Water bath method for transducer - ADVICE NEEDED

How thick should the foam be?   How much water should be under the transducer?

Only needs to be just a little under. My ducer sits on the bottom of my kayak in a pool noodle. Water can't be more than a small film under it. Just need enough to not have air under it. My holder is, as a guess, about 1.5 inches high. It is just a little taller than the transducer.

 

  Just have a pocket for the transducer that'll allow water to cover it by half, this way you can know for sure that there are no air bubbles under it.  I keep a small 8oz. bottled water bottle to drown my transducer.  Simply fill bottle at launch, drown transducer, then be on my way.

    Thats how it's supposed to play out.  Lately my mental checklist of things to do before actually leaving the beach has not been complete!   Get out on the water to discover my FF is acting up?  WTH? Of corse I can't reach (Comfortable yet) the transducer, as I have in the front hatch of my OB, so I have to head in!  Then, smack myself for forgetting to drown the darn transducer!  DOH......

prob a 1/4 cup (at most). I normally cup my hand and scoop water in (once or twice)

pool noddle with a notch for water to go down around and under transducer.  I use an old pill bottle (small) which I keep in the pouch above the trans and pour one bottle worth of water into the noodle, seems to work great for a couple of years now.

If you aren't set on using foam, you should also consider doing the duct seal method. Duct seal is a putty-like product that you can mold to whatever shape you want to house the transducer. You can buy it for about $3.99 at Ace Hardware, and it only takes about 5 minutes to install from start to finish. The water bath is the same as the foam method, although the duct seal is removable. I've been using it with 2 different transducers for about 8 months and it has yet to fail me.

You should've ask me when you was over here.I wouldve been able to break it down to you a little better in person.I bought the premolded ones and glued three of them together.if the search function on this site has got a little better you could chase it down in the gearing up section.if its still there, there are pics

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Duct seal is the way to go. It's like clay that never hardens but sticks to the surface forever. Make a holder for the transducer, stick it in there, fill it with water and go fishin!

I've been using Hobies transducer pad for years. Even before I had a Hobie on my X factor I used the pad.
http://m.austinkayak.com/store.php?ID=1745
There're cheap ($3.25) and fit really well. Just goop the pad down and toss a hand full of water around the puck before you launch. Works like a charm, easy, and you can move the unit to another kayak if you need to. I do zip tie the wire rather tight so when I transport my kayak upside down the puck will just sort of hang there and not hit the other side.

Mine's probably 1" high.  I cut the foam a little smaller than the transducer so I'm able to put the TD and water in before I load up at home and it all stays in the foam even though I have to tip the kayak at quite an angle to get it on the racks.  I've had the same foam doughnut for over 5 years, for some reason the goop holding it doesn't come loose, though the yak is never upside down.

I know this is a bit of a thread jack, but if you plan on doing a lot of freshwater fishing, I suggest you look into a way of scupper mounting so that you can get accurate temp readings.  End thread jack.

I like the Liberator so I don't have to worry about what's going on inside my yak where it is hard to see on the water.

Looks stupid but zero interference, accurate temp reading, and I can easily reach it at any time to fiddle with it if necessary.

http://madfroggear.com/liberator/liberator.html

Glad I found this thread. I am seriously considering the water bath transducer setup. I saw on youtube how it was done with duct seal. Does this mounting method give you better temperature accuracy through the hull?  Does a chopped off pool noodle glued down hold water? 

it gives a very accurate temp reading of inside the hull.  But If your not worried about reading the water temp, this is the way to go. I did it like this for a couple years.

 
  One thing to note about FF Transducers, they use Ultrasonic pulses. These Ultrasoinic pulses can generate heat.  If one only uses a tiny amount of water in a "Wet Bath" mount, to form a "Thin film" beneath the transducer, the water may be boiled off.  Remember most transducer were designed to be in the water. (Except those labeled as "Through hull")