I have recently purchased a new Humminbird 788c GPS/Fishfinder.
When I bought the Spirit of Jason, she had neither a GPS or fishfinder, I had a look around at different systems, I bought the Humminbird because, everything I needed was in one unit, I am new to sea fishing and the ease of use and bright colour display of the unit was one of the reasons I purchased the Humminbird.
Do any other members use a Humminbird, I cant complete the fitting of mine yet, until she comes out of the water, then I will be able to fit the transducer.
Cheers
Russ
what power transducer did u get SOJ. As u mentioned deep drop fishing where u have to locate bottom of at east 800mtrs.
Apart from that Sorry dont know about hummingbird as I have a lorance with a 600W flush mount transducer. There are others who bought the 1000w transducer to better locate bottom for deep drop.
According to the instructions the power output is: 500 watts (RMS) 4000 watts peak to peak. If that makes sense.
Russ
and thats a transom mount transducer i suppose?
yes transom mounted
I have a hummingbird with a transom mount transducer on one of my boats, and can verify that they are a good unit, however on my other boat, the one l use mainly for marlin, and deep sea fishing l am running 2 transducers, a 500w and also a 1kw. They are both fitted in a box (2cm off the bottom of the hull) filled with glissorine fluid and work a treat with no interference whatsoever.
yep thats what i reckon for deep drop with the humming bird u need a 1Kw transducer to see the bottom and get a good reading.
In my idiots guide (the manual) it says Depth Capability 1500ft or 500metres.
Went to the boat today and placed the transponder over the side sitting in the water, got perfect readings, I then placed the transponder, on the hull in the area of the engine compartment, but could only get very poor readings, I dont know how thick my hull is, or if the transponder has to be encased in some type of liquid, to enable it to be mounted inside the hull.
She is coming out of the water Wednesday, so over the next few weeks I will probably end up mounting the transducer on the transom.
Thanks again to all the members who gave me a warm welcome.
I am afraid there will be a few more questions over the next few months and beyond.
Russell
if the boat is coming out of the water. go for transom mount option...its much cheaper, and a much quicker option. When going through hull it is critical that there is no air by means of gaps/space in the hull. The reason for using the dense liquid is to eliminate air...apparently when picking up fish on a depth sounder it is the air in the fish that you are actually marking.
Russ the transducers that twoutes placed inside the hull are made to work that way. U cannot mount a transom transducer inside the hull. there are three types a transom mount, a thru hull and an inhull transducer. they all have their particular mounting place. a thru hull can be mounted as an inhull but will lose some power.
If I were you I would consider all options but an inhull would be less damaging to ur hull if u dont mind a big hole in the bottom of ur boat then a thru hull flush mount would be ideal u get the most power.
I suppose that spirit of Jason is with outdrives (z drive) yes not straight shafts as a transom mount is not good for straight shafts
Yes Shanook, Z drives, the idiots guide recommend mounting the transducer, on the starboard side of the boat, below the water line, which involves four small screws, to install the mount that the transducer attaches to. Then one hole above the water line were the main wire comes into the boat.
So I think I will go that way. The only trouble is any readings I get from the fishfinder will be behind the boat, not underneath it. I suppose with plenty of practice I will get used to the readings and hopefully catch a few fish.
Thanks again for your help and comments sir, I owe you a cisk when we meet.
Regards
Russ
Depends on the frequency you use, 200Hz is a wide angle opens up infront, behind and partly port and starboard of the boat as a cone that gets wider as the signal goes deeper.
50Hz is more of a concentrated cone.
Also remember that in Salt Water you get around 50% less than the quoted depth. So 500m is more like 250m.
Transom mount is ok if you will mostly be using it at slow speed or when stopped. But if you want to troll around I would consider the inhull with liquid.
Thanks again Skip for your help and advice.
According to the idiots guide the 788ci combo, has Dual Beam Plus sonar 200/83kHz.
All I can say at this stage is once I start using the Humminbird, I will let the forum know, what results I am getting, according to the idiots guide, this is an, all singing, all dancing, fishfinder/GPS, but as I say, we will see.
Thanks again
Russ
The 83Hz is only good for fresh water. That frequency does not penetrate through salt water. So in actual fact, all you have is the wide beam 200Hz, which when used in deep water, is not that effective.
i would buy a 50/200 transducer because like gaffer said with the one that you have cant use for deep sea fishing because you need the 50 hz.
