Transducer mount

Nick Zito

Active member
Took duckin around out this weekend for her maiden voyage, noticed the depth finder I got with the boat only works when I?m going really slow, or sitting at idle. And when I mean really slow, I mean not even really moving. I took a look at the transducer and looks like it should mounted be a little lower And to the starboard another few inches to get away from the lifting strake, but was looking for opinions from more experienced folks.View attachment 9262B2E1-20A7-4610-A6A3-C7F68AE4F4EB.jpegView attachment D4E8BBB6-01A5-4FC3-85A6-CE5430429C4A.jpegView attachment 9F2F2989-C400-4120-9FD7-199CBC86804F.jpeg
 
I would encourage you to move it closer to the centerline and lower than the lifting pad. Essentially you will want you transducer to be mounted in the laminar flow, absent cavitation bubbles.., and vertical if you are operating in deep water, unlike its current mount position. If you move outboard, you will lose your signal when you turn hard to port.

There are a number of King starboard pads that epoxy to a base with multiple indents to maximize surface area adhesion-nothing adheres well to .starboard.

Also, place those mushrooms growing in your wood chips gill side down on a covered paper plate overnight. If the spore print is a light chocolate brown, physically bruise the gill tissue and wait fifteen minutes to determine what color it shifts to from almond white/pink. If there is no color change or pinkish; pretty sure those may be Agaricus campestris I picked a couple of gallons (7-10) of oyster mushrooms (Pluerotus ostreatus) yesterday along with about forty wild strawberries to go with the trout I caught this morning...life is good in quarantine! Wild strawberries are about an inch diameter, but like wild blueberries the flavor is quite intense.
 
Yep, gotta get lower, way lower. Bottom of the transducer need to be in clean water, below the bottom of the hull. Makes it tough when you bottom out the boat at low tide, make sure the mount will pivot up.

And away from the strake, I'd move it towards the center if you can.
 
I used good double sided tape to mount my transducer brackets. Will last forever, no putting holes in your boat, and no strong adhesive to remove should you need to move it. I used the 3M VHB tape. Been on my current boat for 10 years easily.
 
Mark W ... interesting on the tape. I looked and 3M lists 84 VHB products. Can you give a specific product that you used?
 
Sorry, been away from any internet for a few days.

I'd like to say I picked the right one for the job but I just used whatever roll was in my drawer. I wanted a thinner bond line just to keep the area where the water could get to as thin as possible. I didn't run any sealant around the edge, just left it open but you could always run sealant (silicone) around it if desired.

And what I actually did was to bond a block of aluminum to my duckboat and then I tapped in some screw holes to attach the transducer mount. This way when I'm not fishing, i remove the transducer and put the screws in the holes.

There is a 3M helpline number you can call and you would get an expert to answer your question. I could have given you the direct phone number of the expert in this area but he retired the same day I did. The number might be (800) 3M HELPS. Say you want help with a VHB (Very High Bond) tape application and you will be sent right over to someone.

One last thing, the VHB tape is not the same as a double sided tape. On double sided tape, it is a piece of foam with adhesive coated on both sides. With VHB, the whole tape is the adhesive. Much stronger.

Mark
 
Last edited:
VHB tape is a good idea, especially to trial a location. You could always screw the transducer on after you know the location works. I went through a similar trial with mine on the PC23. It worked perfectly as originally installed, until I chopped off the wedges under the hull (too much bow down trim, wet ride). With the wedges gone, the transducer worked, but shot a 10' high rooster tail, like a slalom ski with a hole drilled in the tail. I moved it up about 1/2" and that solved all the problems. The only time it acts up is after being in reverse for a minute. I guess the reverse prop flow disturbs it. Also, it occasionally goes haywire at WOT, giving bogus readings. I don't run WOT in shallow water so it's not too much of a prob.

Here's my location (before wedges were removed).

hail1


I had to fill a few screw holes.
Jim
 
Back
Top