I just bought this boat and it already had a Humminbird 998cSI mounted. The problem that I am having is it loses the bottom when I get on plane. Thinking that the transducer was mounted too high, I made the aluminum bracket to allow me to lower the transducer bracket as you see in the photos. The transducer was originally mounted where the aluminum bracket is now mounted. I now have everything as low as I can get it currently. I took it to the lake and it still loses the bottom when I get the boat on plane. Am I still not low enough? I can modify the aluminum bracket to allow me to go lower. Do I need to move it closer to the centerline of the boat? The manual recommends 15" outside the centerline so I think that I have a couple inches there to play with. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Ranger Bay 2000
Yamaha F-150
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
Riley, you will always be in my heart, I will always love and remember you. Thanks for the 8 years.
RIP my Puppy Dog 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
If your on plane, I would guess your going pretty fast. The reason you are losing bottom return is the speed. Your unit is outrunning the return! By the time the return gets back from the bottom your unit is out of the transmission/receive cone! Slow down a little. Depending on water depth, your signal will take more or less time, to hit bottom and return!
If your on plane, I would guess your going pretty fast. The reason you are losing bottom return is the speed. Your unit is outrunning the return! By the time the return gets back from the bottom your unit is out of the transmission/receive cone! Slow down a little. Depending on water depth, your signal will take more or less time, to hit bottom and return!
I actually lose bottom right before I get completely on plane. The boat will only run about 43mph wide open. If it loses bottom at that speed (even though I have never heard of a depth finder losing bottom based on boat speed), the unit will come off my boat.
Ranger Bay 2000
Yamaha F-150
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
Riley, you will always be in my heart, I will always love and remember you. Thanks for the 8 years.
RIP my Puppy Dog 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
quote:The reason you are losing bottom return is the speed. Your unit is outrunning the return! By the time the return gets back from the bottom your unit is out of the transmission/receive cone! Slow down a little.
Dang, how fast do you reckon that boat is going, Easy:question: My BS meter is going off now Sonar works on high frequency sound waves. They travel through water at 1484 meters per second, that’s nearly 1 mile per second, or about 3000 mph. Unless you are breaking the air/sound barrier, speed isn’t the problem.
Bowhunter, looking at that picture, your transducer is way too low. It should be flush with or just slightly below the hull. It is turbulence causing the loss of reading. Bring it up almost flush, then experiment with different tilt angles. Just a degree or 2 in tilt can make a big difference. It may help to move it further starboard to the flat close to the trim tab, and bring it up almost flush to that.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Small craft surveying and repair
I corrected myself Cracker, after I researcher it! I won’t try to make excuses, I owned it I could have just deleted my dumb azz answer and played dumber than the answer:wink:
Cracker, the transducer was originally mounted in the 3 holes that now hold the aluminum bracket. At that point , it was fairly flush to the bottom of the boat (at least the bottom of the boat at the transom) and it still lost bottom. I agree that it has got to be turbulence because I had a friend drive my boat while I watched over the transom to see what was going on. In the original position, there was a lot of turbulence so I assumed that going lower was what I needed to do. I will move it back or maybe up some and play with the angle. If this unit won’t read bottom depth at cruising speeds, it is useless to me. I have spent the night on a mud flat waiting on the tide because of a faulty depth finder.
Ranger Bay 2000
Yamaha F-150
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
Riley, you will always be in my heart, I will always love and remember you. Thanks for the 8 years.
RIP my Puppy Dog 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
You are mounted way too far from the center of the boat, plus it should be level with the boat bottom. Take it to a reputable dealer!!
Marsha
35 Contender
The installation guide recommends at least 15" outside the prop spin. I am in that range. I wish that there was a way to move it around and experiment with different locations without drilling a bunch of holes. Any ideas about this anyone? Here are a couple of pictures after I moved it back to the original location it was at when I bought the boat.
Ranger Bay 2000
Yamaha F-150
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
Riley, you will always be in my heart, I will always love and remember you. Thanks for the 8 years.
RIP my Puppy Dog 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
I think the problem is the hull and not the transducer. With a full pad and a large first liffting strake the hull is designed to create a lot of lift and run primarily on those surfaces on plane. The area outside of that will see a lot of aeration.
I would call Ranger and ask them what they recommend for transducer placment.
I had the same probloum and I was told to move it to the other side of the boat .
