TexasKayakFisherman.com

Just now getting back into kayak fishing. What adhesive do y'all recommend for mounting a fish finder transducer to the inside of your kayak hull?

Clear Lexel. Clear. Strong. Water resistant. Doesn't cloud when wet.
SASHCO 13043 Lexel Synthetic Rubber, 5 oz Tube, White, Voc https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BQPFAS/re ... cEbKH70GC6
I mounted mine right behind the tank well of my 'Cuda 12.


Kirk B.

Thank you very much. Will be fishing Lake Somerville a lot and will need it.

The important thing with mounting in hull is to make sure you don't have air bubbles in the glue between the transducer and hull; it'll cause bad readings. If your unit has a temperature reading it'll be slightly off as well; bubbles or not.

Oh, and I used Lexel as well when I installed my transducer 10 years ago. When I removed it this past summer it took quite a bit of hard prying to get it out.

I used a epoxy to mount one in my old Malibu , the previous post was correct . It is very important to get all the air bubbles out between the trans. and hull. Good luck on the mount and you’ll love Summerville I plan on doing much more freshwater this year maybe I’ll see you out there. Luckily my current yak has port for a transducer mount I may put one on but undecided still.

How do you guys haul your yak after the shoot through the hull transducer is in? I hauled my kayak Keel up and had to remove my transducer about every 2 years and reglue due to air bubbles. With my new depth finder I am going over the side, need to go deeper though.

Keel up. Lexel is flexible enough that I haven't had issues this past year and a half.
Inflexibility is one of the reasons I chose against epoxy as a bedding material. Loading my boat on a ladder rack by myself is pretty rough on the bottom of my kayak, at least as far as the bottom flexing during the process.



Kirk B.

When I had the Malibu I would just put it in the back of my truck never had an issue . I have a trident 15 now without a finder unit . I do plan on getting one just can’t right now. I’ll try to post a pic of how I haul it but this site usually doesn’t let me post pics

Thanks for all the replies. YAK DOG : I live right on the lake and I plan on being out there a lot. Don't even have to load my kayak, just strap the cart on it and roll it down to water.

OVERRUN wrote:Thanks for all the replies. YAK DOG : I live right on the lake and I plan on being out there a lot. Don't even have to load my kayak, just strap the cart on it and roll it down to water.

I hate you. Just thought you should know.


Kirk B.

When I get out there I plan on camping at the nails creek unit, maybe we can get together . You should have all the hot spots pinned by then .

Duct seal, about $3.50 for a pound block of it in the electrical dept. of HD or Lowes. I roll and press out first a 1/4" layer and press that flat against the hull...I use a heat gun to promote a little more "fluididity" but not much. I also warm the x-ducer up a bit, again not much. Press the x-ducer into the 1/4" flat layer. This is all in an effort to keep air between the hull, first layer of duct seal, the duct seal and x-ducer. Then I build up more around the perimeter. My screen is clean w/o any aberrations to speak of...still works great after 2 years of use.

Does epoxy even stick to polyethylene?

I use a polyethylene table to make my 12V submersible green lights, which are encapsulated in epoxy. When I'm done, I let any spilled epoxy blobs set up and scrape them off the table. It takes very little pressure to break the bond between epoxy and the PE. (If it's epoxy that hasn't set, I use 91% or 99% isopropyl alcohol.)

My concern is that the epoxy will stick to the transducer and not to the poly. That makes a do-over impossible. At least with Clear Seal or silicone, I can scrape the transducer clean if I mess it up.

On a related note, has anyone ever tested a transducer before and after to see how much it attenuates when mounted thru the hull, as opposed to outside? "Clear readings" are a subjective thing...

Hmm. Need to do mine.. Lexcel or duct seal? My Cuda LT is thermoformed and just sitting it on the bottom actually gives me okay readings vs. in the water.

Just don't want to end up with a big mess

My current transducer is slung over the side using 1/4 inch PVC. I have not been able to do shoot through the hull very well , and the scupper hole transducer only ruined my transducer.

Mine is Lexel'd in the back hatch of my '14 Cuda 12. I never tried it over the side, so I can't comment to the differences. I do know I have no problems seeing fish with this setup. Catching fish, tho......


Kirk B.

I have it done both ways. In my kayak I have it in hull In my canoe, it's over the side....sorry no pic.
With the in hull application the graph reads perfect with no issues. However, the water temp reading is not accurate. Over the side application, the graph reads perfect and temp is accurate too. On the in hull application, I cut a slot under the foam support block that was already in the kayak and used clear silicone adhesive to secure it. I cut the slot a little too big so had to wedge a piece of plastic on top of it to hold it down against the hull. It's been in there for 3 yrs with no issues coming loose and I store mine upside down. In hull, It's out of your way and protected from possible damage with the trade off being inaccurate temps. Over the side, its sometimes in the way and prone to damage but you get accurate temp readings. Personally, I like it in hull.

Well, I used duct seal and it's not working. I'm getting funky readings. I'm sure it's an install error, but what should I do different?

Follow-up-

Took everything out. Cleaned with alcohol. Took duct seal and rolled it flat per other advice in this thread. Nice and even. Formed some small edges. Put transducer into duct seal and is now working great.

scrapiron wrote:Follow-up-

Took everything out. Cleaned with alcohol. Took duct seal and rolled it flat per other advice in this thread. Nice and even. Formed some small edges. Put transducer into duct seal and is now working great.

Gotta say, I didn't see much wrong with the previous screenshots Looked like a typical echo on a hard bottom, then echoes where the signal bounces one or 2 more times between the surface and the bottom. You'll see a strong bottom at (for example) 5', then another, weaker echo at 10', then another at 15', until the signal gets too weak. (Edit: the 2nd and 3rd echo may look slightly deeper than 2x and 3x, depending on how you set up the offset for how deep the transducer sits in the water)

The one anomaly was identifying fish in the echoes (deeper than the actual depth), and I'd guess that's a problem with the algorithm the unit uses to identify fish. Possibly, that could be adjusted in the settings. Or turn off FishID and interpret the fishy arches by experience rather than electronic magic.

Along those lines, did you adjust your settings when you remounted the transducer? It would be great to see the before/after photos...

Aaargh, didn't take pics! I'll do it this weekend.

Pretty sure my original install was a mess- air gaps, uneven duct seal. Rolling out the duct seal made sure it was even. I didn't change any settings and the second install did exactly what I'd expect when the transducer was in the water- consistent readings with one bottom.

I hear what you're saying, but the 1st install was giving me just weird output.