Skimmer vs. Thru Hull?

[Fluker]

Ok guys, I just made the order. I'll be replacing my front and back LCX 15MT's with LCX 28C HD's! I'm PUMPED. (Hey Dietz, nice of me to be upgrading your boat for you eh?)

Wondering if I should mount an additional skimmer transducer for the dash 28. Is sensitivity THAT much better that a thru hull? My front 15 seems more sesitive than my back one, and that is the only difference. So my thought was, mount a skimmer and a thru hull and put a switch on my dash. Use the thru hull when running high speeds and switch to the skimmer when idling and I need the extra sensitivity.

Also, does ANYONE have any experience with the NMEA 2000 networks? Trying to get some questions answered from someone with experience.

Thanks

Chuck

[RK]

Hiya -

Generally speaking, you get about 10% signal degredation with a thru-hull transducer. That assumes a perfect installation (no air bubbles in the epoxy, or in the glass beneath it). Performance loss gets magnified under conditions where you're going to lose performance anyhow, like high speed or over a soft bottom. I guess it sort of depends on what you need the console unit for. If you're looking for baitfish or suspended fish, a skimmer will perform better. As far as high speed performance, as long as you have your skimmer placed properly, you shouldn't experience any loss of signal running at high speed. As long as it has a clean stream of water to run it, it'll work just fine. If it were me, I'd just put on a skimmer and be done with it.

I've rigged some LowranceNet systems, so may be able to help with that as well.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Fluker]

Hi Rob, thanks for the info. Any negative to running only a skimmer other than drilling holes in your boat and having something hanging off the back?

I'd love to have a quick chat with you about the LowranceNet if you might have time. Shoot me an e-mail if you see this and maybe we can talk today.

thefluker at gmail (Contact Us Please) com

Thanks,

Chuck

[Deitz Dittrich]

my unit that I have mounted through hull is actually more sensitive than my unit on my t-moter... but that may have more to do with all the scratches on that one from running it into rocks.. LOL...

Serious.. I dont feel I have lost anywhere near 10% from mounting it through hull... I still mark fish and baitfish...

[EBass]

My name is EBass and I'm a skimmer. Only thing I can add is to make sure the skimmer ducer is well below the water line. Mine is about 1/2 under the hull and it looses signal when going fast in lakes. (jon boat) But in rivers it's fine.

Could that be because rivers are rock or very hard bottoms while on lakes the signal just isn't reflecting fast enough over the mud to relay back to ducer? I dunno, but I need to move my ducer down a bit.

It sucks when my lowrance says 26 feet all the way across the lake when at full speed, while I know it gets deeper than that. Hmm, I'll do that over the holiday.