210 FSH "Perfect" transducer setup - What is it?

[JASmith]

Hi, this is more of a brain storm thread than anything. I've done searching and found a few of you guys have done some pretty creative things to mount transducers on your FSH and I may end up following one of those in the end, but I always like to do the brain exercise "What would be the PERFECT solution".

Currently I have a Garmin 8610 head unit and the Force trolling motor that has the integrated transducer, it's the full monte with side scan, etc. So it's really good when the trolling motor is deployed, but useless when stowed. I'd like to have all that functionality put in the hull or on the transom, somehow, and still retain full side scan abilities. As you are probably keenly aware, there is so much stuff blocking side to side on the transom that I can't imagine a way to have a standard transom mount side scan be any more than about 50% effective. I'm slightly tempted to mount it to the bottom of the keel, as risky as that is.

I'm from Minnesota, so Freshwater, and depths typically less than 100 feet, until we get to Superior... maybe.

If you were to do it again, what would you do?

 

[Liveto99]

Waiting
I’ll mount another one if someone has it perfect

 

[JASmith]

Well I guess nobody else really has the answer either!

I think the THP series of transducers is probably as close to perfect as I'll be able to get. Essentially it's two thru hull transducers, one mounted on each side of the keel. One would probably have to be mounted just in front of the speed sensor on the starboard side, and the second mirrored to the opposite side of the keel.

This is the product and there is a couple pictures that show how it works.

Garmin GT51M-THP | Thu-hull Transducers

The Garmin GT51M-THP is a pair of thru-hull transducers that is ideal for coastal fisherman who want traditional, CHIRP ClearVü & CHIRP SideVü scanning sonar.

buy.garmin.com

I'm most worried about the bunk boards hitting them at a windy boat launch though. Might have to pair them with trailer guides just for a little extra security.

 

[Dixemon]

I just made a bracket mounted to the rideplate. I'm not sure if it's good until this weekend. I'll report back when I get it tested. I like the through hulls, but there so damn expensive.

 

[Dixemon]

So i got a chance to check out the transducer placement this weekend. The good news is that it reads depth at higher speeds (Approx 25mph and below) than it did with the alternate placement pictured above. Also, the echo and chirp work flawlessly. The bad news however is that in side scan i still have about half of the port side of the screen shadowed out. Apparently the Keel is interfering with scan, so i will be looking for a new location again.

 

[Beachbummer]

On my old boat I used one of the bottom outside bolts as the place to fasten an aluminum piece, and angled that down to get the transducer underwater and with no holes. Have not installed another one, but I thought that was pretty slick at the time.

 

[Mark TN]

You have probably looked at everything on the forums but just in case you didn't see it I am pleased with my location on the 210fsh
Transducer location.

 

[Dixemon]

That's pretty much where mine is located as well, I may need to play with some settings also, I wasn't in water over 12' while I was testing so may have something to due with that as well.

 

[Mark TN]

Close but since I went to the lower part of the plate closer to the keel I don't have any issue with the keel interfering with the side scan.

 

[JASmith]

You have probably looked at everything on the forums but just in case you didn't see it I am pleased with my location on the 210fsh
Transducer location.

I couldn't quite tell from the pictures, is your side scan perfect both ways? I do like the look of what you did!

If not then I might be just sucking it up and doing the split/dual transducer in hull.... ugh it's going to be a gross project, but I feel like it should be everything I could ever ask for.

 

[Mark TN]

I looked again at my pictures and would probably say that there may be some interference from the keel. My idea of dropping the transducer another 1/4" may help it. I could probably go down a 1/2" without being too deep. I will tell you that when I am on the water I don't really notice that fact the the right side may be slightly degraded. I was fishing in 3 1/3" of water on Saturday with light milfoil and could see the weeds in great definition on both sides of the boat.

I thought I would do some research and draw out the 52 degree side view beams on CAD to determine exactly where the transducer should be placed to avoid any interference but I can't find any detail that shows exactly where the beam patterns exit the transducer. It obviously does not go out from horizontal or my setup would not work at all. When I am back on the water I will try to do some better analysis and pass it on if you are still interested. Unfortunately remnants of the hurricane will likely make my weekend rainy so it won't be this weekend.

 

[JASmith]

Yeah I’d definitely be curious what you find. I’m not making any decisions immediately. I’m in Minnesota so I’ve got about 8 months to figure it out really.

 

[vesder21]

so after all of that where is the "perfect location"? lower center, lower left/right or mid left/right?

