Im picking up a lowrance x4 fish finder and I wanted to do mount the transducer to shoot through the hull of my aluminum canoe.

First off, is reading through aluminum possible?
Secondly, the thread about this is archived so I can't read it.
Third, can I do it with the standard 60 degree reading external transducer or do I need a special one.
I plan on doing a silicone puck under the front seat if it's possible to read through aluminum and if I can use the basic transducer for that application.

I know basically nothing about how those electronics function, but I do know there can't be air bubbles in the silicone. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks in advance!

The last I heard on shooting thru aluminum boat hulls was that it was possible but required a special transducer.
Canoe hulls (being quite a bit thinner than boat hulls) may be different.
Personally, I would not hesitate to go the suction cup route. It's not as much of a nuisance as you might think and it's quite possible that you will see better performance overall from your locater.

If you've got some spare time it might be worth playing around with on a local lake.  Suction cup it to start and run it over a section of lake a few times to get a feel for how sensitive it is.  Then mount it in silicone and run the same section of lake.  That will give you a good idea how much, if anything, you are giving up in sensitivity for the convenience of the permanent mount.

Something else you could try on the local lake is to put ½ inch of water in the bottom of the canoe and set the transducer in the water and see if it works as good as the suction cup.  Try to put the transducer away from the edges of a aluminum panel.  If the boat has any kind of keel try to stay at least a couple of inches from it.

i got my hands on the lowrance x4 this morning. pretty slick unit. fleet farm had only the basic kit, so no suction cup or battery pack. i plan on heading to radio shack to pick up some battery clips. being that it runs off of a 12v battery i assume the 8 AA's are linked in series to create the 12v power. im going to mount the transducer on a thin block and use velcro to attach the mount under the canoe instead of the suction cup. industrial velcro is water proof and holds extremely well. i cant wait to play around with this thing

I would be concerned about the velcro becoming packed with mud and debris and then failing but I'm interested to see if it works. If you want suction cup ordering and fabricating info just let me know.
Did you by chance get the color version of the X4? If so I'm envious.

i got the straight up x4. not the pro(i heard not so good things about that one) and i think the color version is the x4 elite?

as for the battery pack, i assume i can just link 8 AA's in series with basic battery holders. is there anything special i would need beyond that? just make sure the fuze is on the hot wire to protect the unit.

Radio Shack has 8xAA battery packs in a couple different configs and the connectors. All are cheap (less than $5).
Use alkaline batteries for goofing around and testing etc. but on a trip Lithiums really are much better saving weight and increasing run time. DON'T forget to turn off the unit when you are done using it! One set of lithium batteries can get you through a trip of nine days using the unit judiciously (just when fishing). Two sets should allow using the locater whenever you're on the water.

2nd that last post by KF.  I like to troll a lot as I travel and one set of lithiums won't quite do it for a long trip.  I find 3 sets of lithium will generally get me thru a couple 9-day trips with heavy useage.  It would take 5 sets of alkaline to do the same, roughly.

gonna have to get to radio shack tonight. i really wanna use this puppy. our trip is going to be 7 days and we do a lot of trolling. plus i plan on doing some underwater mapping. i would say heavy usage.

Hey Jax,

Each AA battery is 1.5 volts so 8 in series will give you 12 volts. Most units actually have a working range of from 10 - 16 volts or so, so you can also use a 10 pack which will give you more battery run time. Also, since you have the straight X4, you will have less power consumption than with the pro so good move there. I got the Garmin Echo 100 last spring and its about as close to the X4  as any unit out there. I don;t use it as heavily as you intend to, basically just checking for occasional depths, reefs and drop offs then turning it off. On my spring trip, using regular Alkalines, it lasted the whole 5 days easy. The last 2 days I kept it on all the time I was fishing to test when the batteries would wear out. They didn't ( 4-5 hours a day). I then used those same batteries on a few more trips that summer, although not keeping it on all the time. Even if you take 2 sets of back up batteries, the AA's are so light its way better than standard portable set ups. I have some pics of mine so I'll post some (they are also posted on BWCA.com). As to your hull, I have heard aluminum may not work but I heard teh same thing about cedar strip hulls and it works fine shooting through my cedar strip hull. I used a foam cut out siliconed to the hull, add a few drops of water and then place the ducer in there. That way my transducer can be removed for car topping and winter storage etc. I put the battery pack in a starfritt water tiight plastic container from Walmart.

Moonman.

