Thread: HB 898 Transducer

send pictures of transducer mounted,also mount on a wide plate and you can move it without adding more silicone,some of the guys will tell you what you need to do

mine does it too. i think its the big transducer [hb] if you find a fix id like to hear it

It’s all about getting the transducer mounted in an area on the hull that does not have a bunch or air bubbles mixed in with the water that flows across the transducer – something that cannot be done on all boats, especially aluminum ones. Make sure you do not have the transducer mounted behind a rib, strake or any rivets to begin with. Typically the deeper you can get the transducer into the water the better off you will be but this has the nasty side effect of exposing the transducer to damage from underwater stumps and such as well as sometimes kicking up a roostertail of water.

One thing that helps is to get the transducer farther away from the transom as it will help to move it into more air-bubble free water. A transducer mounting board is good for starters as it does move the transducer away from the hull but only a little bit. Adjusting a transducer for high-speed depth readings is often a game of very slight changes where an eighth of an inch makes all the difference. I once helped on an aluminum boat that we ended up with the transducer mounted to a piece of 4 X 4, but it worked great at high speed!

Thanks for your replies I put the boat in the water this morning with the adjustment back to 1/8 to 1/4" below the hull. The HB will read at higher speeds but with the air bubbles. Maybe try the boards later but I need to play with DI and SI to under stand what I am seeing at this time. Lake Guntersville does not have alot of under water objects any more but will learn to take snap shots and post some later.

Again thanks for the replies

Originally Posted by G3fisherman

Thanks for your replies I put the boat in the water this morning with the adjustment back to 1/8 to 1/4" below the hull. The HB will read at higher speeds but with the air bubbles. Maybe try the boards later but I need to play with DI and SI to under stand what I am seeing at this time. Lake Guntersville does not have alot of under water objects any more but will learn to take snap shots and post some later.

Again thanks for the replies

Here's an analogy to help in SI/DI perspective...

The DI image on the display is "as if" you were standing on the bottom of the lake looking sideways at structure...

The SI image on the display as "as if" you were hovering above the boat looking straight down into the water...

Rickie

G3, I don't use SI when I'm going WOT but rather 2D and sometimes combo 2D with map ( if I don't know the water ).

Regarding Guntersville, there is a lot you can look at. I would first start looking at things you can notice out of the water like rip rap, grass, laydowns, bridge pilings, floating docks and did I say grass.
You'll also want to get out on known ledges to see its reflections. I'd check out the ledges from both the deep side and shallow side.

Well Stymie this is my first SI/DI unit and I have tried to look at some bridge pilings, creek channels, drop offs since I installed the HB but still not sure about want I see. I have fished Guntersville nearly all of my life (69 years old) so I do know alot of drops. But I don't think I have seen any grass any where in this lake..
HA HA

Ha ha!! I remember when I first got my 898 and was over at the mouth of Honeycomb. Thought I found the mother lode of scattered fish, but all I ever caught were clunks of suspended grass!!

Hard returns like bridge pilings and posts from docks should be some of the first things to look at, as well as the grass edges, but that's for another reason.
If you can't get a good bright return from pilings and posts, you may have the sensitivity too high. If you can see those bright returns, knowing how wide they are, you can interpolate what a 5 foot diameter object like a piling or a foot long object like a dock post or FISH looks like on the screen.
The fish don't always give as bright a return as those objects though, so what I do when searching them is to turn on the SI enhance sharpness to low. It makes a grainier picture, but the fish stand out more like a dock post. If I see a bunch of dock posts haphazardly arranged off to the side, I typically stop and fish.