Not penturning but I'm sure yall can help me

[desperado213]

Hey everyone I've been reading threads about using silmar 41 on here for a while trying to help me with a project on my boat. I'm planning on using it to mount my sonar transducer into the hull oh my boat. Ill try to explain it as good as i can.

First I'm taking a 2" long piece of 3" diameter PVC pipe and epoxying it down inside the hull. Then I plan to fill it half way with silmar 41 and then pushing the transducer into it. After that ill fill it the rest of the way with silmar 41.

My questions are: Can I do it in one layer? How many drops of hardener should i use? I cant have bubbles under the transducer so what is the best way to avoid bubbles?

Thanks for any help guys! From what i gathered on the forum is yall are pretty good with Silmar 41 so I thought I'd ask on here.

 

[mrcook4570]

I don't think I would use silmar 41 for that application. It shrinks when it cures, so it will pull away from the pvc (and fiberglass too). Then your transducer and its silmar coffin will be bouncing around inside your boat.

Why not epoxy (not silmar) the transducer directly to the fiberglass and bypass the pvc completely?

 

[desperado213]

i thought about that but I've read a few places that epoxy isnt as good because its thick and risks getting more bubbles which distort the sonar signal. I was just doing the pvc thing because its a method a guy came up with that works pretty well. I didnt know similar 41 shrinks so i guess that wont work. I might just use just normal polyester resin.

 

[benfosterspens]

why not drill a hole and mount the transducer where it should be hull mounted.

 

[turner.curtis]

Why not just cut a ferring block out of some mahogany and do it the way they have been for years. My introduction to mass work working 20 some years ago was as a teenager cutting ferring blocks for all sorts of airmar and GEM electronics OEM and aftermarket transducers. Make it 4" thick and you should be able to match the pitch of the hull with no problems.