I've been looking at the Lowrance Hook Reveal 7 Splitshot with CHIRP and Downscan.

What I cannot figure out is the size of the transducer and whether it's effective through a 6mm fibreglass hull.
Also how much fuller will it tolerate under it. I'm fitting it into a hull V [90 degrees] with a 16 degree slope to the stern.

I rang Lowrance but could not get any understandable information.

Anybody installed this before and how did you go.
TIA.

Works perfectly through solid fibreglass. Place the transducer in a plastic bag of water and sit it where you want to mount it. Power it up and check.
I installed mine in a Cavalier 28 yacht through solid glass. Mine is bedded in a tube of $4 silicone form the big green shed. Make sure you use plenty of silicone and press it it in firmly to remove any air trapped.

Select to expand quote

troubadour said..
Works perfectly through solid fibreglass. Place the transducer in a plastic bag of water and sit it where you want to mount it. Power it up and check.
I installed mine in a Cavalier 28 yacht through solid glass. Mine is bedded in a tube of $4 silicone form the big green shed. Make sure you use plenty of silicone and press it it in firmly to remove any air trapped.

So what sounder are you using please?

Select to expand quote

troubadour said..
Works perfectly through solid fibreglass. Place the transducer in a plastic bag of water and sit it where you want to mount it. Power it up and check.
I installed mine in a Cavalier 28 yacht through solid glass. Mine is bedded in a tube of $4 silicone form the big green shed. Make sure you use plenty of silicone and press it it in firmly to remove any air trapped.

I did exactly what Troubadour said with a Lowrance Hook2 4x, as did Achenar. Works fine.

Select to expand quote

nswsailor said..

troubadour said..
Works perfectly through solid fibreglass. Place the transducer in a plastic bag of water and sit it where you want to mount it. Power it up and check.
I installed mine in a Cavalier 28 yacht through solid glass. Mine is bedded in a tube of $4 silicone form the big green shed. Make sure you use plenty of silicone and press it it in firmly to remove any air trapped.

So what sounder are you using please?

The same but the 9" display

You can also use blutack to test different positions

Thanks guys.
I tested the existing Garmin at sea today and the b####y sounder was pathetic!

So I will go with a new Lowrance Hook Reveal CHIRP and downscope 7" + free c-maps.

Unfortunately I will have to retain the old plotter as I have my AIS receiver info coming in on that one,
it will do as a backup. No allowance in the Lowrance to connect the AIS receiver that I can see.

Select to expand quote

troubadour said..
Mine is bedded in a tube of $4 silicone form the big green shed.

Off topic, but it is best to keep silicone off your boat. Other stuff will do the job. I used Parfix. Apparently, Blue-Tack will work, too. The most important thing is to avoid trapping air between the puck and the inside of the hull, which might be difficult with Blue-Tack.

Off-off topic. It is really difficult to find a weak gel that does the job, and is not silicone. All the advertisers and manufacturers assume you want something that is strong enough to glue your car to the roof of your garage. Actually, you only need something to keep the puck in place, and to keep air out. I tried several types of goo, starting with Fix-Tech, but it was so strong I damaged the puck casing trying to get it off, as I tried a new position. I also tried wallpaper paste, but it did not set and cracked open as it dried. Parfix works well, and is cheap and easy to get.

Reason for keeping silicone off the boat?

Select to expand quote

nswsailor said..
Thanks guys.
I tested the existing Garmin at sea today and the b####y sounder was pathetic!

So I will go with a new Lowrance Hook Reveal CHIRP and downscope 7" + free c-maps.

Unfortunately I will have to retain the old plotter as I have my AIS receiver info coming in on that one,
it will do as a backup. No allowance in the Lowrance to connect the AIS receiver that I can see.

IConvert does it @ around $300

Select to expand quote

troubadour said..
Reason for keeping silicone off the boat?

Can't speak for the specific poster raising this point, but nothing will ever stick to anywhere silicon has been, even fresh silicon without a lot of surface prep afterwards. It's not even that good a glue and, arguably, sealant. The better goop is polyurethane sealant which only needs to be the cheapie stuff for this application.

When it comes to installing transducers to the inside of the hull, if you have an angle that's too far off horizontal for building up a bed of sealant, you can glue a bit of PVC stormwater pipe contoured to the hull shape, mount the transducer to an end cap, fill the pipe with enough oil to submerge the transducer and then glue the end cap to the pipe. Saves having to put up with a depth reading 10m to the side of the boat!

