Hey Jon, how did this turn out?

A raised rack for the bed will be fine.  That’s how I transport mine.  Dan from Lost horizon has a nifty horse he made to load his.  You can check it out on his YouTube channel.  “Lost horizon fishing”

I have a lifted tundra and I just pick it up and put it on the rack but I understand that is  tan option for everyone

Quote from: Aespo90 on May 04, 2022, 03:06:15 PM

Quote from: eelkram on May 04, 2022, 11:30:23 AM

Nicely done!

Thank you!

Quote from: ThreemoneyJ on May 04, 2022, 12:34:26 PM

Awesome. Thanks for posting this!

Sure thing, Hope it helps!

Quote from: Waly on May 04, 2022, 01:51:50 PM

Wow, thank you for providing such a detailed explanation of your process. This is really useful for all of us Stealth owners.

I am just now in the process of installing a Humminbird Helix 5 transducer on the inside of my 460. I'll test out the side scan on the Petaluma River this weekend, but from what you have said, it sounds like I may not get great readings. If I can't live with it, maybe I'll give your project a go.

Thanks again.

  Thanks.  Good luck with your install.. I don't believe side scan will work inside the hull unless the emissive faces of the xducer are completely covered by some medium besides air.  I am interested to hear your report!

You will not get a return through air. So a sidescan installed in hull will not work, even if it is in a water bath. Once it gets past the water it will no longer be able to penetrate. You will be able to use chirp and downscan in hull, but not sidescan unless you get really really creative.

This is what I thought as well.  However, I do get some amount of reading when the kayak is on the wall in the garage.  I can wave my hand past it outside the hull and get a return.

Nicely done!

Thank you!

Awesome. Thanks for posting this!

Sure thing, Hope it helps!

Wow, thank you for providing such a detailed explanation of your process. This is really useful for all of us Stealth owners.

I am just now in the process of installing a Humminbird Helix 5 transducer on the inside of my 460. I'll test out the side scan on the Petaluma River this weekend, but from what you have said, it sounds like I may not get great readings. If I can't live with it, maybe I'll give your project a go.

Thanks again.

  Thanks.  Good luck with your install.. I don't believe side scan will work inside the hull unless the emissive faces of the xducer are completely covered by some medium besides air.  I am interested to hear your report!

Hey Guys,

I see more and more Stealth anglers wanting to install a through hull transducer in the Stealth kayaks that do not have the recess.  I went ahead and performed the install on my 500.  Attached are some photos and a quick walk through of how I did it.

***I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MANGLE YOUR KAYAK.  THIS IS JUST HOW I WENT ABOUT DOING THIS.***

Tools/materials I used - The links used are associate links.  By using them to get to amazon, even if you don't buy the item in the link, but buy something else, I earn a small commission, but it doesn't cost you any extra.

-Caulking Gun (https://amzn.to/3w7mqo0)
-Drill Motor (https://amzn.to/3FjpyRV)
-1" hole saw for fiberglass (https://amzn.to/3yifhUC)
-Fish tape (https://amzn.to/382FGuY)
-Black marker, easy to see on my hull. (https://amzn.to/3OVKrXU)
-Green Powerpro (https://amzn.to/3vKj23I)
-Sanding Block (https://amzn.to/38NKuEv)
-Sand Paper (I used 320 grit) (https://amzn.to/38584g2)
-Masking tape (https://amzn.to/3KL6op4)
-Electrical tape (https://amzn.to/3OXiaAc)
-Marine silicone FOR USE BELOW WATERLINE (I used 3m 4200 in black) (https://amzn.to/3OQ5gUu)
-Custom 3d printed hole sleeve and cover (seen below) (you can contact me if you want to buy this set, its $25 shipped at the time of this posting)
-Rags, lots of them. (https://amzn.to/382ECY1)

I set my kayak on some saw horses upright and removed everything from the inside.  Then I went ahead and removed the rudder form the kayak.  After it was empty and the rudder was removed, I flipped it over so the hull was facing the sky.

I then took some masking tape and attached a piece of green power pro from the bow to the stern as a representation of where the center line of the kayak was.  Once I had that secured and stretched tight, I placed the transducer on the hull by hand where I thought I might like it and traced around it with the black marker.  I then estimated where the wire would have to pass through, so that it wasn't bent at too hard of an angle, but was close enough that it wasn't going to be a snagging hazard on the bottom, I set my plastic printed clam shell over the wire to get a feel for how it would fit with the wire and that the wire wasnt going to be so close that it was rigid and lifted the shell.  Once I had that lined up, I marked a  center point with the marker where hole would go.  For this transducer it is a 1" hole.

