Transducers

[Hunters Pa]

Originally Posted by Geoffkoop

That cutout looks like the best idea but im way to scared to start chopping up the Hobie.

I'll be teh first to admit that it was a HUGE leap of faith. After I cut the hole it was a major WTF have I done?!?!?!

BUT the difference between the way it was gooped in before and how it is now, there is no comparison. I had to turn down the sensitivity some. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to convince you. But the rationale behind it being safe convinced me.

With the aluminum plate tightened down against the neoprene you have a compression seal. Then you have the 5200, which after doing this I am convinced is nasty to work with but in-freaking-credible stuff! When my daughter (age 4) grows up & starts dating I just may have to use this on the boy's britches to make sure they stay on . That and the nail gunBut I digress. After the initial run and seeing how dry it is inside, and considering the double seal involved I would absolutely take this approach again.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by Hunters Pa

.....With the aluminum plate tightened down against the neoprene you have a compression seal. Then you have the 5200, which after doing this I am convinced is nasty to work with but in-freaking-credible stuff..... After the initial run and seeing how dry it is inside, and considering the double seal involved I would absolutely take this approach again.

That is exactly why I had to smile when I saw your original post on it. You get the mechanics involved, and you also had the skills to do it right.

My concern and the reason I did not push the idea that much as there would be people who'd try it without the knowledge or skill to pull it off.

With the flush mount foam and plate method you are creating your seal using the interactive properties of three separate materials. We're making the seal rather then just installing one, which means there is a greater possibility of screwwing up. If you know what your doing it's fool proof but it's not fool proof if you don't know what you are doing... .

With the thru-hull you already have the seal all you have to do is drill the right sized hole in the right place, stick it in with minimal sealent and tighten then tighten the nut to an appropriate tension. Add 5200 and anyone could do it, as it's parctiacally a no brainer. It's no more difficult or complicated then installing a intake for a bait tank.

I'd recomend that route to anyone, but the method you and I used is more complcated and takes a set of skills to exicute correctly...so I'm a little more cautious on recomending that one.

That said each has it's pros and cons. Our setup creates less darg and it's less likely that our transducers will get significant damaged or scratching since they are flush with the hull. Additionally our transducers were cheaper as they came stock with the units. So it's less expensive to do but more labor intensive to do right.

In contrast the thru-hull is less labor intensive, so it's more accessbale to the average guy and in that one you don't have to reinvent the wheel as your using that transducer in exactly the manner it is designed to be used.

May take is there's more then one way to skin the catfish.

That each has it's merits.

I got two seprate yak projects I'm playing with right now, off and on: one in metal and one in Kevlar carbon composite.

I'll probably use both methods, using a thru hull for the tin yak, and a built in for the KC yak, but nothing is written in stone at this point.

Jim