aluma ducer

[cisco kid]

just ordered one today to adapt to my fl-18 for use in a 14 ft aluminum. anyone use one yet on the rivers yet this yr.?

[cisco kid]

o.k.......anyone ever heard of or ever purchased an aluma?

[Moose-Hunter]

Hi Kid...

I have heard of them. Seems like an interesting concept. Sorry pal, other than that, I know nothing.

Anyone?

[cisco kid]

I will post my findings when winter does release its grip on us here in no. central Wi. Dont hold your breath! I plan on hard water fishing for 3 more weeks. Maybe two if we stop making ice over nite. Untill the landings open on the wi. ,the ice ducer will have to do. Not complaining, but the late ice bite is still being antisitpated here!!!

[Surface Tension]

If your running across sand and gravel bars then you made the right choice on transducers.

[leechlake]

the aluma came up in a post about a week ago after I asked about the best type of transducer for vex. I haven't found one in a store yet, although I saw them available on line. I think you are going to be the one to be able to tell the rest of us the ease of installing, convenience, how it works. Let us know.

[Kevin Turner]

I've installed about a dozen or so. You MUST pay attention to the mounting location, but very easy to install. Vex specs state they will shoot thru .150 aluminum. My hulls are .190 and they seem to be working great. The really neat thing is how well they work at 40 MPH. My boats mainly run rivers where waves are not an issue, so it has a steady stream of un-aerated water to shoot thru.

[cisco kid]

I went to gander in wausau. they had to older style puck ducer and the sales person never heard of the aluma. wasnt impressed but I do realize they are a new product. ordered it online direct from vex. not cheap, paid 150 bones for the ducer,adapter and an extra A.C.E. epoxy. the online info on tips and faq looks like it covers the ducer location and instalation in depth.

[efgh]

I never heard of a aluma ducer, but my vex-18 with a 9 - 19 degree puck will shoot thru my starcraft alum boat, I place it in the rear, glue a piece of strifoam with a hole in it to hold the puck staible, pour a little water in the hole and put in the puck, works.

[Ed Carlson]

We have epoxyed the puck ducers in-hull for years, works very well on glass and metal hulls. The trick was if you epoxy it you need a very good epoxy and a bubble free set in the seal or it would not read properly. The Vexilar Aluma-ducer is the result of much field study on the proper type of epoxy and puck to use for this application. You will also notice it has a grounding peg (on top) for metal hulls to help to protect the electronics from static and peripheral electronic/sonar distortion. This is not a concern on glass hulls.

If set-up properly they do work 100% and you have no worries of ducer damage on rivers and lakes. I like the system myself and use it often either as an epoxy mount or a quick mount via a PVC tube base in the sump of the boat.

A great system is a two-ducer system, one on the bow mount, and the other in-hull that are managed by a in-line ducer cable switch so you can use either with a flip of a switch. An ideal 1-2 punch rig for shallow water boaters and river rats.

[shefland]

I too am anxious for a report, I have gone thru too many transducer wipeouts on the river, Mississippi mainly, I am careful but you know what happens! Backwater, what unit do you use on your boat for river duty? Is there anything available that works in water near the dams like Lockport for example? Seems like when you approach the froth there is too much air and turbulence so you lose bottom.

[Ed Carlson]

Yup..I use the FL-18 on my riverboat. If you run it on LP mode in turbulent water near dams (Like the Lockport Dam), you can read the bottom signal right up to the big gates.

You will still get lots of tiny bubble clutter but you do get a reliable bottom reading. I did the same with my old FL-8 with an S-Cable added to the ducer line; it really helped on dams.

None of my other sonar or graph units could pull that off. That is one big reason I like the Vex on rivers, as the LP mode is a huge help. My Friend Big Shannon has 2 graphs and a Vex FL-18 on his big Lund. The Vex was the only one that could read at the Lockport dam. The others looked like a plate full of scrambled eggs.

The EDGE 2 will do well there too, and you can LP that too if need be with the S-Cable. A couple guys I know use them and they claim to be able to see fish up that close with the EDGE 2..I cannot say I have witnessed that kind of detail yet on any graph near the dam. Dennis had his EDGE 2 up there last summer on his River Pro so he may have some feedback on how it handled the big bubble bath at the dam.

Eh..I have never hit the reefs out in the middle yet...ah..not very hard anyhow. I have whacked a rock or two up on the east shelf during low water cycles..but not many guys go in there that close when it is low and fast.

[riverrat56]

So will the ducer on my LX-3 shoot through my lund hull? its an older lund, cant remeber the exact name but its probally 20 years old, 14ft with red sides. Anyways if my lx-3 will shoot through could it be possible to rig something up with a 2 in diameter PVC pipe mounted to the floor and the hull in the back and then filled with some water?

[Ed Carlson]

I have yet to try my MarCum LX3 with the sump mount trick, so I can not say for sure how well it works.

Maybe some of the other staff has experience with this installation with the MarCum LX3?

If you do test the sump mount be sure to use a thin felt pad in the tube and wet it. The felt protects the ducer and helps to maintain a good conductivity for the sound to penetrate the hull and return.

[cisco kid]

back water,Thanks for your insite into the aluma. You have given me alternatives I never would have come up with on my own. I have it...just waiting to install.

[cisco kid]

Used the ace apoxy I that came with the kit and glued a 2x4 in. piece of PVC to the inside of the hull back by the transom. Just fill with water,drop the aluma down and it works great!!! The fl-18 and ducer are still portable to remove and charge/store in the house.