Humminbird Side Imaging Forums
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: hutcher1 on March 06, 2017, 05:54:56 PM
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I am a first time Humminbird owner. I purchased a used 2011 Ranger Z118 last summer and it has a Humminbird 898c installed. It has a side imaging transducer installed on the rear transom and a shoot thru transducer installed in the rear floor floor of the boat right in the center. The side imaging works great at slower speeds as expected, as well as the trolling motor transducer on the front of the boat which is connected to a 788c unit.
Since I first started using the boat last summer I have experienced an erratic loss of sonar signal at speeds of 30 MPH. I have had the shoot thru transducer replaced, tried both the 200 and 83 kHz signal, have updated the software on the units and continue to have the erratic signal loss at higher speeds. Sometimes it appears to do worse in choppy water, but sometimes it will lose the signal in fairly smooth water at higher speeds..
Several folks have told me that this is hard to avoid with the step hull design of this Ranger. The air pockets just build up when the boat is at high speeds and/or choppy water.
Any input from anyone on this ? Would appreciate any suggestions for alternative solutions that might give me a steadier signal.
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The challenge with high performance hulls is that there is actually very little of the hull in the water when trimmed out and on plane ...
It is imperative that the shoot thru be installed in the bilge that has constant contact with the water at higher speed when the boat is on pad ...
This means the shoot thru must be as far rearward as possible and as close to the keel line as possible ...
When the boat is up on plane you can try trimming the motor down some to stick more of the hull in the water ... If the depth reading seems to improve, it means the shoot thru is too far forward and that part of the hull is coming out of the water as the boat planes out on the pad ...
It is also possible the hull wasn't properly prepared by sanding and cleaning the install area before the shoot thru was epoxied in ...
I've even heard of rare instances where the hull is delaminated at the install spot and another spot must be used ...
The shoot thru should be (should have been in your case) tested before epoxying to test for performance at all speeds ...
Here is more info on proper preparation, testing, and installation ...
http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=172972&p=1538600&viewfull=1#post1538600 (http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=172972&p=1538600&viewfull=1#post1538600)
Rickie
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Thank you for the great information - very helpful