Sounder recommendations?

[hpeer]

Long story short, I want/need a new sounder.

I have a CP-180 Standard Horizon plotter, and a spare, and a raft of expensive Canadian charts, so that stays. I have an unused through hull that was gonna be a speed wheel or something the OP put in.

I have a really old spinner sounder right now, but I need that space for other things, it's gotta go.

Can I use the old transducer with a new sounder?
If not, what is a decent sounder that can use the other thru hull?
Or, is it really important to reuse the same old transducer thru hull and wood block arrangement with a new transducer?

Thoughts please. I'm struggling to get back in the water and want to get this done this haul out, still have a month out, at least.

[Reefmagnet]

Some basic sounders without temperature recording, dual frequency etc will be able to use the old transducer provided the the ultrasonic frequency matches or is even ballpark. You'd need to either look up the specs or try it and see but the latter involves cable cutting so might not be practical.

Modern way to go, imo, is to use an nmea system. From my experience, many instruments use the Airmar transducer, which is NMEA 2000 compatible which kind of future proofs it for later upgrades. Of course the downside is that this is an option in the higher cost bracket.

When I upgraded my boat's instruments, I bashed the old wood blocked transducer from the hull and replaced it with the Airmar that came with my instruments. This required enlarging the hole and I made the bedding out of thickened epoxy. Wasn't a difficult job.