Where to install thru hull transducer on 2001 Grady 265

[Sketchywind]

I have a 2001 Grady 265. I purchased a Simrad 7 Evo2 to upgrade my old Northstar 951x chart plotter. Since it comes with CHIRP installed I'm considering upgrading my 2001 Sitex 106 Mark 2 50/200 sounder with a new chirp transducer. Either the TM 150, B150m or the B75m
The Sitex transducer is mounted on the center line of the boat with two holes, 2" and 1/2".
1. Should I keep the Sitex as a backup sounder and drill another thru hull?
2. Can I drill the hole along side of a live well or raw water pickups?
3. Or try to remove the Sitex transducer and replace it with the new transducer. I will have to patch the 1/2" hole, so that's an additional difficult step with the swap. If I go this route, the existing 2" hole will fir the new transducer but it will be just aft of the two pickups right between them. Any problems there?
4. Can I mount the new thru hull in the forward bilge? It's close to midship of the the Grady 265. Perhaps aft of the shower sump?
5. Or make it easy and use the TM 150 and mount it on the transom. Keep the existing transducer and no drilling more holes.

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Any suggestions welcome. Thanks!

 

[DennisG01]

I've got some ideas, but I can't see everything well enough to offer. I see the there's what looks like another seacock by the (cleaner looking) bilge pump? But all I can see is a yellow handle. If you can get a better picture or post a link to the picture, that would be helpful.

A transom mount ducer is, of course, the easiest route. And it would work OK. But it's also the least reliable of the bunch. It may not read 'quite' as good (although probably will be fine). But it has a greater tendency to get fouled, damaged and lose it's reading if it get's kicked up. It may not always kick up all the way so you would end up with erroneous readings, without realizing it.

On a side note... the seacock that I can see... the seacock, itself, looks bronze. Good. It's double clamped (although the worm gears should be rotated 180* to each other). Good. But what is the elbow made out of? In the picture, it looks black, which makes me think plastic or black pipe. Not good. There is one type of plastic that is OK, but it's really not plastic - it's called Marelon.

And from a good housekeeping standpoint... clean that bilge up, man! :mrgreen:

 

[Sketchywind]

Thanks Dennis,
I reposted a link to a better photo. Yup, that bilge is nasty. I got the boat in April and that's on my long list when I haul her out. I'm going to remove the back deck section to get serious scrubbing down there.
I'm hoping that I could keep,the Sitex as a backup, but if I cannot get good readings with those Seacocks on both sides I am stuck removing the old transducer and filling the 1/2" hole. The Si-tex got me through my first salmon season. It's a 600w, 50/200 sounder albeit 13 years old still reading bait and bottom.
thanks for the tips!

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[fishbust]

You don't have a provision built into the hull for a transducer like the sailfish models?

Clean water is needed in front of one. I would have excess holes professionally patched, very well tapered on both sides to prevent mechanical failure in either direction.

 

[DennisG01]

If you go further forward, you'll be dealing with a much greater deadrise and also possible air/turbulence.

Things are pretty tight there if you want to keep everything and add another ducer. You might be able to sneak it in back by the float switch, but I would double check with the manufacturer as to what they recommend, noting ahead of time your distances and type of thru-hull (mushroom, scoop, etc).

You may be able to keep that little one there and just replace skimmer. But I agree with your thought of not replacing a working unit - IF you're going to keep the display unit, as well. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter. Check that backing plate (skimmer) - if it's wood I would plan on replacing it (regardless of it's condition) with either a piece of marine ply that is properly epoxy sealed or making a backing plate out of fiberglass.

The seacock on the right side of the picture needs a second clamp installed.

