Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Tnriverluver

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I have a nearly new 15 foot aluminum flatbottom that I am about to start heavily modifying. One of the things I am adding is an Eagle GPS depth finder and would like if at all possible to avoid drilling holes in my transom. Wondering if 5200 adhesive-sealant would hold or possibly 2 part epoxy. This is the board I am talking about http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/s...1&langId=-1&searchTerm=transducer+mount+plate. I often fish is heavy stumps and brush and bump the transducer from time to time.
 

MRS

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

I would just drill the holes and mount it right, less mess than trying to glue on and faster. Plus if you do remove it will come off easier than if was glued on just put screws back in with 5200 on them and the holes will be sealed.
 

smokeonthewater

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

just drill it and seal the bolts with 5200

do a search, this question was covered in depth last year.
 

Texasmark

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Transducers are acoustic and sound is absorbed and re-radiated quite nicely by aluminum hulls....i.e. "transparent to sound waves". For maximum sensitivity you want the return wave that hits the outside of the hull to get through the interface medium with the minimum of attenuation.

Hence you want to mount it with a hard glue.....2 part epoxy. Sand and degrease the alum and the bottom of your transducer. Glue per mfgr recommendations.

I have two and the "running transducer is as close to the transom as I can get it, just off centerline...to ensure a solid hull through which to shoot, and when glueing position it such that it in perpendicular to the running position of the boat....vertical to show the bottom below the boat and not the bottom in front of where it is mounted.

Course if you are going to depend upon it to locate fish while at rest, you might want to just put it parallel to the hull. If in shallow water.....30'???? probably won't make that much difference.

I have mounted transducers like this on my boats since back in the late '70's. Had one I mounted under the front seat for crappie fishing and made a plastic triangular form to conform to the deep V hull, yet have the ducer vertical. Worked great.

Other thing you get with mounting like this is that I can run my current boat over 45 mph and still have detectable bottom soundings and a minimum amount of interference. It's aluminum.

HTH,

Mark
 

roscoe

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Texasmark, he is mounting it outside the hull, not thru hull.



As others have said, Drill the holes, seal them properly, and put a small amount of sealant on the backside of the mounting board as a second line of defense.

You will now know it will not be knocked loose on a stump, or on the trailer going down the highway.
 

Tnriverluver

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

I should have searched this topic first before posting. WOW this can be a hornets nest LOL. My only real concern is selling it later on. I have owned over 25 boats and all had holes drilled by me for this or that gadget. Just trying to keep this as pristine as possible.
 

erie_guy

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

No holes or bolts needed. Use a piece of starboard to mount your transducer and then glue the starboard to the hull using 3M 5200. I did that to both my 32' Chris craft and my 14' Mirrocraft two years ago and they are holding on fine. Use a thick coat of 5200 on the starboard to boat connection and tape it in the correct position.

Just make sure the transducer is in the correct position relative to the bottom because once the 5200 sets (I gave mine a couple of weeks) it will be a permanent attachment. You may be able to cut it off, but why try?

erie_guy
Port Clinton, OH
 

smokeonthewater

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

because a non removable chunk of starboard looks so much better when selling a boat than a bolted on 'ducer...

that said.... I had no idea the shoot thru hull worked with aluminum, thought that was glass only.... I'm stoked because I need to relocate dad's ducer for him and I may just do that now...

Tnriverluver, you might consider that yourself..
 

Texasmark

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Texasmark, he is mounting it outside the hull, not thru hull.



As others have said, Drill the holes, seal them properly, and put a small amount of sealant on the backside of the mounting board as a second line of defense.

You will now know it will not be knocked loose on a stump, or on the trailer going down the highway.

Thanks,

I offered some information that might be desirable as I got tired of seemingly everything hitting mine while mounted outside. So possibly I put an idea into Tn's head.

Mark
 

Tnriverluver

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Like Smoke I had never heard of thru hull on an aluminum boat. I may have to research this a little further because it gets old having to push the transducer back down after bumping obstacles all the time. That would forever eliminate that problem. I also like the bracket from Cabelas since it would make moving the sonar from one boat to another a breeze or even just removing during storage to prevent theft. Yes we have that problem around here now :mad:
 

mxcobra

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

To prevent drilling in transom
weld a U or L bracket to boat.
then mount all your extras to this no holes in boat!
 

Tnriverluver

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Thru hull is a no go because I would not get water temp readings. This is for fishing so I kinda want that!
 

dingbat

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smokeonthewater

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

That all depends on your definition of "works".
Here is an article where Airmar tested some the “aluminum” transducers being marketed by the various sonar manufactures.

60-95% signal loss isn't my idea of "works" ;)


http://www.airmartechnology.com/uploads/news/June Airmar Sounder Newsletter.pdf

UGH! well that is more in line with what I always thought.... I think I'll still look into it a bit but def not a slam dunk


as for water temp, you'd still get a decent reading... the alum hull will be the same temp as the water and a thin layer of epoxy will not make much of a difference
 

bassman284

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Jun 24, 2006
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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Thru hull is a no go because I would not get water temp readings. This is for fishing so I kinda want that!

Ha! Apparently some of the lads think you want to glue the transducer itself to the hull.

When i bought my boat in 2001, I had the dealer rig it and they used one of those glued on mounting plates for the transducer and speedometer wheel. I love it. And, yes, I think it DOES look better for resale.
 

joed

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

I used hot glue. I glued a 1/2" x 1.5" x 3" nylon block the the transom where I wanted the transducer. Then I screwed the transducer to it. It popped off once when I had to manually haul the boat through some very shallow water. Just got out the glue gun and stuck it back on.
 

Texasmark

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Re: Glueing transducer mounting plate. Anyone tried this?

Thru hull is a no go because I would not get water temp readings. This is for fishing so I kinda want that!

Yes it does. I saw this answer before from others so I ran a test the last time I was out. I have two identical systems, one mounted inboard at the transom, the other on the trolling motor, motor housing. The readings are within 2 degrees of each other almost immediately when I stop and put down the TM, and if I sit in one place for a few minutes they are within 1 degree. Tolerances in the units could amount to that.

Sooooooo if you want to mount her inboard with a thermometer in your unit have at it.

Mark
 
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