise issues in a lot of cases tend to present only once the sounder is in water deep enough to require the running of higher gain settings. Around the bay they tend to work ok but once offshore with the gain wound up the screen becomes so filled with clutter (quite possibly to the extent it is totally red) it is unreadable. The digital readout in a lot of these cases will remain functional. While not a guaranteed fix, changes to propellers can sometimes sort this out but getting the transducer further away can also work.
It may well be that the easiest option is the installation of another transducer but a bit of testing prior is probably the best option to start with. Do you have any photos of the transducer location from both inside and outside of the hull??
Also check the transducer has the correct tilt element for your hull as this can be tricky depending on location with the variable dead rise and also check the transducer
has been centered correctly ie keel mark on transducer points to keel !!
regards frank
You shouldn't have problems with this trany if set up properly. I have a 20 degree tilt and was professionally installed you need to show us some pics inside your hull and outside to see what's going on.
" I have come to understand that I really do enjoy learning things the hard way "
I have taken a couple of photos, hope this helps! It is a 0 degrees tranny that is mounted in the centre of the planning board. This is what haines signature said to do. It was installed by a professional not myself.
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The SVDH Signature hull really doesn't leave too many alternatives due to all the curves. It's either as you have it or a transom mount. I vaguely recall a comment about Cruisecraft going away from the planning plank install to a 20 degree tilt unit (was a long time ago) to combat noisy/broken pictures once the tilted elements became available. Are you getting a broken picture or a noisy picture ?
A broken picture
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Not real sure what you could try - possibly fairing it a bit with some sika forward of the transducer to try and reduce the lip that the water tumbles over as it crosses onto the transducer or maybe try and get hold of one of the spacers that comes with the stainless variant to get the face a bit further away from the hull - just be wary of interrupting water to the prop or intakes if you try this. You could even make up a spacer with a slight angle so the transducer faces forward a couple of degrees. Possibly try using the trim when out next to run with an exaggerated bow up attitude briefly to see if the picture gets any better prior to trying anything.
Thank for the ideas, will try them and see how I go!
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The transducer should read perfectly where it is.
Have you increased your gain as you get quicker?
I 'really' feel your pain. I have a cruise craft 625 with what looks like the same setup. In 5 years 3 transducers and a several visits to Trymax marine I still have a shit sounder reading with rev's over 1500 rpm in water greater than about 40meters. In the bay it's perfect, regardless of how high my gain is set or how rough the water is. I honestly can't believe that companies such as cruise craft and haines that build purpose built fishing boats don't have a solution, and that with the amount of vessels that have been sold over the years that professionals such as Trymax don't have a solution. Instead they choose to excuse themselves with comments like 'every boat is different'. Common how many cc 625 explorers were sold over the years with exactly the same HPDI motors from Wynumm marine (prior to the lightweight 4stroke), thousands.... Good luck as I'm out of ideas.
So Almako, are you going to volunteer you $100 000 dollar rig for the swiss cheese treatment so someone like Trymax can experiment to find a solution because that is what it comes down too - not to mention someone paying for their time because if you put the sounder in a different rig that doesn't generate the noise it will work fine. During my time at Trymax I mentioned the results of my limited trials to quite a few 625 owners that had the same issue. Strangely enough when the words cut, hole and try got mentioned in the same sentence they all decided it was better done with someone else's boat. If you have a perfect picture in the bay, it's most likely not waterflow - that doesn't change relative to depth. At a guess without laying my hands on it, I will go with propeller/engine noise - same as my BIL's 625 with the HPDI on the FF50. Installing a second transducer and switch to allow easy change over allowed crystal clear pictures up to 3000 rpm in 150 metres but any more than that with the revs the transducer would lift out of the water.
The only other thing you could try would be a different prop if you can borrow one but once again this falls under the heading of an experiment.
Hey Scottar, firstly I value your opinion as I have read many of your posts on similar topics.
Though I was one of the guys that actually agreed to the swiss cheese treatment, which is why I have three transducers on board and a few extra holes in the transom (that have been professionally filled by Trymax), and many dollars down the drain without success. So if I sound disappointed well would't you be. I have spoken to BC on many occasions and had him on board a couple of times as well, he also has issues but just puts up with it which is kind of what I am doing as well. With regards to my comments on Trymax/Cruisecraft I would have thought that by now after so many years of producing the same old boat/motor package that when someone installs a sounder they would know exactly what the set up of prop/sounder location should be. Trymax do a great job and have a huge amount of experience in their field but they weren't able to help me. I will continue on occasions to try and work it out but a trial and error basis is for the wealthy which I am not.
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