 

[seasick]

I have a 2001 Grady 265. I purchased a Simrad 7 Evo2 to upgrade my old Northstar 951x chart plotter. Since it comes with CHIRP installed I'm considering upgrading my 2001 Sitex 106 Mark 2 50/200 sounder with a new chirp transducer. Either the TM 150, B150m or the B75m
The Sitex transducer is mounted on the center line of the boat with two holes, 2" and 1/2".
1. Should I keep the Sitex as a backup sounder and drill another thru hull?
2. Can I drill the hole along side of a live well or raw water pickups?
3. Or try to remove the Sitex transducer and replace it with the new transducer. I will have to patch the 1/2" hole, so that's an additional difficult step with the swap. If I go this route, the existing 2" hole will fir the new transducer but it will be just aft of the two pickups right between them. Any problems there?
4. Can I mount the new thru hull in the forward bilge? It's close to midship of the the Grady 265. Perhaps aft of the shower sump?
5. Or make it easy and use the TM 150 and mount it on the transom. Keep the existing transducer and no drilling more holes.

[/url][/img]
Any suggestions welcome. Thanks!

My two cents:
If the existing transducer works well at speed and in all or most conditions, then the spot it is in is a good one. I would modify the existing hole as needed for the new transducer. Why make a new hole if the existing one worked? In addition, if it doesn't work out, the worst that happens is that you need to patch that hole anyway and install the new transducer in a different location.
There are two considerations for placement that count the most: On is that the location is in 'clean' water when planning ( In other words, not too far forward) and the second and quite important is that turbulence is minimal. That is tough to determine in many cases but certain spots like aft of a water pickup or directly along a chine water flow or a step chine break line are probably bad locations. The best advice is to find someone with the same hull, find out where their transducer is and ask how well it works.
Good luck.

 

[Sketchywind]

Here's my clean bilge at last. I bought a 20 degree B150 thru hull transducer and planning on installing in front of port seacock. Considering leaving the old faring block ducer or having a fiberglasser seal it up. Any thoughts for an old thread?

 

[DennisG01]

Hmmm. I'm not an expert in this, and I tend to always err on the side of caution when doing projects like this, but I'm a little worried about placing so many holes in such close quarters to each other. I would, at a bare minimum, put the new hole closer to the port stringer and not directly in a longitudinal line with the livewell seacock. However, do you have a decent amount of space on the forward side of the bulkhead? Seeing this new picture, you may very well still have workable deadrise angle just a foot or two forward. Grady can tell you the correlation between deadrise and how it changes as you move forward. I would check into that, first. It might be that you have at least a few more feet before the deadrise rises to high. They may also be able to tell you their thoughts on putting the new seacock in the spot you're currently thinking of -- or maybe they'll just recommend epoxying a backer plate in place (which I would definitely consider given the closeness to other holes.

Check this out, in regards to the old, rusty oil tank holder: http://greatgrady.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 83#p133054

Oh... and that bilge looks MUCH better!

 

[Sketchywind]

Thanks for info. I'm calling Grady tomorrow to check on alternative locations and if another hole may jeopardize the hull integrity. I think the worst case scenario is using a transom mount ducer and skimmer. That will alleviate another hole in the boat.
And great idea for the oil tray. I'm replacing the rust bucket ASAP.

 

[Sketchywind]

Here's what Grady White customer service says:
They recommend a shoot thru transducer just aft of the shower sump in the forward bilge.
He said it is not too forward to pick up turbulence.

Any Grady 265 owners mount a transducer in the forward bilge?

 

[DennisG01]

`Not a 265, and not in the forward bilge, but I just installed a shoot-thru in my Offshore. Pretty straight forward job. Just make sure you're not going to far forward where the deadrise changes to much.

If you anticipate having things in the forward bilge that could bounce into the ducer, consider building a box around it.

 

[max366]

I have an '04 265 which has slightly less deadrise then yours but the bilge areas look the same. I put a shoot thru at the location of your port "red dot" and it worked fine to about 30 mph. I upgraded the tducer to a B60 thru hull further aft and it works perfectly to 40 mph+. I'm not near the boat now but can send pics over the weekend.
I think the forward mounted shoot thru won't work very well. Too much DR and when trimmed out, that part of the hull isn't in the water 100% of the time.

Let me know if you would like pics. I hope the bilge is clean- I hate to be scolded!