I am preparing to take up the deck area between the helm chairs in my 228 Grady. I am doing so to mount a shoot-thru transducer in this location, per Grady's recommendation. How difficult is it to get this area of the deck to come loose? Anyone have experience?
Pulling Up Deck / 2002 228 Seafarer
- Thread starter Wreck Room
- Start date
Never did that one but I have pulled the deck cover over the tank. Not much to it, cut the caulk good and just pull it up. Take some pics of where you mount the ducer, curious as to how your gonna do it.
I've been thinking of installing the same transducer as you in the same spot (presumably somewhere near the fresh water tank???). Please let us know how it works for you (i.e., how well you can track depth at speed). If you can take some pictures, that would be fantastic. Good luck!
Wreck Room,
You said, "between the helm chairs"? I don't know why Grady would recomend placing a transducer so far forward. The further you go, (forward) the more likeley you will lose signal when running up on plane. Imo, it shouldn't be any farther than a few feet from the transom, so why not place it in the bilge?
You said, "between the helm chairs"? I don't know why Grady would recomend placing a transducer so far forward. The further you go, (forward) the more likeley you will lose signal when running up on plane. Imo, it shouldn't be any farther than a few feet from the transom, so why not place it in the bilge?
Think before you mount it in that spot. I think you are going to get 'bubbled' very badly if you put any ducer there. Test it once you open things up.
I have never heard of a ducer mounted so far forward on a 228.
I have never heard of a ducer mounted so far forward on a 228.
I agree with Catch22 and nighttides. That is a very odd place to mount the transducer. Way too much turbulence. Didn't we have a list on this site somewhere that listed the spots recommended by Grady White?
Yup, too far forward, you want it in back 1/3 of boat, only reason I could see them saying this is maybe there is little to no access aft for the ducer in the hull and this is the only spot there is. If so, I would not bother, will be useless on plane for any readings, a transom mount will give you speed at lower plane speeds and will give you speed and temp atleast. I would rather have it aft of the fuel tanks in the back of the boat then that far forward, not sure why they would recommend that location.
I have three transducers mounted in the location suggested by GW, basically under the companionway steps, forward of the water intakes.
Two are Lowrance, and one is an Airmar M260. All three are shooting through the hull.
Only using two right now, through a selector switch to the LBS-1, but both will track at all speeds up to WOT, almost never lose track, and I can usually see bottom as I cross the Norfolk Canyon.
Never was able to get consistently good performance on a transom mount.
No place on the 270 is really accessible between the transom and the recommended location. And I've had both deck hatches up.
Brian
Two are Lowrance, and one is an Airmar M260. All three are shooting through the hull.
Only using two right now, through a selector switch to the LBS-1, but both will track at all speeds up to WOT, almost never lose track, and I can usually see bottom as I cross the Norfolk Canyon.
Never was able to get consistently good performance on a transom mount.
No place on the 270 is really accessible between the transom and the recommended location. And I've had both deck hatches up.
Brian
I mounted an airmar shoot thru in the bilge of a 2006 228. You have to take up the livewell and you have plenty of room to work and plenty of surface just inches up from the keel. It works great even at speed. The other day, we hit 750 feet of water and it was working. I also called Grady first and they told me to mount an external on the transom and not to use a shoot thru. I didn't want to drill holes so I did the shoot thru anyway and I'm happy with it.
Thanks for all the advice. I have been looking at pictures of my 228 running and the area Grady is specifying, between the helm seats, is firmly planted in the water. They say that near the transom I am likely to get aeration due to the thru-hull fittings. After reading this I may take a look under the live-well.
Wreck Room said:
That forward area may be ok on calm water, and a slight chop, but as soon as you start bounching around in even the slightest of rough seas, your gona lose contact with the water... and the signal. Not to mention while making turns too. The closer you keep it to the transom, the less chance of losing signal. I wouldn't hesitate for second about putting either a shoot thru or a thru hull ducer in the bilge.
The only thru hull fitting you have to worry about is the water pick up for the washdown/livewell. In some cases there are 2, (seperate pu's). One or both should be on the port side. At least that's what I've seen. If that's the case, just favor the starboard side. Even if you have one on each side, there should still be plenty of room to mount the ducer closer to the center, (keel) area, and avoid any "wash" from a pick up.
Clean the area, maybe lightly sand it and finish up with either acitone or mineral spirits. Use Life Seal to secure the shoot thru ducer. That way, if your not happy with the signal, you can pry it off, clean it up and re-locate it. If it works ok there, the Life seal will last many years. You don't need to use an epoxy. I used it on a friends 206 back in 2000, and it's still working fine today.
If you look at my sig photo you'll notice that the area you are talking about (between the seats) is almost completely out of the water. And that wasn't even a particularly rough day. I use a transom mounted transducer between the livewell intake and the starboard trim tab (per the Grady suggestions listed above). I never lose bottom even at full speed in rough water (unless I get completely airborne - which has been known to happen). Whoever put the original transducer on put it almost right behind the intake. It was nearly impossible to get a good reading when underway.