Is this transducer in the correct spot?

I’ve got a 17 foot Quantum fiberglass boat, kind of a low riding bass boat. I got a Helix 10 SI for Christmas and just installed the transducer today. I think it’s in an ok spot, but I’ve seen so many issues based upon it being just a few inches off, I’d like you all to look at the pics and let me know if you think it’s in the correct spot. I hope to get on the water in a couple weeks, so I’ll have a better idea then, but want your opinions now in case I need to move it prior to going out.

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I don’t have any major problems with the placement but are you absolutely sure the motor can’t hit it? Also think about the cone angle coming from the ducer. Will the motor be in the cone angle?

I do think it is a little low or exposed below the hull. It doesn’t need to be that far below the hull. You might get a rooster tail from it. I also think it could create some turbulence or an air pocket at higher speeds and not get a solid reading. It may be ok too. If the answers to my first two questions is no, I’d say try it.

I agree with Biggill about it being too low. bring it up to where the bottom face of the ducer is at the same level of the bottom of your hull so it doesn’t “dig” into the water. I think you will have less of a roostertail and a clearer reading at high speeds.

Even when your boat is on plane, the hull will be under the surface ever so slightly. You should place the bottom face of your transducer about flush or slightly below flush of the hull. No more than 1/2”.

At the risk of showing lack of knowledge, where is the hull? Is it where the white part meets the maroon part?

To me it looks perfect cause I’d hate to have to move it without a transducer board…that said, if the transducer allows, I’d slid it up as far as I could. I’d have mounted slightly higher then the bottom of the boat.

Tip, if you have a water line on your boat, you can use that to level your ducer.

Chris Aker wrote:

At the risk of showing lack of knowledge, where is the hull? Is it where the white part meets the maroon part?

There’s never a dumb question. You’re only dumb if you don’t ask.

The hull is the entire bottom surface of your boat. Your transom is the back surface. You bolted your transducer to the transom where it meets the hull. Ideally you’ll want the transducer about flush with the bottom or hull of your boat.

It could be too deep but it won’t hurt to try it. If you can’t get a bottom reading going wide open throttle you’ll want to adjust it.

On the Facebook group I posted this question, some say it’s fine, some say it needs to be moved. The majority feel that having it right on the bottom like I have it will increase the risk of damage due to a stick, log, whatever. The feeling seems to be that I should move it up and to the right a bit, around 12-15 inches. I just wprry it will be out of the water when running fast, which will keep it from reading while I’m running on plane.

Definitely too low. If it were mine, it would be further to the right , but your kind of handcuffed at where you are without going a long ways right to avoid the disruption of the keel raise. Ive had all of mine mounted at risk since 08, and all of them run at speeds for me (top end 43) but it takes some tweaking. You dont stand a chance of that running at speeds at that height. (never lost a transducer to a strike, mounted at risk) ((edited to change left to right)

Thanks. I think I’ll be moving it to the right and up a bit. I expect I’ll move it more than once, but hopefully it won’t take to many tries to get it correct. How far up would you go?

If I move it up and right, to just below the hook where the trailer strap connects, will the little plastic tube sticking out right below where the transducer would be get in the way of the readings? That tube is the drain for the livewell, and I can’t move it. Let me know if you think that spot would work.

Chris
I can’t get a real close up view to see but is your bracket slotted with the 2 screws that mount to the hull? Can you slide the ducer up? What i mean is, loosen the screws and push up the ducer and then re tighten the screws. The transducer bracket has slots where the ducer can be slid up or down to help get a good reading. As Bob Clowncolor mentioned, get a transducer board. Use an existing hole you already made to mount the left side of the board to and cut it to fit and set a 2nd screw on the right side of the board. Then you can experiment with mounting your transducer bracket by screwing it into the board vs a number of extra holes drilled into you fiberglass hull. Just make sure your screws aren’t to long to where the go all the way through the board and then onto your fiberglass hull.

Thanks for the info. I’m still pretty confused. Some people are telling me that the transducer needs to be at least 12″ from the motor, which would be 12-18 inches to the right, and up a bit. Some, like you bullcans, say it’s ok where it is, but maybe just a bit higher. If I need to move it over, then I will most likely get the transducer mounting board, but if I only need to move it up, I think I can do that just like you said, but loosening the screws and sliding the metal bracket up. Maybe I should wait until I get it on the water before I try to move it around? Does that seems best?

Its definitely too low. If you are moving slow it will be fine, but when you get up on plane its going to throw a rooster tail and catch debris floating in the water or worse get torn off by something and most likely have terrible readings at speed.

At the very least it needs to go up by just loosening the screws in the bracket and if you can get it so only 1/2″ or so is below the bottom of the hull you should have great results. If that is not possible in its current location and you are open to moving it, mount it to the right of the livewell drain. If you do move it, make sure to thoroughly seal empty holes from prior location with a very good waterproof sealant.

Thanks CaptMusky. I’ll get to the adjustments Thursday or Friday. I may have additional questions once I get back to it.

It does take some practice to get it right. When I bought my boat it was “professionally” rigged (term loosely by dealer), but I had poor performance. I monkeyed with it and was able to get everything figured out. I have since added additional transducers for structurescan, etc and have gotten the mounting and alignment down at least on my boat. You want to look at the bottom of your hull for anything that may be in line with your desired location. Avoid putting it in line with a rib in the hull or other things like rivets (you have a glass boat it appears so no worries there). Basically avoid anything that could cause turbulence in the water. At slow speeds they wont matter but will affect performance on plane.

I appreciate your advice. I hope to get it set up properly, since this is my first Helix SI. I assume I’m going to have trouble dialing in everything, and I don’t need additional interference due to putting the transducer in the wrong spot.

Does the SI have regular transducer? That looks ;like a SI only transducer which won’t work over 5 or mph any how

HDS unit have separate 80/200 transducer for high speed with regular sonar

I think the standard transducer that comes with the Helix 10 MEGA SI GPS is the XTM 9 SI 25 T
From what I’ve been reading, it sounds like guys are able to use it at trolling speed as well as up to 40 mph. The transducer mount position seems to be very important as to whether or not the thing will work at fairly high speeds, which is why I’m obsessing over getting it correct.

mwal wrote:

HDS unit have separate 80/200 transducer for high speed with regular sonar

Most of the new HDS units come with a totalscan transducer which will do 2D sonar, side and down imaging all in one transducer.

Search Humminbird SI Transducer placement on youtube, there’s a great video showing how to properly pitch your SI transducer. You use coins and a small level to figure out your boat’s riding angle at scan speed, you then set the same amount of coins to get level while the boat is on your trailer and then set the ducer angle.

Thanks JoeMX, I’ve seen video on YouTube about using the coins, and actually plan on using that to level the transducer once I get to that point. Right now I’m just trying to figure out exactly where to put the thing. An earlier suggestion in this thread said to move it to the right of the livewell drain. I’m going to try that, as long as there’s enough boat there to attach it to. Then I’ll do the coin thing.