INVESTIGATOR 563

Hi all, along with all the repairs and modifications I am doing I want to add a plotter and sounder to my vessel and am pondering suitable locations for the transducer. Ideally it would be in front of the keel however that goes too far forward and I have foam filled some of it in anycase and fibre glassed a top over it to move all the bilge water to the rear of the centreboard casing where it can be pumped out. There is no access under the interior seats or cockpit seats as they are foam filled. That leaves behind the keel towards the stern or in the v berth locker either side of the keel which is shallow at that point. I thought behind the keel would be good as there is a nice flat run but that would affect storage under the cockpit well which I am loathe to compromise on. Has anyone located a transducer in the v berth locker fairly close to the keel? I thought turbulence may be a problem and it may also be in the air sometimes when heeled. Not too worried about fish finding and side scan etc it is mainly for depth however most of the inexpensive plotter sounders are aimed at fishers so incorporate dual frequency and sonar etc so I am stuck with that. I am also planning to use the transom mount transducer that is included in the plotter/sounder combos and believe these can be mounted in hull with some plumbers putty or wax etc.

regards

Andrew

There was a post somewhere on here regarding such Andrew but not sure if it was the old MSN forum. I went through my bookmarks and couldn’t find anything. Quick YouTube search turned this up.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bMp_cmbdh ... lvbg%3D%3D

That reminded me that the very old post I had before mentioned constructing a box and filling it with fluid. Oil, glycerin, Diet Coke , whatever. From the YouTube clip I guess that’s normal practice now. I have a perfectly good new fish/finder sounder from years ago I bought on special from ? And it’s probably not ever going to be used. I was going to use it portable so that I could swap it between my Invesigator, fishing dinghy and my kayak. This of course requires so much careful planning that I have not removed it from the box after a decade .

You might try a search on tsp and Practical boat Owner reader to reader. It may turn something up useful.

https://forums.ybw.com/forums/practical ... reader.13/

. I note there was a YouTube video that was titled “ do not mount your sounder vertical …..” might check that one out, I didn’t. …next decade maybe.

My transducer reads depths well with a transom mount, under all sailing/sea conditions. It was easy/quicker/cheaper to fit there. Fairly well protected position. It's ok 90% of the time (just shoal waters/ land approach the weakness). I get around it by avoiding spring low tides at ramps if possible (tide watch/clock handy)

Suggest talk to Peter T, he's done the forward mounted transducers before.

Hi mate. I fitted a transom mounted sounder sender unit to mine just below the boarding ladder. I have it folded up when the boat is on the trailer and it's an easy thing to lean over the transom to fold it down if you forget to do it prior to launching and as Andrew said, I have used the oil filled through hull systems previously but with the 563, its so much easier and practical to use the transom mounted in my opinion.
Cheers