Elite Marine

Does anyone have a depth sounder/transducer mounted in the hull of their 24' Pantera? I just purchased a new Faria unit and it recommends calling the boat mfg. to see where the optimum location in the bilge is for the transducer to avoid reinforced areas etc... If anyone can give me some dimensional data from the transom to the location of theirs, it would help immensely.

Thanks In Advance,

Kirk

Griff

In my 28 its located at the bottom of the V and about a foot from the transom.
You should be ok to mount it anywhere in that area. Some boats with steps and cored hulls don't like thru hull transducers, and need them mounted in specific locations. I don't think you'll have any problems. The angle of the V will make it less than 100% accurate as it will shoot down at an angle, but its still pretty close in shallow water.

Elite Marine

I think my bilge pump is located there. So I should mount it in front of the bilge? Thats where I though it should be mounted, the only concern is if it fails, i wont be able to pull it with the motor over it.

IRONMAN

There is some coring material under the bilge pump in my 24 directly above the delta pad. I had a sounder mounted foreward of the pad in the bottom of the V and it worked ok. The manufacturer of the sounder recomended to put some water in the bilge and test locations, the sounder should be able to go through the bilge water, through the solid fiberglass hull and get a reading. I was able to "shim" the sounder with I think it was polyester mender to get an angle closer to 12 deg instead of going through the hull at the 24 deadrise. I have since re-mounted my sender to the transom but the readings are no better so I think that my problem is the depthsounder itself and not the fact that i had it shooting through the hull. Hope this helps. The Ironman.

Elite Marine

Thanks for the input, but my "friend" Pepe at Pantera instructed me to drill a 1/16" or 1/8" hole in the bottom of the boat between the strakes and then core a 4" hole through the epoxy, filler and out to the fiberglass shell!!! I patched the little hole and adhered the sending unit bracket in place with 3M 4200. I'll test it in the Spring. Pepe says the factory sometimes mounts them here.

I may put a larger oil pan on my engine and didn't want to put it behind the bilge.

Scared the hell out of me but actually worked out well. If anyone has ever cored and removed several layers of these hulls, you'll understand how they can handle all we can dish out - Built extremely well!!!!

Thanks Pepe!!! And thanks Ironman