So what your saying is I have just wasted €1050.
Russ
The guy in Camilleri, sorry about the spelling, Gzira, the owner I think, nice guy with a beard, asked me what boat I had, I told him, he said that the transducer mounted on the transom, would give me depths of at least 500metres, that was the main reason I bought the unit.
500 meters i believe is not enough....... some guys i know go fish in 700-800m as well with very satisfying results!!! It depends what you are after then!
@ SOJ if you bought it from malta go and tell him to change the transducer from 83/200 to 50/200. tell him the 83/200 is not good for sea water. in 500 meters you caught fish and i think that you said that you bought the miya x4 eletric reel so its good for those depths because its not good for fishing in 700 - 800 metres. its the second time that someone wrote here that he bought a fishfinder from malta and they gave him a 83/200 transducer
83KHz looks good in fresh and brackish water, but does not perform as well as 200Khz in salt water.
(Found that on a site)
Also think I got the cone angles back to front, seems that 200Khz is around 20 degrees whereas 50Khz is around 35 Degrees, and 83Khz around 60 degrees
This might help a bit: http://www.lei-extras.com/tips/transducer/default.asp
Humminbird's DualFrequency Plus sonar system doesn't seem to use 50Khz anymore, not sure why. http://store.humminbird.com/search?q=XNT+9+20+T&t=products
At this stage I would suggest sending Humminbird an email directly and explain that you will be using the unit in Saltwater in the Med and that you're looking for depths up to 700-800m
According to the idiots guide for the 700 series the cone angle is 60 degrees
Just ammended my post above
Thanks for the link to Humminbird my transducer is the XNT 9 20 T
SOJ, how are you with the Humminbird? And how is you setup?
Tks
Edward
Hi Edward
Not too technical myself mate, but I have the transponder attached on the right hand side of the transum, the fishfinder works very well but only up to speeds of around 5-6 knots, which I believe is about right, I have not been in any water deeper than 100 metres as yet but it works fine, but I could not tell you yet, as to the maximum depth the Humminbird works well too.
The GPS and mapping are very good indeed and the maps are clear and precise, although I did have to buy a sim card covering Maltese waters, I think that cost me around €120.
This is the first time I have used a fish finder and GPS system, because I am new to boating,
/fishing but I am very satisfied with the Humminbird system.
I hope this information is something like you, wanted to hear.
Happy Fishing
Russell
Tks Russell,
Yes I went to Camilleri Marine and saw the Humminbird and they look really nice products, but as you know some technical detail they don t even mention it, much more this thing of the 83/200 transducer, and it s not nice knowing that after spending good money. The best thing is that tommorrow I go and check again.
Checked in their web (Humminbird) but as I can see, all the combo s come out with a 83/200 transducer.
Also in the meantime I send an e mail to Humminbird USA asking for their opinion. Their 1st mail was answerd by putting a 50/200 transducer.
Also there is the option of 3D where only the Humminbird and the Hds siries can do it. The difference is that the Humminbird gives deeper 3D readings by changing the transducer and lowrence does not.
If you are after the 1000 ft - 1500 ft region then an 83khz is fine. a marked 1500ft you would be able to see clearly 1200ft. On another note 83khz is not only meant for fresh water only. its also meant for salt water. please visit this link which is technicalities made easy namely ehow
http://www.ehow.com/way_5332277_fishfinder-depth-sounding-sonar-tips.html
Depth reading is factored by the following, Power (not peak to peak) could be misleading and frequency. The deeper you go the bigger the power and lower the frequency. Frequency and power are inversely proportionate.
83 / 200 is the most widely sold transducer all over Europe for cost reasons and it is used by all the major fishfinder brands humminbird being one of them.
Ken Camilleri of Camilleri Marine
P.S thanks for the nice compliment re nice guy with the beard. :)
Hiya Ken
You are welcome my friend (nice guy with a beard).
May I also tell other members of the forum that, yourself and your staff made Marie and myself feel very welcome, you gave us very good advise, because we are new to fishing/boating and it may have seemed to you we were asking silly questions.
Above all you did not pressure us into, buying anything.
In the words of General McArthur.... I shall Return....
Russ
Hi Ken, thanks for the clarification. So the 83/200Hz is good up to around 365m?
What options are available if one was looking for greater depth penetration to say 500-600m