Well… I did t work so don’t go drilling over there to, ( it won’t help) or at least it didn’t help me.
They’re theory was there is not as much pressure coming off the prop. Sounds good but like I said , didn’t work for me.
I just slow down in waters I don’t know and only fly in the waters I’m sure about!
Good luck and if u do find a way, (without buying a new depth finder )
Let us know
In the old days, when I was much younger…, we used epoxy and put the transducer inside the hull, centered in the back. I’m not sure of your boats design, but it might be an option to consider. Ranger should know if you ask them. I do know that you can’t have any air bubbles in the epoxy and the transducer must be in firm contact with the floor of the boat.
I had a lot of issues with my McKee not showing depth on plane. It was due to aerated water from the hull. I eventually found the sweet spot after scouring a lot of McKee forums.
I agree with everyone else here, find out from Ranger where to mount it. You should have no problems with it keeping bottom, no matter which brand you have.
In the old days, when I was much younger…, we used epoxy and put the transducer inside the hull, centered in the back. I’m not sure of your boats design, but it might be an option to consider. Ranger should know if you ask them. I do know that you can’t have any air bubbles in the epoxy and the transducer must be in firm contact with the floor of the boat.
I thought about this but I would lose the side imaging. My current thought is to move it closer to the center of the transom even though Humminbird recommends 15" outside of the prop. That would get me behind the pad under the middle of the boat that you can see in my last pics. Move it to port about 6"-8". I have sent Ranger an email asking what they suggest.
Ranger Bay 2000
Yamaha F150
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
Riley, you will always be in my heart, I will always love and remember you. Thank you Lord for the 8 years.
RIP my Puppy Dog 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
transom mount transducer placement can be somewhat of a black art, voodoo, endeavor.
the unit is mounted outside the step on the keel-transom, but it may not be far enough away to have clean water on plane.
the bracket moved it WAY to deep. you can get a MUCH larger piece of starboard and mount it using the existing holes, and move the transducer around, but i dont think the side imaging sonar is designed to work on plane
transom mount transducer placement can be somewhat of a black art, voodoo, endeavor.
the unit is mounted outside the step on the keel-transom, but it may not be far enough away to have clean water on plane.
the bracket moved it WAY to deep. you can get a MUCH larger piece of starboard and mount it using the existing holes, and move the transducer around, but i dont think the side imaging sonar is designed to work on plane
I am not expecting the SI to work on plane. I just want to know how deep the water is. Cracker Larry also recommended moving it more to starboard on the flat next to the trim tab. That might be my next move instead. I am extremely frustrated with it. I have contacted both Ranger and Humminbird via email and am waiting to hear from them but anything that I can try in the meantime. I was able to send Ranger one of the above photos so maybe they will be able to help.
Ranger Bay 2000
Yamaha F150
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
Riley, you will always be in my heart, I will always love and remember you. Thank you Lord for the 8 years.
RIP my Puppy Dog 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
Well I heard back from both Ranger and Humminbird today. Both companies say that my transducer setup will not work and that I need to purchase a 2D transducer to use when on plane and splitter cable to attach it to my boat and depth finder. Humminbird also offers a cable that will automatically switch between transducers while Ranger says that I may need a switch that I would use manually to switch between the 2 transducers. Kinda disappoints me that Humminbird makes such an expensive unit that does not work like most people would expect it to. While I did not purchase the unit specifically (it came on my new used boat), it is still a $2000.00 depth finder GPS combo. Don’t think that I can recommend it.
Ranger Bay 2000
Yamaha F150
Molon Labe!
Until you have loved a dog, part of your soul remains unawakened. - Anatole France (paraphrased)
Riley, you will always be in my heart, I will always love and remember you. Thank you Lord for the 8 years.
RIP my Puppy Dog 10/15/2004 - 1/14/2013
That sucks…I have a similar hull design and this is where I placed my Lowrance transducer. My boat does about 43 wide open and I still get a great picture at that speed. I know you were talking about moving it centerline and thats what I did. I figured it was far enough back from the lower unit and at the lowest point on the boat…
Sonar works on high frequency sound waves. They travel through water at 1484 meters per second, that’s nearly 1 mile per second, or about 3000 mph. Unless you are breaking the air/sound barrier, speed isn’t the problem.
I could have just deleted my dumb azz answer and played dumber than the answer:wink:
