I'm having trouble getting my new Garmin Fishfinder 140 to work properly. It came with a transom mount transducer which I siliconed to the center of the lowest plank in the aft port cabin locker (a good place I thought). When I do get a reading, it seems to be accurate as measured against a handheld depth meter and other boats, but the problem is I don't always get a reading (just shows zero indefinitely) or I initially get a reading which doesn't change as the water depth changes. On the Chesapeake Bay Cruise I used it for more than a few hours and it either read zero for long periods or read accurately for only a short time. I finally gave up on it. Today I popped it off. The silicone seal seemed tight with no air gaps. I went to the river and while using silly putty I couldn't get any reading (other than zero) from it, trying 6 or 7 different spots. I put it over the side with the silly putty still on the transducer and got no reading. I cleaned the putty off and put it over the side and got accurate readings once it started to register. Registering took from 10 seconds to sometimes minutes and a few times never showed anything but zero after being on many minutes. Before I go to Garmin, who will probably tell me I ruined the transducer trying to silicone it to the floor, I thought I'd pass it by you smart folks. Thanks, Rick Langer M15 #337 Bluebird
I'd be surprised if a transducer can be damaged by sticking it to the hull. If it's not working when you hold it the water, it's not working at all. Either a bad transducer, bad unit, bad wire or bad connection. I'd simply take it back and tell them it's not working and you want another one just like it. Howard On Jun 19, 2006, at 1:28 PM, Rick Langer wrote:
I'm having trouble getting my new Garmin Fishfinder 140 to work properly. It came with a transom mount transducer which I siliconed to the center of the lowest plank in the aft port cabin locker (a good place I thought). When I do get a reading, it seems to be accurate as measured against a handheld depth meter and other boats, but the problem is I don't always get a reading (just shows zero indefinitely) or I initially get a reading which doesn't change as the water depth changes. On the Chesapeake Bay Cruise I used it for more than a few hours and it either read zero for long periods or read accurately for only a short time. I finally gave up on it.
Today I popped it off. The silicone seal seemed tight with no air gaps. I went to the river and while using silly putty I couldn't get any reading (other than zero) from it, trying 6 or 7 different spots. I put it over the side with the silly putty still on the transducer and got no reading. I cleaned the putty off and put it over the side and got accurate readings once it started to register. Registering took from 10 seconds to sometimes minutes and a few times never showed anything but zero after being on many minutes.
Before I go to Garmin, who will probably tell me I ruined the transducer trying to silicone it to the floor, I thought I'd pass it by you smart folks.
Thanks,
Rick Langer M15 #337 Bluebird
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Hi Rick, Here is a guess. I heard the transducer that looks like a boat hull (pointy front, square back) does not work as well as the round puck style used for the shoot through the hull applications. If I used the transom mounted style, I was told to build a round berm of silicone sealer, add Squibb mineral oil and carefully embed the pointy end forward with no air bubbles in the oil. That sounded like a major pain, so I ordered a 20 degree round one and it worked fine with the silicone only. That was a while back with an Eagle unit. The info may or may not apply. Did you get the chance to look at Norm Bundek's Sonar installation? album: http://www.msogphotosite.com/M15Sndr.html He is using the boat hull type installed just as you mentioned (of course proving my theory wrong) so he may have some further information. Just to make a point. The same Eagle I mentioned also came with a portable housing and a couple of lantern batteries. I beat the crud out of it and never damaged the transducer. Howard is absolutely right... they are tough! Bill
I have the pointy end type from Garmin. It is mounted to port of the keel (about 2 ribs), under the bunks and about 4 inches forward of the bulkhead. I made a puddle of 100% white silicone rubber, about 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch high and simply pressed the transducer into place...held it in place for about 5 seconds and it hasn't moved since. That was about 4 years ago. It has worked right since day one. You can see the depth to bottom, bottom type (by grayline), submerged trees, weeds, fish echos....everything. BTW, being able to see the bottom content is a big help when deciding where to drop the anchor. If there is crud down there to hang up on, you can see it. Howard On Jun 19, 2006, at 4:03 PM, Bill Lamica wrote:
Hi Rick, Here is a guess. I heard the transducer that looks like a boat hull (pointy front, square back) does not work as well as the round puck style used for the shoot through the hull applications. If I used the transom mounted style, I was told to build a round berm of silicone sealer, add Squibb mineral oil and carefully embed the pointy end forward with no air bubbles in the oil. That sounded like a major pain, so I ordered a 20 degree round one and it worked fine with the silicone only. That was a while back with an Eagle unit. The info may or may not apply.
Did you get the chance to look at Norm Bundek's Sonar installation? album: http://www.msogphotosite.com/M15Sndr.html He is using the boat hull type installed just as you mentioned (of course proving my theory wrong) so he may have some further information.
Just to make a point. The same Eagle I mentioned also came with a portable housing and a couple of lantern batteries. I beat the crud out of it and never damaged the transducer. Howard is absolutely right... they are tough! Bill _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
participants (3)
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Bill Lamica -
Howard Audsley -
Rick Langer