cutwater upgraded transducer

I mounted the transducer for my Garmin 1243 on the starboard side close to the rear corner of my 2013 C28, just below the height of the strake. Works OK below 10 knots. I wanted down-view, chirp and side-view - first two are good but being mounted on the side, the side view takes some interpretation. Ran the cable to a transom location above the water line, and through using a watertight fitting. Routing to the instrument panel was not very difficult. Had photos on the Facebook page. (Originally located the original one on the transom itself, but prop wash ripped it off and broke the cable. Had to buy a replacement transducer. That has held up well on this new location for last two years.)
 
nzfisher said:
I don’t know if you still need info on this but

gallery2.php?g2_itemId=40254

Explains a good location to drill a hole through hull for an airmar H/W transducer for a 7612xsv nav unit. Works good. Did the work myself. Not rocket science though there are some tricks. PM if you would like more info.

Swims with Tuna
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Do you still have the link for the thru hull transducer on a c28?
 
I've got a 2014 C28 and I upgraded to a thru-hull transducer several years ago. Unfortunately, I don't have the specs of that transducer at the moment (on the boat) but I can say that I am very pleased. The clarity is much better and I have no problem seeing the bottom (up to 600 ft) while traveling at cruise. It was mounted at the same location as the old transducer was located.
 
I talked to a Garmin rep about our C28 and he recommended upgrading the in-hull transducer to Chirp and then going with a transom mount transducer for a 9" GPSMap unit mounted near the sink in the cockpit for lower speed fishing. I haven't embarked on this yet, but it is the general plan.
 
I looked at pretty much every option for a super performing transducer and worked with a couple Garmin electronics experts. At the end of the day, I didn't install anything since everything had tons of compromises for the hull on my boat.
 
FM would only comment that the mount should be in front of the second step.
I would not want a hole in my boat there (might hit an underwater log at 30 knots). The high end in hulls won't fit in the GT15 area. Transom mount doesn't work well above trolling speed. Good luck, of course, I'm only speaking for my outboard C302c.
 
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After scanning this thread I think upgrading through-hull transducer with chirp and installing transom mount transducer with screen in cockpit by sink is what we want to do for our 2015 C28.

While I am always up for a challenge I think this work might be too much for me to do myself. I will start with a call to Garmin to find someone who can do the work but curious if anyone has other ideas for finding help. We are in Seattle WA Shilshole Marina on the off chance someone has local recommendations.
 
After a little more research regarding my post on Sept. 12, 2024, I am thinking of replacing the current Airmar in-hull transducer with a Garmin Chirp transducer. This would be connected to a new 8612 xsv GPSMap that replaces the current 7212 GPSMap. Then connect the 8612 with an ethernet cable to a 943 GPSMap in the cockpit. This approach eliminates the need for transom transducer.
 
Headlee said:
After a little more research regarding my post on Sept. 12, 2024, I am thinking of replacing the current Airmar in-hull transducer with a Garmin Chirp transducer. This would be connected to a new 8612 xsv GPSMap that replaces the current 7212 GPSMap. Then connect the 8612 with an ethernet cable to a 943 GPSMap in the cockpit. This approach eliminates the need for transom transducer.
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Not sure I follow, the GT-15s installed in most of our boats have CHIRP Mid-band (85-165 kHz). I looked at upgrading the GT-15 to a 1Kw+ in hull transducer, but, never found anything better that would fit in the tiny space. Have you located one?
 
I have my boat set up with a 1243xsv at the main helm which powers the in hull gt-15 transducer which does have chirp and does a surprisingly good job. I then have a 942xs on the back deck which is connected to the main helm with an rj45 cable and NMEA2000 cable this works well only thing is that the 942 doesn’t present the sonar and chart data in as good of detail as the 1243 screen.

At one point I ordered a transom mount transducer (gt56uhd) to use just while fishing and then a splitter cable as the 1243xsv can only power one transducer this way you could switch between the two. Never ended up installing it because the In hull transducer was working good enough. Looking into doing a thru hull transducer would probably be the way to go but it would take a little discussion with fluid motion to help figure out where the lease disruption along the hull is while cruising.
 
Jeff told me just in front of the second step which is not an area where I'm willing to put a hole in my boat to facilitate a through hull. I spent considerable time trying to figure this out and worked with an Garmin expert, but came up with nothing better than the old GT 15. I looked at in-hull, through hull and transom mount.
 
Rocky Lou said:
Not sure I follow, the GT-15s installed in most of our boats have CHIRP Mid-band (85-165 kHz). I looked at upgrading the GT-15 to a 1Kw+ in hull transducer, but, never found anything better that would fit in the tiny space. Have you located one?
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Just depends on where you are going to mount it. If way down under the floor of the v-berth you certainly would be pressed for space. I installed a 1kW in-hull (single channel) transducer under the floor of the quarter berth in front of the hull step. Would work up to a higher speed if it were lower on the hull, but I didn't feel like cutting the floor inner liner up forward just for an extra couple knots.

I can hold bottom up to around 12kts as long as it's not rough conditions.

You can see my old P79 still in place and functional but far less sensitive compared with it's big brother.
 

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I could see just sticking with the in hull transducer for most everyday stuff and then transom mount a higher power transducer of which ever flavor on the back and use that one while fishing
 
Full_O_Fish said:
Just depends on where you are going to mount it. If way down under the floor of the v-berth you certainly would be pressed for space. I installed a 1kW in-hull (single channel) transducer under the floor of the quarter berth in front of the hull step. Would work up to a higher speed if it were lower on the hull, but I didn't feel like cutting the floor inner liner up forward just for an extra couple knots.

I can hold bottom up to around 12kts as long as it's not rough conditions.

You can see my old P79 still in place and functional but far less sensitive compared with it's big brother.
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Oh, very different on C302c, the GT-15 is next to the shower sump just aft of the main berth.
 
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