R21 Sonar

[SEADOG63]

Has someone some information regarding proper placement of a kicker motor to a 1997 R21 along with the type
hardware recommended etc. Engine mount and type. Also, Im pulling the echo fish finder and installing soon a Humming bird 4X DSI sonar unit and need a good location to mount a transducer. The current is through hull and this one needs to be wet. Laying under her looking for a place to mount the transducer I come up empty. Love this boat landed a 63 and 1/2 in Sturgeon on the Sacramento River last week.

 

[abcandjrc]

........Also, Im pulling the echo fish finder and installing soon a Humming bird 4X DSI sonar unit and need a good location to mount a transducer. The current is through hull and this one needs to be wet. Laying under her looking for a place to mount the transducer I come up empty..........

Any chance you can return the unit or trade it for another? Transom-mounted transducers are tough with an R21 since propwash will always be present if you are under power. And they are always subject to more damage than those that can look through the hull on any kind of boat.

 

[tlkenyon]

I would consider mounting the transducer in the same location as the prior thru-hull transducer. In my boat, it is in a reasonably protected location (internally and externally), and the wires are already there.

Another potential location is beneath the v-berth. The hull is reasonably accessible and the wiring run would be fairly short. This part of the hull is subject to some pounding in a seaway, though, so the installation would really need to be bulletproof.

 

[RProffer]

I have had both external and internal (thru-the-hull) transducers, and I will never go back to the external transducers. IMHO, they are a pain in the posterior. For some reason you have to keep re-adjusting them. If you keep your boat in a marina, you have to constantly clean the scum, growth, and barnacles off of it. You have to position it where you have the least turbulence because turbulence affects it. And a really big one is you have to drill holes in the stern to mount it and the cable. These holes could allow water leaks and/or, for a wood core transom, the wood core could get water logged and rotted. And, IMO, an externally mounted transducer detracts from the boats looks (it is ugly). If you get the kind that you have to drill a hole through the bottom to mount it, then you will have all of the problems with cleanliness and leaks, but now you will have to dive under the boat to clean it.

Since I have gone to an internal (thru-the-hull) transducer, I have not had any of those problems, and I have had more better and more reliable readings.