Thru Hull Transducer on Nitro Z19 Sport?

[bassmastermatt]

Has anyone installed a thru-hull on a Z19 Sport? I know a couple of guys on here have one.

I know there are a bunch of different heights etc in the back of the boat and was curious if anyone has a suggestion on location that has worked well from them? My normal transducer has a hard time above about 20MPH getting a reading and was thinking about adding a thru-hull.

A picture of install location would be much appreciated.

[Greywalls]

I have a Z19 Sport. I love it, and have outfitted it, more or less, as a multi-species striper rig + family rig. Re: your mention of a "thru-hull," do you mean an actual through-the-hull install, or do you mean a shoot-through-the-hull install? Re: an actual through-the-hull install, I would not recommend it -- it's not necessary or a good investment, in my opinion. Re: a shoot-through, your boat likely already came from the factory with a Lowrance HDI skimmer epoxied in the bilge as a shoot-through. Mine did; however, it never properly worked at any speed -- might have been a bad install, might have been on account of air bubbles forming at WOT from the hull design or even the keel guard...

In any event, don't be too quick to give up on whatever xdcr you have on the transom... I'm running an Airmar TM150 transom-mounted on the port side of my outboard, and a Lowrance SS3D (basically looks the same as the long TotalScan and AI 3-in-1 xdcrs) transom-mounted on the starboard side of my outboard, feeding a Carbon 12 on the console... I am able to keep depth fine all the way through to WOT (which, for my setup -- Merc 150, no jackplate -- amounts to 52mph). No problems or complaints whatsoever.

For my previous boat and then again for a friend's boat, I'd invested quite a bit of time learning how to transom-mount xdcrs so that they function while on plane. The Nitro Z19 Sport is a fairly-easy platform to work with. I'd be happy to send pics of my install if you PM your email. I'd also like to see what your existing install looks like...

The most important thing to consider is that you will need to make sure your xdcr is, in fact, underwater and in clean water while on plane, and that it is neither behind a step or other hull interference that causes an air bubble to form at WOT nor angled in such a way as to cause same along the bottom edge of the xdcr...

Here is the video that initially piqued my interest in figuring out how to run large transom-mounted xdcrs successfully while on plane:

[bassmastermatt]

Greywalls,

I was looking at the shoot thru the hull design, no hull penetrations. I have a Helix 7 with MSI at the console installled flush in the dash and love it. I think I have pretty closely followed the video for install and have the transducer just barely below the bottom of the hull and have played aroudn with it a bit. I tend to lose bottom above about 24mph or so.

Unfortunately my boat is in storage right now, being up in MN. I would appreciate a picture of your install of the transducer if it isn't too much hassle.

Thanks!