Mounting a transducer..To drill or not to drill?

[brushpile]

I have a fish finder on the bow of my boat with the transducer mounted on the trolling motor. Nice for staying on top of a crappie brushpile, but pretty useless for finding new areas to fish.

I am going to put either an Eagle 480 or a Lowrance x 135 on the dash and wanted to know about mounting the transducer back on the transom area of the boat.

It's an aluminum boat and I wanted to see if I should drill into the boat and if so, what do you use to keep the holes from leaking (silicone??)...

I believe I've also seen where someone glues a cutting board to the transom area and mounts the hardware on that to keep from drilling into the hull below water level?

Any advice or ideas would be appreciated..

[ShilohRed]

I used a 3/4" piece of plastic board on the back of mine. I can move stuff around and theres no holes below the water line. Mine is bolted down with 2 screws at the top of the board.
But a thick cutting board will work just as well. And sure keep the screws out of the hull. Never could keep them from leaking .
Pete

[gofish]

I drilled holes in my transom when I mounted my transducer. One lesson that I learned....measure twice, drill once. I replaced my Humminbird with a Lowrance and of course, the mounting holes for the transducer did not line up. More holes. I used a piece of rubber from a bicycle inner tube as a washer to prevent leaking. These washers need to be replaced from time to time but work fairly well at keeping water out. I also put silicone in/around the old holes.

[Mr.T]

If you drill, just coat the screws with silicone before you put them in, then cover the heads completely with more silicone and you're done.

Cabelas sells a nylon board about 3/4" thick just for this purpose, but you still have to mount the board to the transom somehow. I installed mine with two big screws and a bead of silicone around the perimeter and in the screw holes and on top of the screws. No worries.

[Lil Hooker]

My buddy with an aluminum boat just welded a small plate and screwed the transducer to that instead

[brushpile]

Welding a plate to the boat. That seems to make the most sense to me.

Thanks,

[Blue Duck]

I have drilled 3 aluminum boats now and never had a problem with leaks. Make sure you drill as small a hole as you can get away with and use silicone. Between fishing and duck hunting Im on the lake more than 100 days a year and never had a leak.

[peewee williams]

I learned to buy and use a suction cup mount like the portables,as the transducer would hang when going over floating brush and logs that popped back up at the stern.This will give and you can easily remove it for storage with the rest of your outfit.This eliminated my damage from weather and critters gnawing.peewee-williams

[brad kilpatrick]

If you drill, just coat the screws with silicone before you put them in, then cover the heads completely with more silicone and you're done.

Cabelas sells a nylon board about 3/4" thick just for this purpose, but you still have to mount the board to the transom somehow. I installed mine with two big screws and a bead of silicone around the perimeter and in the screw holes and on top of the screws. No worries.

This is the best Wat i've ever seen to mount a transducer to an aluminum boat! I've got one on mine and it works great. You'll also be able to remount the transducer on the nylon to "fine tune" it with out punching more holes in your transom

[rcneman]

i have been dealin with the same issue. I recently purchased the lowrance x125, with the speed and temp transducer from Cabela's via the internet and have been tossing around ideas on how to mount the transducer.

I have obtained a nylon board 2"x6" with a depth of 1", with self-tapping screws. decided i would clean up the transom area with some scotchbright, or fine grain sandpaper and then epoxy the nylon board to the transom. I am not a big fan of putting holes in my boat on purpose....lol

cyas
robert