Transducer Mounting

[Sandmannd]

When I got my boat, the ducer was mounted on the back of the boat. It was just screwed right into transom. It's pretty loose though and flops around causing me to loose bottom, especially at hight speeds. What's the best way to fix this? I was thinking of mounting a board on the transom and then screwing the ducer to that. What type of board is the best to use for this?

[marine_man]

I would pull the transducer off the back of your boat, get stainless steel screws that will stay tight in the back, put some silicone on the hole (and make sure that gets on the head of the screw), and tighten the screw up against the hull.

Then, install a plastic transducer board. Yes, two more holes in your boat, but if you ever change transducers or have issues you're not adding more.

If you end up needing to put the board where the old screws are, drill shallow holes in the areas that interfere with the screws you just plugged so the board can sit flush. You can mark the area by holding the board where you want it, and take a dead blow hammer and tap / hit the board rougly where the screws are... pull the board off and you'll see the indentation for the screw heads.

marine_man

[PerchJerker]

Most skimmer transducer can be tightened from flopping up by tightening the screw that holds the transducer to the transducer bracket. Loose is good because they'll kick up if you hit something, possibly saving you from having to replace the transducer - loose is bad because driving fast will kick them up and you'll lose your reading. You need to find the right balance. I have mine pretty tight so it stays when I'm running WOT.

If the bracket is loose on the transom you need bigger screws (holes stripped?) and some silicone to hold them in place and stop water from getting in.

[Sandmannd]

Both great ideas, I like the idea of the plastic transducer board. Where is a good place to get those?

[BoxMN]

You can find them at the Worlds Outfitter, not sure if Gander has them.

Also, there are waterproof poprivots that work great. I get them at Nelsons Marine for like $.10 each or something. A few sizes available. I still silicone them, just to be safe

But we also have SS screws in some holes of some of our duck boats, and they work fine too, just not as purty

Actually, we just used silicone all by itself on about 8 holes, and they held up just fine, not screws or rivots, for about 6 years... until we put the waterproof pops in...