Testing Determines Best Location

Ideally, the shoot-thru transducer should be installed as close to the transom as possible, close to the centerline. This will give you the best performance during high speed maneuvers.

1.Anchor the boat in about 30 feet of water. Add a little water to the sump of the boat. Plug the transducer into the sonar unit, turn it on, then hold the transducer over the side of the boat in the water. Adjust the sensitiv- ity and range controls until a second bottom echo is seen on the display. (You'll need to turn off Auto Sensitivity, Auto Depth Range and ASP. Try a range setting that is two to three times the water depth. The harder (more rocky) the bottom, the easier it will be to get a second bottom sig- nal.) Don't touch the controls once they've been set.

True bottom

Second bottom

Manual range setting

Example of a second bottom signal. Unit is in 30 feet of water, with

range set at 80 feet and sensitivity set at 87 percent.

2.Next, take the transducer out of the water and place it in the water in the sump of the boat, face down. (The transducer face is shown in the figure on the following page.) Notice how the signal strength decreases. The second bottom signal will probably disappear and the bottom signal intensity will likely decrease.

3.Now move the transducer around to find the best location with the strongest possible bottom signal. If you find a spot with an acceptable bottom signal, mark the location and move on to step 4.

If you can't get an acceptable bottom signal, try turning up the sensitivity by three or five keystrokes and then move the transducer around once more. If you find a spot that works, mark it and move on to step 4.

If you have to turn up sensitivity by more than five keystrokes to get a good signal, the transducer should be mounted on the outside of the