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Transducer Mounting/Placement
yoshm0	#1  Posted on 05/07/11 - 10:11 AM
Member Posts: 4 Comments: 0 Joined: 05/21/10	Boat: 1980 17’ Boston Whaler Montauk Sonar/GPS: Lowrance HDS5 Nautic Insight Pond: So Cal Saltwater Was hoping to get some advice on where and how I should be installing the transducer on my 17’ Montauk. Researching the subject, I’ve read, instead of screwing the transducer directly into the transom of the boat, screw the transducer into a piece of precut starboard that has been glued to the boat using 5200. 1) Locate area of transom transducer will be secured to 2) Cut out a piece of starboard big enough to mount the transducer (~5” x 7”) 3) Glue starboard to transom of boat using 5200 / Let dry 24 hours 4) Screw Transducer into starboard Does this sound like a good plan? In addition to gluing the starboard down with the 5200, should I also screw it into the transom? I know it kind of defeats the original purpose of not adding holes to the transom, but is this necessary? The next piece is transducer placement. Where should it go? I’ve snapped a few pictures of the transom and my guess as to where It should be placed. Transom Full: Looks like a transducer may have been installed dead center, bottom of the hull, in front of the motor. You can't see it in the picture. From what I've read, the transducer should be 10-15" from the prop making me question that location. http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n...omFull.jpg Transom Left: Where should it go? I read it should be installed port side on whalers... http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n...omLeft.jpg Transom - Proposed spot. This is where I'm thinking of placing it. http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n...oposed.jpg Is this a good spot? Should it go somewhere else? Any help is much appreciated! Thanks in advance! Edited by Phil T on 05/19/13 - 11:51 AM
A Little Madness	#2  Posted on 05/07/11 - 2:44 PM
Member Personal Page Posts: 96 Comments: 0 Joined: 04/01/07	I screwed my directly into the hull. Not a bad location at all. I have mine on the starboard side. See our Personal page for a pic. Pick your spot, drill, put 5200 into the holes, srew in, and you're good to go. Had mine in for 4 years & no problems. Good Luck Chris & Dale Schnell "A Little Madness" - 1989 Montauk 17'
Binkie	#3  Posted on 05/07/11 - 3:27 PM
Member Personal Page Posts: 2012 Comments: 0 Joined: 12/19/05	That looks loke a good spot, taking into consideration the shape of the bottom. BTW if you ever decide to change outboards, you have a buyer for your inline six Merc 90. ME. What year is it? I realize you are in Ca. but I would pay to ship it to Fl.
Karlow	#4  Posted on 05/07/11 - 9:03 PM
Member Personal Page Posts: 192 Comments: 0 Joined: 07/20/10	Chris, How well does the location work at speed? In have a 20' Skip Jack with a through hole, and a transom mount. Bout are useless above 10knts. I had a 16' tin Tracker that worked just fine at 22 Knots (top speed)! KP
A Little Madness	#5  Posted on 05/08/11 - 6:45 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 96 Comments: 0 Joined: 04/01/07	Prior to my Lowrance LMS 527cDF iGPS Color Sonar/GPS I had several Humingbirds and I could never find a location where the transducer worked above 15 knots. The Lowrance is a dual transducer and I can run at 30-35 mph and have very accurate reading in the ICW. Mind you, at that speed it's way too late when you see your depth drop quickly...brace yourself. But what it does do is tell me about the accuracy at any speed. I had to move my ducer one time to its current location to eliminate the rooster tail I was getting. Also works well in the ocean at greater depths. Had my Lowrance for about 4 years now and love it. Good Luck. Chris & Dale Schnell "A Little Madness" - 1989 Montauk 17'
yoshm0	#6  Posted on 05/08/11 - 6:28 PM
Member Posts: 4 Comments: 0 Joined: 05/21/10	A Little Madness wrote: I screwed my directly into the hull. Not a bad location at all. I have mine on the starboard side. See our Personal page for a pic. Pick your spot, drill, put 5200 into the holes, srew in, and you're good to go. Had mine in for 4 years & no problems. Good Luck Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Boat! When our boat grows up, i'm hoping it will be your boat! Looks like our "proposed" location is in the same location as yours, but just the opposite side. Feeling pretty good about the spot. Thanks for your input!
