Eagle Fishfinder

[Nigel_Ward]

I am considering buying an Eagle FishEasy fishfinder, but would prefer to hear of other people's experiences with them (good or bad) before parting with my cash. I will be using it as an echo sounder in a 19ft sailing cruiser. My main concerns are whether or not the transducer works when epoxied inside the hull and also are they really better than echo sounders? Also are there other basic models which work well and scan to an adequate depth for seagoing?

 

[longjohnsilver]

Should be fine for what you want, suggest you use silicone sealant for transducer, has always worked well for me and not permanent, should you want to move it.

 

[Guest]

Silicone works well but remember that this takes some time to cure properly and while the outer skin seem hard the inner might not be.
rotate tranducer with either epoxy or silicone to remove a bubbles,
do not install on a sandwich hull or greater than 2 inchis thick
remember that if installed at angle on the hull the depth is faulty, I don't think that the eagle has a keel offset in the menu if not try Garmin 100 this will do the same and has offset.

adobe

 

[lezgar]

In this price band I think that the Humminbird Piranha 2x (£99.95) or the Humminbird Wide 150SX (&119.95) are better options.

 

[TonyMills]

I have a 'FishEasy'. It works fine as a depth sounder from 1 metre to 45metres (thats as deep as I have been. The fish traces seem to work, although my catch rate hasn't improved much. It seems more accurate as a fishfinder in waters up to 20 metres, but I'm not certain of this yet.

My boat is a fibreglass motorsailor with a shoal draft keel. I installed the transducer into glicerin filled chamber. The chamber is a short length of plastic polly pipe with a screw fitting lid. The pipe is epoxied to the hull. The transducer is bolted to the inside of this with the transducer head not quite touching the hull. The glycerin is well over the transducer to keep it effective when the boat heels.

You have to be careful that the hull structure where you put it is suitable. Solid fibreglass is best. If you have a foam or balsa core glass sandwich hull it is suggested that you cut through it get bast the balsa and foam. It seems like a good idea from the transducers perspective, but I wouldn't willingly weaken the hull!

You should move the transducer around the hull to find the best spot, you can do this using water and a plastic bag.

I searched around and found some useful websites, but I dont have the adresses now.

Best of Luck

TonyMills

 

[Nigel_Ward]

Thanks for the replies, they are all very useful. I will certainly not epoxy the transducer in as the proposed methods (silicon sealant or glycerin bath) sound much more practical.
Does the standard transducer work effectively when the boat is heeled if it is fitted inside the hull?