I removed the items from the hull, and used the sanding block and sand paper to rough up the space that I traced with the black marker, I took care here to not scuff anything outside the line.  If I were to do this again I would mark a crosshair in the space that extends out about 6" on either side left to right and front to back, that is directly centered with the kayak from left to right, and centered with your tracing from front to back (we will touch on this in a bit).   

Once that space was sufficiently "roughed" I used the 1" hole saw and the drill motor to drill my hole.  There is a couple of foam runners in the hull, they moved fairly easily out of the way.  I then used some sand paper by hand to clean the edge of the hole so that it would not wear on anything passing through it.

Once the hole was clear I passed the connector end into the hull.  It was to far to go from the hole to the outlet in the fish hatch where I needed to extract it so I had to pull it out and attach it with tape to a fiberglass fish tape.  Once I had that secured together, I fished the connector through the hole and by way of kind of jiggling and rotating the fish tape back and forth I managed to work it up to the hole in the fish hatch,  I unsecured the tape there, pulled the connector out of the fish hatch hole and removed the fish tape through the exterior hole.

The hard part was done.

Now that I had the transducer on the outside of the hull, the wire inside the hull, and the connector in the fish hatch, it was time to secure everything and seal the hole. 

I went ahead and applied a layer of silicone on the bottom of the transducer in an even monotonic order so that it was consistent across the entire mating surface, (I put way too much on it fwiw).  I lined up the transducer with the sanded area and pressed it down.  At this point the excess silicone oozed out and covered my marker lines, so I had to eye ball to try and get it straight.  This where the crosshair would have come in handy for centering the transducer.  I cleaned up everything that oozed out. and left the transducer to set.

I then slipped the sleeve over the wire which was now in the hull and used a short length of electrical tape to make a cone around the "bottom" of the sleeve and the wire (this secured the sleeve to the wire lightly, so I had to put it where it would go once it was installed.)  The purpose of this "cone" was to fill with silicone, so that it didn't just pour into my hull.  Once that was "made up" I made a bead of silicone around the edge of the hull and pressed the sleeve into the hole.  This caused the silicone to ooze out around the lip of the sleeve, that was ok because I wanted it to be secure, and it will be covered anyways.  I then filled the sleeve/cone with silicone sealing around the wire where its penetrating into the hull.  This is what actually seals the hole. and prevents water intrusion.

Once that was installed I filled the clamshell piece with silicon and lined it up where I wanted it to go to protect the wire where it went into the hull, and I pressed it on.  Again, silicone ooze was present so I lightly wiped it away and tried my best to clean it up. 

I let it set for about an hour while I cleaned up and then used a plastic razor blade to scrape some of the excess silicone off of the kayak.  I left enough on there that one can tell it was not professionally installed but it doesn't look terrible, and it keeps the water out, while allowing me to see all the things I couldn't with an in hull transducer.  I have since been out on the water a number of times and I do not take on any excess water with this mod.

Edit:  I forgot to mention that I left my original transducer installed in the hull and sealed the cable,  I can actually run both at the same time with my unit, but I dont want the excess battery drain on the water, however if the external transducer were to break or have issues I can quickly swap to the original transducer.

Thanks for reading.  If you enjoyed this consider checking me out on instagram (@blackflag_fishing) and youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uslKldedfJq90gfelHXRw

3d Printed Components below:

Quote from: Aespo90 on April 11, 2022, 08:40:25 PM

Quote from: Aespo90 on February 21, 2022, 08:23:22 AM

Quote from: Otis on February 19, 2022, 01:54:28 PM

A fiberglass kayak and a flush mount, thru-hull, transducer, like something from Airmar, could be an arranged marriage made in heaven. Don’t know if Hummingbird is a dedicated transducer, I believe Lowrance will work with 3rd party transducers, Raymarine will.

I did a quick look at the Hummingbird Helix 7 and what Hummingbird has for thru hull transducers, looks like you are limited in your options, didn’t see anything flush mount.

Overall, it is a cleaver install without having to do any fiberglass work. Do you drain the water out of the transducer box after fishing?

You and your transducer project now have me rethinking rotomold kayaks vs fiberglass.

There is at least one guy running a flush mount transducer on a stealth kayak.  Rod from Rokkitkit On Youtube.

The full time water bath idea is a good one, that's a method alot of guys used in the past (8+ years ago before the hobie x lowrance marriage that ended up unfolding), since all of the transducers needed to be inside the hull at that time.

