Installing a Depth Finder on a 185 Sport

[Christmas in July]

I bought the plain old "in dash" depth finder (not a fish finder) from hawkeye and want to install it. I would really like to do a "through hull" mount and am looking for any suggestions you guys might have about location, techniques, pitfalls etc. Anything would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[Sea Ray 300]

First off, welcome to the board... :thumbsup:

Secondly, you posted that:
"We bought a 185SP (2005) back in 8/2005 and have really loved it."
In reference to the depthfinder, and through hull installation, at the very least, go back to your dealer's service manager for pointers in location for your particular hull, drilling, and sealing, as they are all very important.
If you're not completely confident after talking to them in doing it yourself, perhaps you could pay them to mount the transducer, and you can install and wire the rest.
best of luck...

 

[Christmas in July]

Thanks

Thanks for the welcome!

I definitely plan to go talk to the service manager at Marine Max. From the sounds of it, no drilling should be required if I "pot" the transducer inside the hull instead of trying a transom mount. Call me crazy, but I am not big on drilling any unnecessary holes in the boat... My main concern is the location of the transducer (and you're right, hopefully they have some advice) and secondly the materials people use to adhere the transducer to avoid any air bubbles or weak bonds.

Thanks again.

 

[nben]

I did the same on my 180 last year. Hawkeye suggests filling a bag with water and trying a few areas with the transducer in the bag. I found a great spot at the rear of the hull just behind the engine. I used a two part epoxy from West Marine once I found a location that gave me consistent readings, but I don't remember which epoxy it was.

 

[jhild]

Hi CJ,

Last year I put in a Humminbird with a shoot-thru transducer. nben has the right idea. You should be able to find a good spot under the motor close to the centerline. The further back the better. Use a bag of water to test the location before you permanently affix the transducer. (Once it's in, it's in!) Use a slow drying two part epoxy. (The slow drying insures that the epoxy will dry without air bubbles.)

I'm sure your unit came with installation instructions, but here's a link to the Humminbird site. Click on the HDR 610 Manual download link. The installation section might be worth a look. Everything you need to know is in there.
http://www.humminbird.com/products.asp?id=611

 

[BoaterBen]

I bought a Humminbird HDR-610. I emailed Humminbird customer service (cservice@johnsonoutdoors.com) and was able to get a chrome bezel like the one that Sea Ray used before they change to Lowrance. I heard they changed because Brunswick owns Lowrance. Anyway... The bezel was sent for free, and I used Humminbird's Transducer Exchange Program to exchange my transom transducer for the same unit Sea Ray used. The unit Sea Ray used is a flush mount plastic thru hull transducer (XFM 9 20). This is a thru hull and not a "shoot thru hull" transducer. Humminbird charges about $35 to exchange the transom mounted transducer for the thru hull model. One difference between this setup, and the factory installed version, is that the face of the transducer says Humminbird on it. Wirring was easy because the wires are were waiting there on the 06' 195. I would like to change the red back light of the HDR-610 to match the blue-green dash guages. I have the guage installed and I'm expecting the new transducer soon.

Flush mount plastic thru hull transducer (XFM 9 20)
http://www.humminbird.com/retail/ca...gory_name=Plastic+Thru-Hull+Transducer&Page=1

Humminbird's Transducer Exchange Program
http://www.humminbird.com/normal.asp?ID=816[/url]

 

[mrtopknight]

I was told by Sea Ray that I have a liner in my bilge area therefore I had to mount a traditional transducer.