Coin trick for levelling transducer

fishing or farming

fishing or farming

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone 😊

I’m setting up a new fish finder on my boat and came across this awesome video on transducer setup.

Click this 👇

Coin trick for transducer setup

I know most of us had someone else setup our transducers and looking at how my old one was setup I’m glad I took the time to do this new one myself.

As always family, food, farm and fishing when I can.

Dan
Erie Secrets

011DDFC0-8FCB-473F-A543-3EEE231DCD51.jpeg
 
I used a level with a long tapered wedge that I cut before going out. Slid the wedge under the level at 1 mph and again while on plane. Drew a mark on wedge with a marker both times. The reason I did it on plane is because I like to locate bait balls at 15 or 20 mph. So now I cruise around on plane until I locate bait and then set up rods.
Good video.
 
Or for those of you that have some tools. I use a digital angle finder. But not just for the front to back. But also leveling the transducer side to side. Just zero the reading on a surface you want to reference and use that offset on your transducer.
www.homedepot.com

Calculated Industries AccuMASTER 2-in-1 Digital Angle Gauge 7434 - The Home Depot

With the AccuMASTER 2-in-1 Digital Level and Angle Gauge you can find true level and precisely check angles on any job that requires precise angle measuring: woodworking, engine building and more. The
www.homedepot.com
 
rastam4n said:
Or for those of you that have some tools. I use a digital angle finder. But not just for the front to back. But also leveling the transducer side to side. Just zero the reading on a surface you want to reference and use that offset on your transducer.
www.homedepot.com

Calculated Industries AccuMASTER 2-in-1 Digital Angle Gauge 7434 - The Home Depot

With the AccuMASTER 2-in-1 Digital Level and Angle Gauge you can find true level and precisely check angles on any job that requires precise angle measuring: woodworking, engine building and more. The
www.homedepot.com
Click to expand...
Very cool. Thanks for the tip!!!!
 
Another trick, especially for bigger boats, if you have anti-foul paint on your boat ,paint line or even water line marks on your haul, use that as your datum. Level the trailer so that the paint line or water mark is parallel with the ground, then follow the same instructions as the video.
 
I found when I started trolling for musky at higher speeds that the pitch of the boat increased a fair bit and I had to adjust the transducer to accommodate. I just use a digital level instead of the coin trick though, you can even get a free level app on your phone. I also mark the position with a paint marker too so you can easily see if it gets moved.
 
U-290 said:
Another trick, especially for bigger boats, if you have anti-foul paint on your boat ,paint line or even water line marks on your haul, use that as your datum. Level the trailer so that the paint line or water mark is parallel with the ground, then follow the same instructions as the video.
Click to expand...
I guess that makes sense as long as you sure your waterline is the same sitting at the dock as it is at trolling speed. Mine changes quite a bit.
 
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Don't get 100% caught up on the whole leveling thing! So many of my customers worry about leveling and then time and time again come back with questions about how to achieve high speed readings or amazing images....
Leveling your transducer is a great starting point but being 100% level is not needed in order to achieve great images. I typically am always kicking the back end of my transducers or customers higher than level (remembering with ever change in angle, you will also have to compensate for the height change in the leading edge of the transducer! I also tell my customers to ALWAYS setup your transducer for how you use your boat the most and for how you want to achieve the best images. To me, high speed readings (Marking not only depth at speed but fish/bait) is absolute huge and the most important for me! At 2mph trolling speed a transducer that is not parallel to the water surface (level) is still going to have great images so I concentrate for where I need it to be perfect...and thats at speed! Also, many assume that un-even arch's are caused from the transducer not being level...all though this can be the case if severely angled, its simply not true in most cases. 99% of the time, un-even arches are caused from fish that are on the very edge of the coneangle. If you ever are trolling a long and see your entire screen loaded with severely angled arches (sometimes straight lines on a 45d angle...it simply means that those fish were all on the outer edge of the cone angle and not directly under the boat. Only fish that pass directly under the transducer will have perfect arch's. For high speed running I also make sure A-Scope is turned on (lowrance) which gives me instant real time data telling me I am passing over targets (remember anything you see on 2D sonar already happened and is now history....nothing is current!). A-Scope and Live Sonar (LiveScope, ActiveTarget are 100% real time and happening before you eye's). At high speed fish no longer look like arches but usually just DOT's which can be confusing to some but once you know what you are looking for its an absolute game changer.

