Ripped out, ripped off, and other meanderings

Yep it's gone. About the only thing you can say about this install is whoever did it apparently couldn't read, because the directions tell you not to use the sealants they did, and at least two types were used. The second layer was smeared on no doubt to stop the leaks found after the first layer was glopped on with a precision that could only have only been done by a drunk organ grinder's monkey, or maybe just a drunk organ grinder. And I don't even want to know what that disgusting black stuff was in the lower corner. Okay, I won't contest the fact that this is the only place on this boat for a in-hull transducer to be mounted, and that it is damnably difficult to access. So what makes this so irritating, is the previous owner ripped it out before he sold the boat, thus ripping off the new owner.

For the new owner, it's bad twice. The transducer that was removed by the parsimonious, and previous owner, herein I will just refer to him as Scrooge. He left the mess behind, and never told the new owner he had done it. He had taken everything else too, including the anchor, all of the lines, and anything else that wasn't nailed down. No doubt the transducer ended up on Ebay. The real shame about this is the transducer was an Airmar M260 inhull unit, the mother of all standard transducers with a 7 element 50 kHz array, and a 200 kHz element all thumping with 1000 watts of power. This unit could have been made to work with almost all current sounder modules. The unit new is about $750 give or take, and maybe about half, or less than that used if it is all there, the housing wasn't cut at some wonky angle that won't allow it to be re-cut to fit your boat, and the gaskets are included.

The new owner bought a P79 inhull transducer that I installed. Cajun cooking recipes often start with first you make a roux, and in this case I start with first getting rid of the goo, which took some time, and a lot of gummed up 80 grit sand paper, chisels, putty knives, and other weapons from my arsenal. 

The point of the story is that the new owner did not look very closely at the boat before purchasing it, and the sales contract did not specify what was supposed to come with the boat. These two mistakes were costly. The owner and I went to West Marine to buy three shopping carts full of basics like an anchor, lines, life preservers and other essentials, and the effort to clean up some of the damage left behind added to the cost of the new equipment installation. If you're not going to use a surveyor prior to buying your boat, then look at it closely, and I mean really closely. Take a good flashlight, and illuminate all of those nooks and crannies. Don't forget a screwdriver to open access covers. Get a bill of sale online and spell out in it what is to be included with the purchase. Before you sign it, make sure that what was specified on the contract is still with the boat. Don't get sucked in by "pretty". And if you're selling a boat, I think it is always worth more with the electronics and accessories left with it. Don't be a Scrooge, karma will get you, if I don't first.