Aluminum Shoot Through hull

[nhbass]

I have an aluminum boat and I was wondering if I could use a shoot through hull transducer with an aluminum boat?

[R520dvx]

No ..... you will have to use a transom mount ....

[Long Mike]

X2!

[Wayne P.]

YES you can. You have two choices. The transducer that comes with the unit will give somewhat accurate depths, but that is about all (no fish, thermocline, suspended particles).

The best option is a transducer that is made for that application. It is called ALUMADUCER. I have both in my aluminum Tracker. I epoxied the regular one in mine while I was waiting on the correct Alumaducer adaptor for my sonar unit (the listed part number was wrong).

[Long Mike]

Wayne, have you installed the Alumaducer yet?  Everything I have learned about ultrasonic transducers precludes use through metal.  I'm very curious to learn how it works.

[bcaz01]

alumaducer i found is $150.  ordered transom ducer for HB898 hope my express doesn't mind 2 more holes drilled in it

[Fishes in trees]

I've had an Alumaducer installed on my aluminum boat for two year now.  It works good.  I use a Lowrance X135 sonar unit.  I am not handy with this sort of stuff, getting someone who had experience installing them was a challenge.

You can find out all about the Alumaducer at the Vexilar web site.   www.vexilar.com.

No one in the Kansas City region knew anything about them or had any experience installing them.

I found a  place in St. Louis - Tri-State Trolling Motor Repair to install it for me.  They did a very slick installation job - I was pleased.

If you've got an aluminum boat and you are tired of smashing up transom mounted transducers, check out the Alumaducer.

[donmac]

It's been awhile since I've installed transducers on tin boats but years ago the best method used to be to install a plastic board on the transom that allowed for the numerous transom mounted accessories to be mounted without having to drill 30 holes in the transom. All the high-end Lunds did this. It would be interesting to checkout the remaining tin boats on the walleye circuit - that will tell what the best method is today. I did the the plastic board method on a Lund I ordered w/ a 75hp on it and it worked like a champ. Allowed me to move the transducer around a little to avoid rivet air streams without having to drill more through-holes.

[Wayne P.]

Long Mike, I installed it around Christmas 2008 in a 2009 Tracker PT 170 TX. I ordered the Alumaducer when the boat was being setup at the BPS (engine change). The adaptor listed for my sonar model was incorrectly listed in the website and I had to re-order it.

One of my most frequented bodies of water is all flooded timber. Within 15 minutes of launching it the first time in late November 2008, the factory installed transom transducer was broken off of the mount. I epoxied a trolling motor style transducer that I had for another unit in the hull the next day.   I removed the speedometer sensor the day I got the boat because I knew it wouldn't last long. I have since removed the spare transducer and installed it on the transom where the original transducer was. I did that for another sonar unit I use occasionally.

Here is a picture of the trolling motor transducer on the transom-it has survived quite well in the stumps. The transducer on the wooden mount is a test setup that I no longer use. The one in front of the motor is the SI transducer.

[Luke at Gouldsboro]

I wouldn't use a shoot through. You lose a lot of imagery.

[Fishes in trees]

I have an alumaducer and I don't feel like I'm losing much imagery.  You probably lose some and the real answer is I don't know.  When I got the Alumaducer, I was upgrading electronics as well, I got the Lowrance X-135 for the console.

What I like most about it is that I'm not busting off a bracket every so often, and every second or third bracket, you end up wrecking the transducer.  I was several hundred dollars into the bracket/transducer replacement mode when I decided to solve the problem once and for all with the Alumaducer.

If you've got a tin boat and you've smashed up several brackets and transducers, the Alumaducer will solve that problem.