Adding low range to Sea Ray Weekender

[Bob McDonough]

Good morning everyone,

I am a new member and in need of some advice. I have a 2002 22.5 Sea Ray weekender. I have two issues; one the lowrance 3500 dash mount has power but flashes 5 when powered up not sure what is going on with it. Has anyone had a similar experience?

The second is I am installing a Lowrance chirp 4 and there are 2 ways to mount transducer. 1st is drilling a 1 inch hole in the stern to pass through the cable and the 2nd is a shoot through hull that you epoxy the transducer to the bottom of the hull. I am not sure I want to drill a hole in the stern and I have been hearing that the shoot through method produces a low quality reading in the unit. Can anyone give me some sound advice?

 

[bbwhitejr]

There are more here much more knowledgeable than I and I will be very interested in their responses....I have a Garmin 536s and the PO epoxied the transducer to the floor in the bilge. It works very poorly! In other boats, I have mounted them to the transom and never had the problems I have now. I am seriously considering buying a new transducer and mounting it on the transom.

Bennett

 

[blaster]

What transducer do you have currently? If it's transom mount, the holes already there. If it's a through hull you might consider leaving the old xducer and just drilling the hole for the TM. Shoot through doesn't work very well in most applications.

 

[electricaldoctor]

The shoot thru transducer for my Garmin 720 works flawlessly.

 

[Bob McDonough]

Bennett,
Thanks for the quick response. The new unit is the Lowrance Elite 4 and it comes packed with transducer. The unit that is in the boat now is the original 3500 that I understand Sea Ray puts in most of it's smaller vessels and is depth finder only and a "shoot through hull" design therefore cable is not compatible. I am hearing the very same thing you indicated in that shoot through method is a problem for most.
As much as I have a problem with the thought of drilling a 1 inch hole in my boat it would appear doing that gives me best performance of unit. The boat has the swim platform extension of two feet so I thought up under that would be best spot to drll. Then I have to figure best way to fill as once cable is fed through there will be a 1 inch opening with .25 inch cable going through. I would think epoxy and ss cap would be best.


Thanks,
Bob

 

[Lazy Daze]

The standard Lowrance 3500 is installed with a "thru-hull" transducer - meaning the transducer actually protrudes THROUGH the hull bottom and sticks out the bottom of the hull by about 1/4". If you look on the outside of the hull bottom, you'll see a black, plastic disc about 3" in diameter. A shoot-thru typically only works well with a single layer hull bottom (one thickness of fiberglass). If your bilge (which if memory serves, the 245WE does) has a finished fiberglass floor (gel-coated smooth and pretty, like the top of the boat) then you have a dual-layer bilge floor which will cause issues with a shoot-thru. You may be able to get the shoot-thru to work, but you have experiment with different locations to find a solid area (no air/foam) gap.

If you go the transom mount route, don't epoxy the cable/hole. Epoxy the wood core (if where you drill through has a wood core) to waterproof it, but fill the hole with a good sealant - along with the SS clamshell.

 

[bbwhitejr]

Thanks Dennis! Mine "blinks" 50% of the time like it is searching for and cannot find the bottom on my Garmin. The depth finder that functions through my Smartcraft works flawlessly so it is not like I don't know how deep it is. However, the sonar part of the Garmin is most useless. There may be air bubbles hampering it, not sure. May look for new one and mount on the transom.

Thanks,
Bennett

 

[Lazy Daze]

Bennett, does your Garmin transducer have two parts to it... meaning one part separates from the other? If so, then you may just need to add more antifreeze. That's not a joke... :smt001... the same stuff you use to winterize your engine is used between the two parts of the transducer. There can't be any air gaps between the transducer and the hull for it to work - antifreeze eliminates the air gaps but can, over time, evaporate. Of course, the other possibility is that the installer never experimented with positions and since you have the finished bilge floor (two piece hull bottom) it will never work properly in the wrong location.