You have received suggestions of using lithium batteries and you have also received suggestions of using 10 batteries.  I have found that 10 alkaline batteries work better in my unit than 8 alkaline.  Lithium batteries are a higher voltage battery than a alkaline battery.  In other posts it has been stated that some detectors work better on 8 lithium than 8 alkaline and I think this is because of the higher voltage.  I would be concerned that a 10 pack of lithium batteries may over voltage many detectors.  Two good pieces of advice added together might equal bad advice.

Magicpaddler makes a good point. You should check voltage requirements for your specific unit before any wiring is done. Most manuals are online, although not always easy to find.

Moonman.

I got the X4 last year (not the x4 pro) and used 8 alkaline. Didn't even think about lithium/alkaline.  Pretty heavy use for 4-5 days, forgot to turn it off one night and still had >8v left. Also somewhere read or was told to add a fuse so i put an inline fuse in there (3A?). Don't know if the fuse is necessary.

Fuse is necessary for safety of the unit but there should be one inline on the power cords that come with the unit. It will work without the fuse but you are taking a risk re a power surge.

Moonamn.

moonman wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 6:48pm:

Fuse is necessary for safety of the unit but there should be one inline on the power cords that come with the unit. It will work without the fuse but you are taking a risk re a power surge.

A 3 amp fuse is relatively common for this kind of unit.  It should be placed on the hot (red wire) side.   Accidental grounding is your biggest risk of a power surge ... like, say, getting water in the circuit some where (and when does THIS ever happen on a canoe trip!).

dd

no it didn't come with fuse parts but i did get the in-line fuse holder and fuses from radioshack. i also used a 'project' box that they sold for 3.00 to house the batteries n such but really don't like it. very small metal screws thread into plastic. the box moonman used sounds like a far better casing.

mine came with a 3a fuze and housing for it. i have it all set up. runs on 8 aa batteries on a $3 thing from radio shack. reads as 12.5 volts. i got the battery pack in the long slender shape so it fits inside one of my small waterproof tackle trays that velcros everywhere. thanks for the great info!!

Magicpaddler wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 4:42pm:

You have received suggestions of using lithium batteries and you have also received suggestions of using 10 batteries.  I have found that 10 alkaline batteries work better in my unit than 8 alkaline.  Lithium batteries are a higher voltage battery than a alkaline battery.  In other posts it has been stated that some detectors work better on 8 lithium than 8 alkaline and I think this is because of the higher voltage.  I would be concerned that a 10 pack of lithium batteries may over voltage many detectors.  Two good pieces of advice added together might equal bad advice.

Re: Lithium vs Alkaline batteries.
Magic Paddler is correct about the voltage differences between the two types of batteries. Additionally each type "decays" with slightly different characteristics. With alkaline batteries there is initially a fairly quick drop in voltage to about 11.5 volts and then the drop becomes very gradual. You may not notice it but performance is also decreasing gradually as the voltage drops. First thing you may notice is that your locater will not find the bottom in very deep water. That starts happening at about 10.5 volts and is generally not a big problem as far as fishing goes since you're not going to be fishing bottom in over 100' anyway. You also might notcie the display becomes a bit lighter and more difficult to read in bright light. All of that said, with alkaline batteries your locater will probably function reasonably well all the way down to about 9 volts as long as you fish in less than 60' of water. The good thing is that you can constantly track the decay of alkaline batteries and predict when and what the problems are going to be.
Lithium batteries behave differently. As MP pointed out they start at a higher voltage and maintain that higher overall voltage much longer than Alkaline batteries providing much better performance for a much longer period of time. The problem is that once the voltage drops below 11 the decay can become quite rapid and unpredictable with a variety of problems in the performance of the locater. Weird stuff can happen like the locater will not  turn on the next morning or it turns off unexpectedly or the display gets unreadable etc. Regardless of these minor annoyances lithium batteries will outperform alkalines throughout their lifespan which is somewhere between 5 and 7 times alkaline batteries. Yes, they are worth their much higher cost.

excellent info! i got the monitor mounted on a piece of plastic  with velcro so its easily moveable to either seat of the canoe or other canoes. all you need it a 4" x 2" strip of the hooks side of velcro and you are ready to go. i plan to make a streamlined piece for the transducer mount as well, although that isnt going as smoothly as i had hoped. im struggling to design the bracket to be thick enough to securely hold the screws, but also thin and streamlined enough to eliminate most of the drag. the suction cup unit has quite a large plastic piece used to secure the cup so im leaning away from that plan.

ive got the plastic mount for the underside of the hull created and it just needs to be sanded and shaped, pics to come soon

all done!
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Very sweet. I'm sure you will be happy with it. The best thing is the super small size, weight, and great features of the newer finder units. And cheap. You can't beat that!

Moonman.

nice job, very clean. patent pending?...