 

[Jeremey.Smith]

Mark do you still get solid picture in neutral? I have mine on the ride plate as well but I lose all picture in neutral. I don't have the Starboard installed like you do though

 

[Mark TN]

I finally had a chance to be on the lake yesterday and can offer a little more definitive answers but I never seem to be able to put all questions to bed. I certainly do have degradation to the starboard side so over the winter I am going to put a 1/4” spacer to see how much that improves things. As for what mine looks like in neutral I don’t have the the most definitive answer for that. I was in a river that had some current and that along with the boat not sitting still as I was trying to check things out may have made things better than it would have in other conditions. Look at the speed in the photos. Everything under 2mh was me trying to get a pic of the display when I was in neutral. Don’t know if any of this helps either of you but I thought I would share what I learned. Sorry some of the images aren’t that great. Trying to take pictures of the display in bright sun can be challenging.

 

[vesder21]

@Mark TN thanks for the update! So to summarize from your thread you mounted your transducer to piece of starboard that I assume was attached to the right plate by drilling through the right plate?

Now you were saying that you were going to add another 1/4”starboard (spacer) to make the transducer drop even lower under the boat? If so I think I’m going to mimic your set up!

 

[JASmith]

Well I finally pulled the trigger on a transducer install. With a little help from my father in law who has buddies who work in a machine shop, we fashioned a bracket.

This might be the beta version, I can already see it might be a hair lower than I want it, and I may try to change it to a C shaped channel instead of the S shape, and definitely angle the front. But we will see how it functions first.
It’s made from 1/8” 316 stainless sheet, bent, drilled and plasma cut out the notch for the wiring. The brackets length is the same as the ride plate so we reused the ride plate bolts to attach the bracket. They are extra long anyway. We backed the plate with washers to take up the space where the bolts used to recess into the ride plate so it wouldn’t deform when tightening.
I’m still waiting for the 5200 to cure on the hull pass thru and cable screws.
Here are some pictures!

 

[Neutron]

Well I finally pulled the trigger on a transducer install. With a little help from my father in law who has buddies who work in a machine shop, we fashioned a bracket.

This might be the beta version, I can already see it might be a hair lower than I want it, and I may try to change it to a C shaped channel instead of the S shape, and definitely angle the front. But we will see how it functions first.
It’s made from 1/8” 316 stainless sheet, bent, drilled and plasma cut out the notch for the wiring. The brackets length is the same as the ride plate so we reused the ride plate bolts to attach the bracket. They are extra long anyway. We backed the plate with washers to take up the space where the bolts used to recess into the ride plate so it wouldn’t deform when tightening.
I’m still waiting for the 5200 to cure on the hull pass thru and cable screws.
Here are some pictures!

I would be concerned about it getting hit. That seems very low. Why so low?

 

[HangOutdoors]

For Side Vue. Garmin recommends 5% max angle from lowest part of hull.

@JASmith
I think you are going to create yourself some issues.

The front part of the SS in front of the transducer is going to act like a trim tab. It is going to cause you some issues and possible spray. Also depending on the angle of the boat while underway it could create a downward pull The part that is horizontal sticking out in front and to the sides. You want nothing past the sides or in front of the transducer when it is mounted that low. I used the deflector, as can be seen in the first pic below, but I have since taken that off. Additional Pictures show without. It was mentioned to me by a guy, Joel, from West Marine when I was in the store and he does a lot of custom installs. You don't want anything that will increase surface area on a horizontal plane or in front of the transducer. It causes undo stress on the mount as well as can throw spray and change boat handling or act as a trim tab. I have had mine out in the water and no issues after changing it.

The other problem I see, and it is hard from the pics, is that the back of the transducer should be angled slightly down, recommended by Garmin Support. So mine is about an 1/8" at an angle from the boat. But it should be something you can adjust if needed, hence I used bolts in this Alpha version of the mount. So I could experiment with different angles of the transducer, depending on how the boat would be sitting fully loaded for fishing.

I would also recommend a C type mount so that it negates any possible vibrations or torsion.

I used aluminum instead of SS. No spray, works perfect. Went with aluminum in case I hit something it would sheer or tear off much easier than 1/8" stainless steel. Would rather have the mount tear off than something worse. Aluminum is much more corrosion resistant as well I believe.

Figure when I get around to it, I can have a shop fabricate me a one piece aluminum mount with bolts/screws to attach the transducer so that it can be adjusted. Like in the standard stock mount.

 

[HangOutdoors]

After removing top plate.