Vexilar for open water... Question

[Moonie]

I'm thinking of getting an open water transducer kit for my vexi FL8se. I'm debating on mounting it to the transom of my aluminum boat or buying one of those portable suction cup brackets as I sometimes fish from canoes and other peoples' boats without electronics. Has anyone used the vexi suction cup brackets or heard of how they perform? I'm worried that the thing may come off when underway, but like the portability aspect... thanks for the advice!

[Jim Uran]

This may sound cheap and petty, but whenever I took my small boat out I'd just put the regular iceducer in a baggie full of water and had it shoot through the hull of the boat. It worked great to find the depth!

[broken_line]

good idea leechbiat!! also if the boat has a camo paint job the suction cups dont seem to stick very good...

[mamohr686]

Another option is a portable clamp-on transducer bracket. You would need to mount the skimmer style transducer on the adjustable pole, then just clamp it on the boat. They sell around $30-$50 depending on the size and style. I see that they are listed in the cabellas catalog.

[Ed Carlson]

If you wish to move it often, from boat to boat or take on a canoe trip...go with the Puck and a suction cup kit and use your ice pack to power it. Works very well.

If it will primarily be used on the same boat I would do the Vexilar TK-kit with either the puck and epoxy it in the sump, or do a Hi-Speed transom installation. The TK kit to fit the older or newer units are a bargain at $79. Just spin off the head unit from the ice pack and spin it on the boat as needed. I have been running them on my boats for well over 25 years.

The only real difference in the 2 styles of TK kits is the power cord. The flat screen display 12's and 20's take the new style twist on, and the older FL-8's have the flat plug in power cords...other then that the kits will be the same in both styles.

On thicker aluminum hulls or on extra thick glass hulls, the Vexilar Alumaducer kit is recommended to do a good job of shooting through the hull. A great system for boats that see rivers or shallow weedy water use as they eliminate a lot of the usual ducer complications due to damage or weed fowling.

[shorefisher]

I have seen them fall off. I to use mine on two boats one I got the kit and high speed ducer and mounted it to boat. For my smaller boat I use the ice ducer that I just fit the puck into a PVC pipe and then c-clam to the boat. Works great and cost zip. I have the 9/19 ducer and use 1 and 1/2 in. PVC and to hold it in the pipe I use elec. tape and it holds all summer.