yoshm0	#7  Posted on 05/08/11 - 6:37 PM
Member Posts: 4 Comments: 0 Joined: 05/21/10	Binkie wrote: That looks loke a good spot, taking into consideration the shape of the bottom. BTW if you ever decide to change outboards, you have a buyer for your inline six Merc 90. ME. What year is it? I realize you are in Ca. but I would pay to ship it to Fl. The motor is the same year as the boat, 1980. If I had the funds, I would sell you the engine and repower with a Honda 4 stroke. Out of curiosity, what would a fair value for the engine be? What would you offer? PM if you like. BTW, You've done a great job with restoring your boat. Absolutely Beautiful! Thanks for your input!
Tom W Clark	#8  Posted on 05/08/11 - 6:37 PM
Member Personal Page Posts: 4280 Comments: 7 Joined: 09/30/05	Do NOT mount the transducer at the apex of the sponson. Do NOT mount the transducer at the keel. It should be mounted to Port or Starboard of the keel (Port is preferable, but not requisite), half-way up the "slope" of the main hull. In this position it will be both fully submerged almost all of the time but will not interfere with operation of the outboard motor.
yoshm0	#9  Posted on 05/08/11 - 7:35 PM
Member Posts: 4 Comments: 0 Joined: 05/21/10	Tom W Clark wrote: Do NOT mount the transducer at the apex of the sponson. Do NOT mount the transducer at the keel. It should be mounted to Port or Starboard of the keel (Port is preferable, but not requisite), half-way up the "slope" of the main hull. In this position it will be both fully submerged almost all of the time but will not interfere with operation of the outboard motor. Tom, thank you for your response. I'm a total newb at boat ownership and I'm not exactly sure what you're saying. Are you saying the "proposed" spot is not a good location? I was planning on mounting it Port side, in the location of the red circle seen in the pic. No bueno? [IMG]http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n554/yoshm0/TransomCircled.jpg[/IMG] Tom W Clark wrote: "half-way up the "slope" of the main hull." Is the location of the green circle the area you are suggesting it should be mounted? Great forum, Great advice! Thank you!
Joe Kriz	#10  Posted on 05/08/11 - 7:51 PM
Site Owner Personal Page Personal Album Photo Albums Project Albums Posts: 11434 Comments: 452 Joined: 03/18/05	Glad you got it figured out. For future reference, there are only 2 photos allowed in the forum section so it doesn't slow it down for members on slow connections. As you can see in your first post above, I changed the inline photo image to an url which still allows any of us to view the photo by clicking on the link but doesn't slow anyone down. Here is the information on this subject in the FAQ link for anyone that hasn't read it yet. http://www.whalercentral.com/faq.php?...p?cat_id=3 Edited by Joe Kriz on 05/08/11 - 7:53 PM
A Little Madness	#11  Posted on 05/09/11 - 4:10 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 96 Comments: 0 Joined: 04/01/07	I hate to say this, but it may be hit & miss, totally dependent on the type transducer. I'd placed one of my Hummingbirds half way up the slope and the cavitation from the hull & engine created so much air that I kept loosing signal/depth reading. I just went back & looked at a blow-up of your proposed location and your transducer looks exactly like mine. Consider going back and taking a closer look at where I have mine and move it a little closer in to the apex of the main hull, only because I know (after experimentation) that it works very well there. And I'm not trying to dispute anything others write and their experiences, just explaining mine and what worked for me. Good Luck! Edited by A Little Madness on 05/09/11 - 4:16 AM Chris & Dale Schnell "A Little Madness" - 1989 Montauk 17'
blacksmithdog	#12  Posted on 05/09/11 - 4:26 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 417 Comments: 0 Joined: 06/26/06	I'm in the process of trying to figure out where to mount my transducer as well, on a 13'. The directions say to mount it at least 15" out from the edge of the propeller. My quandary is the vertical location. When the boat is going slow the stern sits lower in the water than when you are going 3/4 throttle to WOT. Is it best to put it somewhere in between? If so, it would seem to get a lot of air under it when going fast.
