Dual Fishfinders... On One Boat?

[Markd]

I am thinking about upgrading from a small tiller boat to a larger side console boat with a bow casting deck and electric motor up front. I know I will need both a fishfinder screen at the console, and one at the bow deck for when using the electric motor and casting. I have several questions..

 

What is the most common set up for this type of thing, as far as transducers?

 

WOuld there just be ONE transducer at the transom (back) of the boat that is wired to both screens?

 

OR would it be best to have one transducer on the bottom of the trolling motor and one on the transom, each operating completely seperately?

 

Will the two interfere with one another if this option is used?

 

The reason I see two transducers as better is because it would be a lot more accurate as to what is RIGHT below me, say if I'm jigging. ALso, if I am navigating thru shallow water it would be better to see things before they have already passed the rear of the boat. There can be a large depth difference sometimes over 16 or 18 feet.

 

THanks,

Mark

[NBR]

In my opinion you are better off with 2 transducers. The one on the TM will give you a picture of what is nearest to you and the other when you are running the big motor. When you are running the big motor the picture on the console finder will be from right under the rear of the boat when you are sitting still to some where behind the boat depending on water depth and your speed. It takes some time for the signal to go from the transducer to the bottom and back; how far back depends on depth and boat speed. My boat is 19 feet and at plane I lose the back signal at some water depth. As I recal I lose signal on the console finder at something over 100' of water depth.

 

They can interfere with each other depending on the tranducers distance a part, depth and boat speed.

[FISHINGNUT]

I agree with NBR run two transducers one mounted to the transom and one mounted to the bowmount trolling motor,I added a bow mount to my boat last year and find its helped me stay on the edges of weed lines and drop offs with greter accuracy than running the transom mounted transducer.

[silveradosheriff]

Definately two transducers- I'm using the Universal Sonar through the head of my Maxxum and am very pleased.

[OhioFisherman]

I have two Hummingbirds on mine, one on the console one on the bow mount electric. Two different models of birds, no interference. Having both is the way to go, bow mount lets you know what you are getting into quicker if you are using it. Lot of time the back of the boat is in deep water, bow is in shallow.

 

It can make a difference, caught L/M casting from the bow to shore, and smallies up the drop to shallow water, gives you a better idea of what is going on with the depth.

[charlesn]

not much to add to this, but a high percentage of us bassheads are going to a dual GPS/sonar combo. The way to prevent interference with the front unit is to use the "stop chart" feature on Lowrance units on the console. That way the GPS mapping continues to plot your trail, but the transducer in the rear is disabled temporarily. It takes 2 seconds to do, far quicker than turning the unit off and on.

 

GPS is one of those things that you wonder how you lived without it once you get used to it. The mapping features, the ability to mark waypoints, dangers areas, or even just plot your trail so you know when you've been on an area before or if you're trying to follow a drift that was successful, it will show you minor changes in the wind which could cause you to need to modify your drift somewhat to stay on your lot trails.

 

The side imaging from Humminbird looks very very cool, but is something I have as yet not experienced on the water. Many who have swear by it.

 

Technology advancement is a cool thing.

 

Charles

[Garyv]

I have one transducer at the back that goes to the locator mounted on the side counsel panel and another transducer mounted to the bow mount trolling motor and is connected to another locator ( which I choose to be portable ) that I can move anywhere in the boat, but usually remains near the front centre mount seat.

[grt1]

I'm running 2 transducers for depth finder (lowrance) one is a universal trolling motor transducer and one is on the transom. I alternate the depth finder screen by way of a switch that allows me to switch out one transducer. That way I can use the back when under way and then switch to the trolling motor when I shut down on my fishing spot. I have a 3rd transducer that feeds the hummingbird depth finder that my wife uses in the back. If I have the lowrance set to use the rear transducer and the hummingbird is also on the frequencies interfere with each other and wipe out the signal. So I always turn of the hummingbird when under way.

[fishdawg]

for my tiller boat

 

Eagle fishmark 320 on the stern & the sonar is at my rear electronics console centre - wired to my cranking battery

 

on the bow I have an Eagle Cuda with a Lowrance bowmount trandsducer & I have this unity wired nicely on its own to the same 12v gel-cell batery that I use for my Vexilar. The Cuda is a cheapy, but it'll serve my current needs for now.

 

I have run both units at the same time this way & never had interferenece issues. I am no expert, but I believe it is when two of the same KHZ transducers are used at once then interference is more likely to occur. Example : a bunch of guys icefishing closer together all using 200KHZ Vexilar transducers. But now many of those units have rejection features. (Someone correct me if I am wrong please)

 

In the Future i'll be moving the 320 up front & have a decent Lowrance GPS combo at the back.

[vance]

I have two lowrances at opposite ends and in over 30ft water they interfer with each other.So I just shut one off when in deeper water.Both have the wide cone transducer running at the same frequency but when I bought the second unit the salesman even though he knew it was a second unit either didn't know or didn't care about interferance.

 

vance

[John Bacon]

I run two sonars each with their own transducer. I run a Lowrance on the bow mount and a BottomLine off the stern. Using two different brands solves the interference problem because different manufacturers use different frequencies.

 

This setup may cause interference if you are running the same brand of sonar at both ends of the boat. I think some models are available with dual frequency; that can also solve the interference. Another solution is to simply turn one unit off; you don't usually need the console unit on when you are fishing from the bow and vice versa.

[Cast-Away]

I've got a really great tip for all of you who use two finders with one on the bow mount. When you are trolling, keep the bow mount in the water and use it to see what is coming up. I fish Georgian Bay all of the time and some of the water is tea stained or on cloudy days, you can't see in the water very well, so I keep an eye on the fish finder in the bow and it not only saves me from running up on a shoal that is just under water, it is also a good indicator when the water is getting shallower and it is time to turn the boat.

[Pigeontroller]

Cast-away, thats a good tip, it gives you the length of the boat worth of heads-up on bottom changes.

 

I have a Minn Kota with universal sonar and a Humminbird up front. I think the universal sonar is the way to go, transducer is housed inside the motor casing and fully protected.

[fishdawg]

universal sonar definetly the way to go - the design of my Powerdrive & the transducer wire is a bit of pain right now, but i put up with it

[fishboy]

I agree-the universal transducer is a nice feature.