In my fisha 500 I just glued the transducer into the flat area that is reachable through that access port in the fish hatch.  I used a marine silicone from Goop if I remember correctly, and it works great, however I do not have the ability to use side scan with this method, and I am sure my water temp is slightly off.

Fwiw I installed the 3-in-1 transducer that is exterior of the hull since making this post.  I had to drill a 1” hole in the bottom of the kayak and had to therefore seal that hole.  The most difficult part was getting everything lined up.  I still think it’s out of alignment but I fished it for a couple of days last weekend and didn’t take on any extra water.  The side scan is cool, and the water temps are accurate.  I can also read bottom more clearly probably up to 1k feet or a little more.  It hooked up to my existing elite ti2 head unit.

I'm considering the leap to doing this. Drill a big hole in my hull that is. And when I say considering it I mean I have bought all the parts and a 6 pack and it will probably happen this weekend since it looks like it will be windy out 

That being said I was looking back at your pictures and was wondering what the wings are you have on both sides of your rudder? It looks like it would keep kelp from getting caught in the rudder and I want to do something like that.

Also what adhesive did you use? I was planning on using sikaflex 291, but if anyone has thoughts I would love to hear them.

***EDIT***  I will make this all easier to find in a new thread where I will try and describe the install: http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=98149.0

Hey Man, The "wings" are some parts I designed and made to keep my my fly lined baits and other lines out of my rudder, they also work well for kelp and other trash and nasty weeds like eel grass.  They work quite well thus far.  I had a few times where I had to either get in the water or spin around and lay down to clear my rudder so I had to come up with something.  I know stealth makes something similar but its a hassle to get them from SA.

As for the adhesive I used for attaching everything to the kayak, I use this stuff:  https://amzn.to/3OQ5gUu its 3m 4200 marine silicone.  (If you buy it through that link amazon gives me a commission and it doesn't cost you anything, how ever you might want to check west marine for a better price first).

See pics below of the set of parts I used to seal the hole, and the wire is just for representation.  Keep in mind that I use a lowrance unit, so the unit you use may require a larger or smaller hole for the connector to pass through.

Quote from: Otis on February 19, 2022, 01:54:28 PM

A fiberglass kayak and a flush mount, thru-hull, transducer, like something from Airmar, could be an arranged marriage made in heaven. Don’t know if Hummingbird is a dedicated transducer, I believe Lowrance will work with 3rd party transducers, Raymarine will.

I did a quick look at the Hummingbird Helix 7 and what Hummingbird has for thru hull transducers, looks like you are limited in your options, didn’t see anything flush mount.

Overall, it is a cleaver install without having to do any fiberglass work. Do you drain the water out of the transducer box after fishing?

You and your transducer project now have me rethinking rotomold kayaks vs fiberglass.

There is at least one guy running a flush mount transducer on a stealth kayak.  Rod from Rokkitkit On Youtube.

The full time water bath idea is a good one, that's a method alot of guys used in the past (8+ years ago before the hobie x lowrance marriage that ended up unfolding), since all of the transducers needed to be inside the hull at that time.

In my fisha 500 I just glued the transducer into the flat area that is reachable through that access port in the fish hatch.  I used a marine silicone from Goop if I remember correctly, and it works great, however I do not have the ability to use side scan with this method, and I am sure my water temp is slightly off.

Fwiw I installed the 3-in-1 transducer that is exterior of the hull since making this post.  I had to drill a 1” hole in the bottom of the kayak and had to therefore seal that hole.  The most difficult part was getting everything lined up.  I still think it’s out of alignment but I fished it for a couple of days last weekend and didn’t take on any extra water.  The side scan is cool, and the water temps are accurate.  I can also read bottom more clearly probably up to 1k feet or a little more.  It hooked up to my existing elite ti2 head unit.

Has anyone ever tried a suction mount for their transducer? Im playing around with the idea of finally getting a unit, but im not too keen about putting holes in my boat. Ive wondered about using a suction cup for awhile and in particular the Seasucker vacuum mount. I wonder if you could get creative and mod something out. Would the vacuum suction work underwater? Like could you install the unit underwater? I feel the suction would hold well to fiberglass. Probably would create a bit of drag, but maybe not that noticeable? Anyways just spitballing an idea. PS I really like Rokkits transducer install but that's pretty ballsy to do

I don't want to hi-jack this thread, but I'd like to point out that the only holes you would need with a standard transducer install would be the holes in the deck lid and even then you could some some type of adhesive or Velcro for the units base depending on which unit you go with.  The transducer can be mounted in the fish hatch if you don't have the access port in the side wall of the fish hatch and it just glues in with silicone.  Just make sure there are no bubbles in what ever adhesive you use to attach it.