Mark Finkenstaedt	#13  Posted on 05/09/11 - 7:33 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 195 Comments: 4 Joined: 08/20/08	I placed mine in the green circle as illustrated above. I seem to go thru plastic mounting hardware for the transducer 2-3 a season and I'm sick and tired of it. The force of the water seemed to do it this past weekend. (First time out) I 5200'd some plastic/imitation wood found at Home Depot to the transom just in case I decided the transducer needed to move. Works well. If only these plastic mounts would last! Humminbird supplied a rubber plug for the mount to prevent rooster tail. This may have cause the additional pressure to the mount but without it I have a 10' rooster. Any suggestions? 2001 18' Dauntless - 150HP 2010 E-TEC
Tom W Clark	#14  Posted on 05/09/11 - 7:55 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 4280 Comments: 7 Joined: 09/30/05	Yes, the green circle position is good. I would mount it on the reinforced motor mounting area of the transom where the screws will grab some wood. I've owned three Montauks and used numerous transducers including the Skimmer transducers (which work great) and never had a problem with that position.
wnndsrf	#15  Posted on 05/19/13 - 11:38 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 1 Comments: 0 Joined: 05/19/13	I have a similar issue due to lack of experience. This is my first boat and I am looking for assistance in determining the best mounting location for the transducer. The boat is a 2012 Montauk 150 and I bought a Raymarine Dragonfly fishfinder. The manual advises to mount it on the starboard side of the boat at least 12" away from the propeller. I tooks some photos to show some potential locations, they are on my personal page. On the starboard side of the keel there are several protrusions in the hole for the live well which will likely affect performance. So I can mount it a few inches further out on the first chine. These protrusions don't exist on the port side so that would be another option but not directed by the manufacturer. I could also put this further out starboard but I don't know how it will perform there and isn't advised based on the previous posts. Any help would be much appreciated Thanks, Ian Edited by wnndsrf on 05/19/13 - 3:31 PM
OutragousBob	#16  Posted on 05/20/13 - 8:51 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 101 Comments: 0 Joined: 08/26/11	One option to avoid drilling holes in your transom would be this: http://www.sternsaver.com/ I've never used one, but I plan on moving my transducer soon and don't like drilling holes if I can avoid it. I will report back when I do it.
jflots	#17  Posted on 05/20/13 - 9:52 AM
Member Posts: 84 Comments: 1 Joined: 09/15/05	I would go directly to the transom with something other than 5200 because it's permanent. If you want to change it out down the road you'll have to remove it in pieces and grind off what's left. Also not much will stick to starboard, it's like high densilty wax. 1988 Outrage 18, 115 Yamaha repower
Gmondun	#18  Posted on 05/20/13 - 10:18 AM
Member Personal Page Posts: 161 Comments: 2 Joined: 09/12/11	Yoshm0- I mounted my Humminbird transducer last year to the same boat (Montauk 17) with the same engine in the same exact spot you are thinking of putting it, except mine was on the starboard side. It wouldn't work at all once I pushed the throttle a bit. Then I took the transducer off that location and put it in the exact same spot Tom is now recommending on the port side. It works very well at full-throttle with the exception of some engine cavitation interference occasionally (I think I need a new propeller). I used the stern saver to avoid drilling holes intro my transom. www.sternsaver.com. Make sure that when you mount that transducer that the bottom side is level with the hull of the boat. You want the bottom to skim the water as opposed to plowing through it with the front of it. Originally I mounted the transducer so that it was plowing through the water and it would immediately turn off when I increased throttle.
Joe Kriz	#19  Posted on 05/20/13 - 1:16 PM
Site Owner Personal Page Personal Album Photo Albums Project Albums Posts: 11434 Comments: 452 Joined: 03/18/05	This thread is 2 years old and the original poster apparently had his question answered. Please start a new thread for your own question.