transducer install need advice ASAP

[chesapeake albin]

Hello,

I am paying a company to install transducers in my 96' Albin 28

I told the guy it was a cored hull and he assured me I was wrong but if it was they would handle it properly.

I am having a B175 and also simrads structure transducers installed so 3 total.

So I got to the boat and they had cut out the top layer of glass and the core and are saying they want to install the transducers in ONLY the bottom layer of glass.
Is this OK?????
They cut out HUGE rectangles of glass and core.
Why did they not cut round holes and seal the core like any other hole?

I told them I wanted the glass built up flush with the rest of the hull so water doesn't sit in the valleys they cut.

What do I do?

[Jeremyvmd]

Yikes! I would not let them install it like that! You want more than just the outer skin there, not much structural integrity in just the one layer of glass hull. Plus like you said all the water will just sit in those cutouts. Im no expert but it sounds like they are cutting corners to save time and money for themselves!

[catalina_mike]

Check the transducer installation instructions. That scares me! But without reading the manufacturer's recommendation for "no coring" in the way I would refer to Yelp reviews etc to feel better. It is scary to remove the core that adds strength to the hull.. Now if the manufacturer wants it that way and the transducer gets bonded to the hull I would sleep better. My transducer is not round as well but only a leveling block was cut and fit to the hull. You want it looking straight down. They might bond a block to level it out and again I would sleep better if that were the case.

[Jeremyvmd]

The transducers he's using are thruhull so they aren't shooting throuth the coring or anything. Should just be a matte of a 2-2.375" hole in the hull...

[RobS]

Just have a fiberglass guy build up those areas flush with layers of woven roving and mat and then install the ducers.

[djpeewee]

This is not ok. Never seen thru hulls, with round mounting hardware, installed like that before. Maybe they thought they were shoot thru transducers? I would not leave them like that though. Square holes are doomed to cracking at the corners with time. Especially with the thin skin of the glass. They've weakened the hull at and around these holes.

Here's a picture of the hull plug from when I installed transducers in approximately the same locations. If you take out everything but the outer skin and there's not much left.

Hull.jpg

As Rob said, you can get the holes built back up to flush without much difficulty. Just make sure they taper the edges. I would have them fix the square holes and install the transducers properly with a round hole and epoxy "doughnut" around the hole through all layers of the hull.

[Jeremyvmd]

Yea you def want them to round those corners to get rid of the stress risers risk cracking there

[Marcy K]

Chesapeake Albin,

What happened? Were you able to get the installer to to repair/redo the installation of the transducers? Those were pretty scary pics - can't believe that's standard practice for installations.

Marcy K
Paumanok
A 34 1986
Cape Cod MA

[chesapeake albin]

I am waiting for the work to be finished. I think there was some miscommunication to the inexperienced crew actually doing the work.
At this point I think the company will stand behind their work and they are now in the process of fixing it up.

I am waiting before I freak out.....

I will post all the work when its finished. The things that are competed look really good so far, Its just taking a lot longer that expected. Glad I'm not doing this in May.

Thanks
Travis

[Jeremyvmd]

Yea electronics allways take longer than you think they should. I was hoping to be done mine three weeks ago. Lol. Should be done tomorrow tho

I'd keep a close eye on them going forward to make sure it's all done right!