mounting sonar ducer and structure ducer?

[FishON]

I am hoping to get some input on where you guys think would be the best spot for my two transom ducers to go. My HDS sonar workes great when I am searching for fish. BUT, it will not hold bottom at speed.. So, I was thinking of moving my sonar to spot B in the pic below. Then putting my LSS ducer where my sonar ducer is now.
Check out the pics below and let me know your thoughts. I had to take the pictures as I hung off the back of the boat so, the pictures aren't the best.

I marked spots A,B and C in this picture. As you can see my sonar ducer is in spot A


Same picture but, so can see sonar ducer better


Isn't the Side scan going be blocked by my lower unit?

[BentRod]

Make sure you mount the LSS ducer above the bottom of the hull. You don't want it to get knocked off ($200+ to replace) and you don't need it to hold bottom when on plane. I doubt the motor will interfere with it much. I know Todd has the LSS2 ducer which is massive and he thought the lower unit would interfere but he didn't notice anything.

I would play around with that sonar ducer some where it's at before drilling more holes in your hull. It may take a little adjusting to get it to read bottom on plane. From the picture it looks like the bracket could be raised a little bit. You want that midline on the transducer to be right in line with the bottom of the hull (I think..that's how I've done mine).

The LSS ducer needs to be the lowest..just keep it above the bottom of the hull to protect it.

[BentRod]

Oh I reread your post. You cannot put the LSS ducer where your sonar ducer is now. Like I said, it must be lower than the sonar ducer.

[FishON]

Bentrod, after looking at your picture I am thinking I should put my LSS ducer near spot C ....

[mwardncsu]

B or C 1 like BentRod said - just keep it up from below the hull line to protect it. C may reduce any lower unit blocking but not sure (you'd have to trim up less if it does block some at least). Only downside is you are close to the bottom if you rub the bottom and don't have it about the bottom plane.

Also - your regular xducer looks a little low - I bet it throws a heck of a rooster tail. You can probably raise it a little. Think about splitting the xducer vertically with the bottom plane of the boat. Water will make contact when on plane but won't plow it terribly.

[FishON]

I had my sonar ducer higher before. But when I lower it all the way down it seemed to hold bottom better.. My guess is if I moved my sonar ducer to Spot (B) it will hold bottom at speed.

I think the first thing I will do is put the LSS in spot C and see how the side scan works.

BTW- I was flipping through the pages on my old HDS-7 (Gen 1)and I noticed it doesn't have a structure page on it... Will this page automatically activate after I install the structure module?

[mwardncsu]

1st you need to make sure you have current firmware on it - then, go to the advanced settings / Feature section and enable StructureScan and it will show in the screens.

[catfishking]

What is firmware I don't think my Side imaging is working 100% it worked great before I did the last up date after I updated I can't seem to get it adjusted right. Anybody have any ideas?

[catfishking]

FishON I will take a pic of mine tomorrow and post it

[mwardncsu]

Feb 10, 2013 21:24:01 GMT -5 catfishking said:

What is firmware I don't think my Side imaging is working 100% it worked great before I did the last up date after I updated I can't seem to get it adjusted right. Anybody have any ideas?

Firmware = software (but a little bit harder ;D) - just making sure he has a recent enough version of code - if he has an early Gen1 unit and has never updated it then the SS support may not be there.

I'm not aware of anything that changed in recent updates with respect to sidescan. What's not working right? Maybe post up some pics, setting, etc in see thread.

[catfishking]

I hope to get out next weekend I will take some pics

[mwardncsu]

Just saw this on another forum.... take it with a grain of salt as Lowrance support is sometimes not all that accurate , but it seems to coorespond with what BentRod mentions above about an install on other boats.

I was concerned with the length of the LSS-2 as well. At 10.8" from the transom that would require my motor to be trimmed pretty far up. However, I called Lowrance and specifically asked them where the elements are that face the port side since they expect the transducer to be installed on the starboard side of the motor. He said that the furthest port-facing element is about 6.5 inches down the transducer meaning that's all the clearance you would need on the port side. Therefore less trimming the engine to get rid of the shadow.

Now, given you can mount this with the wire in either direction (wire forward or wire aft), I do question this, but.....