Depth Finder Mount on Yamaha WaveRunner

[Rustymuscle]

A blog written by Kimber Shaye begins with she and her husband musing about how cool it would be to know the depth of the open water when riding their 2016 Yamaha VX Deluxe WaveRunner. It was all fun and games until they ran aground in a lagoon, which was typically 2-3 feet deep. Thus the hunt for a depth finder began.

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[K447]

Transducer mount: We don’t think we miss out on any performance from the in hull mount. It works really well at speeds up to 15 mph

I found this installation to be questionable. The transducer is mounted to the hull inner liner, which means there is a foam layer under the transducer, between the inner liner and the actual hull. This may affect transducer sensitivity and accuracy.

The transducer is mounted so far forward (right behind the fuel tank) that the hull directly below the transducer will be rising out of the water as it gets on plane. This may be why it does not work above 15mph.

Electrical tape has no place inside a PWC hull for anything electrical. It is not waterproof and can allow the connections to corrode. Heat sealed crimp wire connections should be used.

The wire routing up through the factory cable grommet and the drilled hole through the shroud are similar to my own Yamaha GPS installation. That part seems fine.

The rather narrow mounting base with only two attaching screws gives me pause. The plastic shroud has some strength, but riding in rough water may flex the Yamaha plastic and/or loosen the mount.

I would also suggest adding a lanyard/cord to keep the GPS unit from falling into the water, should it pop loose from its mount.

[Mr. GP1800]

A few of us have mounted Garmin or equivalent units to our skis. I fabricated aluminum blocks that attach to the ride plate to use the transom mount transducer. There is someone else in one of the Facebook groups making brackets that mount to the boarding step attachment. Even with the transom mount I only get depth reading up to 45-50 mph at best

[maxadrenaline]

I am on my third Waverunner with the GPS/Charplotter mounted thru hull and it works as it should. I even use the fishfinder.
Siliconed the transducer aft but in front of the pump tunnel off to the side. It works fine. No bubble interference. Several of us use the same method.

[K447]

... the GPS/Charplotter mounted thru hull ...

Through-hull normally refers to a transducer mounted in a hole through the hull, not to a transducer mounted entirely inside the hull.

http://www.raymarine.com/view/?id=199

https://buy.garmin.com/en-CA/CA/on-t...ducers-p1.html

[maxadrenaline]

Through-hull normally refers to a transducer mounted in a hole through the hull, not to a transducer mounted entirely inside the hull.

http://www.raymarine.com/view/?id=199

https://buy.garmin.com/en-CA/CA/on-t...ducers-p1.html

ok. Thanks for the tech. Mine is stuck inside the hull with a glob of silicone. Clean the crud off with alcohol put down a glob and stick the sending unit in the glob. Done. 3 pwc and success everytime.

[Reaper9789]

ok. Thanks for the tech. Mine is stuck inside the hull with a glob of silicone. Clean the crud off with alcohol put down a glob and stick the sending unit in the glob. Done. 3 pwc and success everytime.

I know this thread is pretty old, but im wanting to mount basically the same fish finder from the article in my GP1800. where inside the hull are you mounting the transducers?