Hope that helps...Ryan
 
RyTek Marine said:
Don't get 100% caught up on the whole leveling thing! So many of my customers worry about leveling and then time and time again come back with questions about how to achieve high speed readings or amazing images....
Leveling your transducer is a great starting point but being 100% level is not needed in order to achieve great images. I typically am always kicking the back end of my transducers or customers higher than level (remembering with ever change in angle, you will also have to compensate for the height change in the leading edge of the transducer! I also tell my customers to ALWAYS setup your transducer for how you use your boat the most and for how you want to achieve the best images. To me, high speed readings (Marking not only depth at speed but fish/bait) is absolute huge and the most important for me! At 2mph trolling speed a transducer that is not parallel to the water surface (level) is still going to have great images so I concentrate for where I need it to be perfect...and thats at speed! Also, many assume that un-even arch's are caused from the transducer not being level...all though this can be the case if severely angled, its simply not true in most cases. 99% of the time, un-even arches are caused from fish that are on the very edge of the coneangle. If you ever are trolling a long and see your entire screen loaded with severely angled arches (sometimes straight lines on a 45d angle...it simply means that those fish were all on the outer edge of the cone angle and not directly under the boat. Only fish that pass directly under the transducer will have perfect arch's. For high speed running I also make sure A-Scope is turned on (lowrance) which gives me instant real time data telling me I am passing over targets (remember anything you see on 2D sonar already happened and is now history....nothing is current!). A-Scope and Live Sonar (LiveScope, ActiveTarget are 100% real time and happening before you eye's). At high speed fish no longer look like arches but usually just DOT's which can be confusing to some but once you know what you are looking for its an absolute game changer.

Hope that helps...Ryan
Click to expand...
Thank you for the insights Ryan, I not changing anything till mid season at least, gotta go some measurements and see if I even need a change. An offtopic question: why is Airmar165 MM much cheaper then Navico version. Is it worth considering getting MM and an adaptor cable?
 
Centerspin said:
Thank you for the insights Ryan, I not changing anything till mid season at least, gotta go some measurements and see if I even need a change. An offtopic question: why is Airmar165 MM much cheaper then Navico version. Is it worth considering getting MM and an adaptor cable?
Click to expand...
I'm not 100% sure but the last time I bought one it was cheaper for the Navico version. Talk to Josh and Angling Outfitters and see what he says? Most of my American customs buy them out of Florida and buy the MM
 
RyTek Marine said:
I'm not 100% sure but the last time I bought one it was cheaper for the Navico version. Talk to Josh and Angling Outfitters and see what he says? Most of my American customs buy them out of Florida and buy the MM
Click to expand...
Ok thx,Radioworld has almost 300$ difference between 2
 
TM165HW - MM transducer and adaptor cable was cheaper by quite a bit everywhere I looked as well, that seems to be the way they're heading.
 
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I honestly prefer the MM anyway especially on the more expensive transducers! Easier for resale and in my case they are 25' cables instead of 20
 
Isn't it funny how a coin can do so much. A few years back now we had a new toilet installed in our bathroom by someone we'd never used before fpr such work. It wasn't quite sitting right when he left and of course we didn't notice until one of us went to use it. (It rocked a little bit) We had Finan's in to service our furnace and A/C a couple days later, he took one look, asked if I had a dime, I did, handed it to him, he did a couple small adjustments, then slid the dime under the one side of the toilet, problem fixed. That dime is still there to this day, so I guess it could truly be said, yeah, I paid my dime to use the Sh*^House. :ROFLMAO:
 
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