In-hull transducer for aluminum boats

[Dave]

I hear Vexilar has one now. Anyone try it yet?

[Gus]

Dave, I see nobody has posted yet. I have not tried one, but I do remember reading a while back that someone who seemed to work at a boat shop had installed quite a few and said people were happy with them. You might try running a search. I ended up going with the normal highspeed transducer because I was not so sure I wanted to epoxy the unit into the bottom of my boat and not be able to move it to another boat.

Good luck.

[Dennis Steele]

I have the Vex Edge and use its standard tranducers to shoot through the hull on my River Pro.The bottom guage on that boat is twice as thick as most hulls at .190 guage.
I asked Mitch at Vex about doing this and he said that it will work fine but you will not get a good signal at depths over 80 feet.I have been doing this for two seasons now and have never had any trouble whatsoever.
I also did not want to mount the transducers permantly so I used silicone instead of epoxy.You just need to make sure that you press the ducers in as tightly as possible.I pulled them up easily and installed them in my new River Pro this season.
I am pretty sure it will work with most puck style ducers from other manufacturers as well.
I know it works with Marcum sonars.
I tried a little trick that Backwater Ed suggested once.You silcone a 2" section of pvc pipe to the inside of the hull in the flatest space you can find.Pour water in it and set the ducer in it.It reads just like you dropped down an ice hole.You do have to turn up the gain slightly though.

[Dave]

Gus,
No need to search. Vexilar's "update email" said it has such a transducer. I just wanted to hear if anyone has tried one.

From the mail:
The revolutionary new AlumaDucer is the only transducer specifically designed to be mounted in-hull in aluminum boats. The AlumaDucer overcomes the significant signal
loss through aluminum by special construction and internal electronics. The AlumaDucer will work with many existing sonar brands and models. The basic transducer
comes with a universal plug. Along with the AlumaDucer, you purchase an adapter cable that connects the AlumaDucer to your sonar unit.

The email also stated its "Acoustically Conductive Epoxy"; so people quit using the "signal absorbing" silicone.

[Kevin Turner]

I've installed about a dozen Alumaducers. All seem satisfied.
On my demo boat, I mounted two side by side; 1 epoxy, the other silicone. I'm still testing, but I notice very little difference in performance.
By all means use the epoxy provided, but I'm just a curious kinda of guy... Kevin

[EBass]

I was just at Vexilar over lunch to have my FL-18 checked out. It's all good, but my battery or charger is bunk. Any ways, I got a brochure and just today I saw that new ducer. Pretty Slick! Now it's just one more thing to buy along with the new 9V battery.

[hitthebricks]

Ebass, Where is Vexilar at? I need my FL8 tested out. HTB