Select to expand quote

ReefMagnet said..

troubadour said..
Reason for keeping silicone off the boat?

Can't speak for the specific poster raising this point, but nothing will ever stick to anywhere silicon has been, even fresh silicon without a lot of surface prep afterwards. It's not even that good a glue and, arguably, sealant. The better goop is polyurethane sealant which only needs to be the cheapie stuff for this application.

Yup. This. Its OK in a bathroom and a curse in a boat.

Select to expand quote

ReefMagnet said..

troubadour said..
Reason for keeping silicone off the boat?

When it comes to installing transducers to the inside of the hull, if you have an angle that's too far off horizontal for building up a bed of sealant, you can glue a bit of PVC stormwater pipe contoured to the hull shape, mount the transducer to an end cap, fill the pipe with enough oil to submerge the transducer and then glue the end cap to the pipe. Saves having to put up with a depth reading 10m to the side of the boat!

I tried the wet-well approach with water, not oil. I also used a sandwich-box, rather than PVC pipe. I have very shallow bilges, perhaps only about 4", so there was not enough room to install anything taller than about a hand-width. I found it difficult to get a seal around the bottom of the sandwich-box (I used plenty of Fix-Tech) and difficult to seal the lid of the box. The problem was that I needed to get the wire for the puck through the lid, so I could not use a screw-on lid (without twisting the wire) and the clip-on lid of the sandwich box seemed like a good idea. It did not work well. A large blob of the right goo under the puck seems a good approach, especially when the hull is angled.

I stuck my in hull transducer down with sikaflex four years ago still works fine even when occasionally immersed in water . No big deal.

Select to expand quote

Achernar said..

ReefMagnet said..

troubadour said..
Reason for keeping silicone off the boat?

Can't speak for the specific poster raising this point, but nothing will ever stick to anywhere silicon has been, even fresh silicon without a lot of surface prep afterwards. It's not even that good a glue and, arguably, sealant. The better goop is polyurethane sealant which only needs to be the cheapie stuff for this application.

Yup. This. Its OK in a bathroom and a curse in a boat.

Perhaps a case could be made for coating the wetted area of a boat with silicone goo

Say "hello" to Prop Speed! Would cost more than the boat to do all the antifouling with it. And then just imagine the prep required at the next haulout!

Yes, of all the mastic / goo that man has invented, the clear ( sort of ) roof & gutter silicone would be my most despised. I think the black fixtec is closely related but has a good dose of something like xylene to help it melt into polycarbonate, so it sticks to what it's supposed to but I recon even a barnacle couldn't stick to it either

Select to expand quote

Achernar said..

ReefMagnet said..

troubadour said..
Reason for keeping silicone off the boat?

Can't speak for the specific poster raising this point, but nothing will ever stick to anywhere silicon has been, even fresh silicon without a lot of surface prep afterwards. It's not even that good a glue and, arguably, sealant. The better goop is polyurethane sealant which only needs to be the cheapie stuff for this application.

Yup. This. Its OK in a bathroom and a curse in a boat.

Is that all. Where I have put it there will never be a need to "glue" anything else there. I thought there must be some sinister superstitious reason lol. I'm well aware of the issues silicone can cause with other coatings etc. 40 years a shipwright. $4 tube of parfix neutral cure is perfect for bedding the transducer puck.

Thanks for all the comments crew.

I will be getting a Lowrance Hook Reveal 7 Splitshot with CHIRP and Downscan sometime after Xmas.

Select to expand quote

troubadour said..

Achernar said..

ReefMagnet said..

troubadour said..
Reason for keeping silicone off the boat?

Can't speak for the specific poster raising this point, but nothing will ever stick to anywhere silicon has been, even fresh silicon without a lot of surface prep afterwards. It's not even that good a glue and, arguably, sealant. The better goop is polyurethane sealant which only needs to be the cheapie stuff for this application.

Yup. This. Its OK in a bathroom and a curse in a boat.

Is that all. Where I have put it there will never be a need to "glue" anything else there. I thought there must be some sinister superstitious reason lol. I'm well aware of the issues silicone can cause with other coatings etc. 40 years a shipwright. $4 tube of parfix neutral cure is perfect for bedding the transducer puck.

It would be an issue if the silicon glob holding the transducer down let go and had to be re-glued.