Adjustable transducer mount

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Where I fish it's rocky and I beach my boat often. This year I upgraded my fish finder and while removing the old transducer I noticed it was pretty beat up. While I've been lucky and haven't damaged a transducer, it does get bumped and tilts up. After searching, I found many examples of custom mounts and a few commercial ones. This is my version that I made. Thought maybe someone may find this interesting and get their creative juices flowing.
https://youtube.com/shorts/DFLhbOnC5kw

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[Snowshoe]

Nice work.

 

[GYPSY400]

Thats genius!

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[LDUBS]

Well done.

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Got a chance to water test this gizmo today and I'm really happy with it. Worked exactly as I wanted.

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[gogittum]

Thanks, WTM. You got the ol' gray cells working here.

I bought a used Lowrance Elite 7Ti chartplotter recently (the guy left several years worth of fishing spots on it - yay) and I'm concerned about thieves. (actually, all those fishing spots won't do me much good - too far south, out of my range and too far offshore for my little skiff. Oh well)

The transducer has side scan, chirp, and I don't know what all else yet and it's gigantic compared to my old Garmin 240 Blue 'ducer. It's also very spendy and I know thieves will get a gleam in their eye. On another forum, I was told not to worry about it - with running cables and all, it's too much of a job to steal. Haw haw.

I don't want to drill holes in transom for it, so will mount it on a board epoxied to transom and run the cables up and over to an open frame console thing on the grab bar that I'm designing. Theft would be quick and simple.

I don't have a welder and in my rental house here, my shop is very limited for now so getting fancy isn't an option - and I have come up with some weird and wonderful ideas.

Going by your picture, I think I could mount a square tube, maybe 1" or 1 1/2" on the transom and find a matching piece that would be a good slip fit inside it to mount the transducer on. Slide it in from underneath and put a drop tab pin thru to lock it in place. I'll be checking it more carefully soon. Thanks for the thought.

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Thanks, WTM. You got the ol' gray cells working here.

I bought a used Lowrance Elite 7Ti chartplotter recently (the guy left several years worth of fishing spots on it - yay) and I'm concerned about thieves. (actually, all those fishing spots won't do me much good - too far south, out of my range and too far offshore for my little skiff. Oh well)

The transducer has side scan, chirp, and I don't know what all else yet and it's gigantic compared to my old Garmin 240 Blue 'ducer. It's also very spendy and I know thieves will get a gleam in their eye. On another forum, I was told not to worry about it - with running cables and all, it's too much of a job to steal. Haw haw.

I don't want to drill holes in transom for it, so will mount it on a board epoxied to transom and run the cables up and over to an open frame console thing on the grab bar that I'm designing. Theft would be quick and simple.

I don't have a welder and in my rental house here, my shop is very limited for now so getting fancy isn't an option - and I have come up with some weird and wonderful ideas.

Going by your picture, I think I could mount a square tube, maybe 1" or 1 1/2" on the transom and find a matching piece that would be a good slip fit inside it to mount the transducer on. Slide it in from underneath and put a drop tab pin thru to lock it in place. I'll be checking it more carefully soon. Thanks for the thought.

They do make clamp on transducer mounts that would be easy to take home with you. I made mine because I beach my boat often

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[DaleH]

Neat idea! Once you settle on the right heights, a knob with SS threaded tip that fit into a dimple or hole, would allow for fast & secure adjustments.

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

It's a hair low all the way down and the transducer throws a little water up while running on plane. I was thinking of adding a stop screw once I get it dialed in. Although if I flip the lever up while running, it stops splashing and still reads the depth just fine.

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[PhishDaly]

That is a nice setup. I drag my boat across the beach and rocks all the time but would like to set it up a fish finder. has anybody used one of the scotty transducer arms?

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/scotty-kayak-sup-transducer-arm-mount-for-post-mount-with-gear-head-adapter?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions&ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Shop%7CBPS%7CTopPerformers%7CBoating&gclid=CjwKCAjw8cCGBhB6EiwAgORey987clsNstX0BivlntXTC4DTvz0b0pkTN-pz3y_7GCQ5XtXEBh8XbRoC_c8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

I saw that and thought about it. Wouldn't work for a transom mount I don't think, because the transducer is shown 90° to the way the arm pivots. Perhaps the transducer can be mounted any which way but my other concern was it ability to hold it down at plane.

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[gogittum]

30 years ago I had an Impulse 2830 Loran C/fishfinder on a much older 19 ft Glastron runabout and the transducer bracket is one I'd like to find again. It was actually a very good unit - pre-GPS and a bit finicky, but it worked well.

For the life of me I can't bring a picture to mind of just how the bracket was made, but basically it had a pivot point and a snap action gripper/grabber. Pivot the transducer down and push hard to snap it into the down position and it would stay like that at any speed and read accurately. Hit a piece of debris in the water and it would pop loose and swing up and, of course, you lose bottom reading.

With care and some patience, you could reach down with a gaff or similar and carefully line up on the transducer and pop it back into place again. Wasn't easy and hard to see underwater at the transom, esp. if the water was rough, but it could be done. Compact arrangement, too. Looking casually online, haven't seen anything like it so far, but haven't really gotten after it, either.

 

[LDUBS]

30 years ago I had an Impulse 2830 Loran C/fishfinder on a much older 19 ft Glastron runabout and the transducer bracket is one I'd like to find again. It was actually a very good unit - pre-GPS and a bit finicky, but it worked well.

For the life of me I can't bring a picture to mind of just how the bracket was made, but basically it had a pivot point and a snap action gripper/grabber. Pivot the transducer down and push hard to snap it into the down position and it would stay like that at any speed and read accurately. Hit a piece of debris in the water and it would pop loose and swing up and, of course, you lose bottom reading.

My old Humminbird transducer mount had that same capability to pop up if it hit something. Nice feature, but in mine's case, because it was made of plastic, I wonder if it would really survive an impact. Fortunately, never had to test it.