1) Check for being a two-part assembly and refill with antifreeze.
If no joy, then:
2) Remove transducer (hopefully it's a two part version, otherwise cut it out) and hold transducer (if enough cable) overboard in the water and test. Or, put it in a bag of water and hold the bag to the hull bottom in various locations and test. Be sure to leave a layer of water between the bottom of the transducer and the bag - "float" the transducer - so there are no air gaps. KY Jelly can work for this application, too... again - not a joke! It works!

The goal will be to figure out if the transducer is simply in a bad spot, or if it is actually malfunctioning. Maybe you'll get lucky and it's not actually epoxied. I use LifeCalk when I install these as it's plenty strong enough for the application, yet still removable. Maybe the installer did the same thing?

 

[bbwhitejr]

Next time I crawl in the bilge, I will check it out. For what I know now, it is one piece and is held down with some pretty pink epoxy. I for sure know it is not Life Seal. I will check it out and get back to you.

Thanks,
Bennett

 

[Bt Doctur]

properly done, drilling a hole in the transom ,above the water line is not an issue. PROPERLY DONE

 

[Bob McDonough]

Bt,

I am not being sarcastic however when you say properly done how exactly would you do it?
As I said I am looking for opinions to get it correct as The plan is to get it right the 1st time.

thank you in advance for info
Bob

 

[Lazy Daze]

Bob, take a look at my post above about "how to". The clamshell is optional, but it allows for extra sealant and a nicer appearance. Don't forget the cable clamps - but that's usually listed in the directions, anyways. If you're asking more about the actual mount (wasn't sure what, specifically, you were asking), the directions probably say to simply use sealant on the transducer mount screws, which is fine, but a better way is to oversize hole the holes slightly, fill with epoxy, then re-drill appropriate sized pilot hole. There's also a bunch of threads on this forum about this process and you can probably find that through a search. Another "best practice" point is to chamfer the screw holes.

 

[Bob McDonough]

Lazy daze,
Thanks for the info. I think we are on same page. What I did not know when I purchased Lowrance unit was the cable is fixed on both ends. So in order to install the transducer cable you need to drill a 1 Inc hole to accommodate the end of the
the cable that attaches to the unit. My plan now is to drill 1 1/2 inch hole up under the fiberglass swim platform and a. 1 inch hole in the transom. I will pass cable through, notch the
1 1/2 piece from the swim platform to accept cable, fill hole cap off with 1 1/2 inch peice, fill in surface of swim platform and install clam shell. Water will never find it's way in!

 

[Bt Doctur]

anytime you need to drill holes for anything(transducers, drain plugs, deck drains, etc) in the transom area or any area with a wood core. The best way is to say install a transducer cable plug with a 1 inch hole:
drill the hole cleanly, duct tape the inside transom, duct tape the outside leaving an area to pour in fiberglass resin to completely fill the hole, cover with the tape and let cure. now redrill . The resin will be absorbed into the wood to seal it.
To drill below the water line:
For a typical transducer screw #10 or so, drill a 3/8 ths hole , resin coat a 3/8 HARDWOOD dowel and insert into hole.
Drill pilot hole for the screw and force in fiberglass resin, let cure, drill correct pilot hole for the screw.

 

[Lazy Daze]

What I did not know when I purchased Lowrance unit was the cable is fixed on both ends. So in order to install the transducer cable you need to drill a 1 Inc hole to accommodate the end of the cable that attaches to the unit.

Yeah, that's pretty standard. Some come with a two piece "end", which allows for drilling a smaller hole to pass the cable and smaller part of the end through, then attaching the "rest" of the end so you can screw it onto the unit. But either way, you're pretty much always drilling a much bigger hole than the actual cable.

I'm not quite following you on the rest of your plan, but... Can you avoid coming up through the platform? Meaning, can you go through the transom BELOW the platform? If memory serves, the underside of the platform is above the waterline, so you should be able to get the wire into the engine compartment without seeing it from the topside of the platform.