Transducer mounting - with a kicker on the starboard

[micaheli]

I have a 19 foot "north river" style sled boat with a main 200hp yamaha and a 9.9 mercury kicker. The boat was made to have the kicker on the starboard side as there is a welded on swim deck on the port side. The boat also came with a transducer bracket welded to the starboard side between the main and kicker. We've always had "OK" results from the sounders, but haven't really had any sounders that were worth anything.

I've finally bought a Raymarine Axiom+ with the RV-100 transducer. It's about 11-12" long and gets visually close to the kicker and main motor when I mock it up on the existing bracket. That said, all of the advice in every manual, video or post online is that if you have a clockwise rotating prop, you shouldn't mount your transducer to the port side of it. What about the kicker? If there was a time I want clear images, it's while trolling on the kicker.

My main question is... Can I mount this say... 12" from the port side "outer wall" of the boat?

It doesn't get precariously close to a chine, a bunk on the trailer or any props. The swim deck will also block any spray from the transducer. It's PLENTY far from the kicker, and as far away from the main motor as you can pretty much get where there'll still likely be clean water on plane. I don't need to see crystal clear soundings at 60knots (this boat's got some chooch), as long as I get semi-accurate depth, I'm happy with that. The fastest I'll want clear images is around 13-15 or so.

Thoughts? I want to do this right the first time and not end up with unused 1" holes in the transom.

Thanks for all of your help in advance!

--Micah

 

[micaheli]

Stock location the boat came with...



The proposed port-side location under the swim platform.

Only one chine between it and the keel, but none upstream of it.

 

[dingbat]

Looks like a side viewing transducer.

Have a min. distance from motor to transducer. Otherwise the side scan clips the lower unit, limiting the view on the display

 

[JimS123]

I don't have a definitive answer to your question, but my gut feeling is that the stbd mount will be OK. Problems with depth finder readings usually occur at high speed. In your case, when at plane the kicker will be out of the water. When at trolling speeds my guess is that there should not be enough turbulence to matter.

I would install it as designed and try it. No holes to drill so no issue if you have to move it.

 

[micaheli]

I don't have a definitive answer to your question, but my gut feeling is that the stbd mount will be OK. Problems with depth finder readings usually occur at high speed. In your case, when at plane the kicker will be out of the water. When at trolling speeds my guess is that there should not be enough turbulence to matter.

I would install it as designed and try it. No holes to drill so no issue if you have to move it.

As design, you mean the boat? Or the transducer? Because those are different answers I think? Very conflicting information - Its just the first time I've spent this kinda dough on a fish finder/chartplotter and I want it to work well (WHILE FISHING), and mounting it next to the motor that will be running while fishing just seems like it violates the manual.

I wish I understood the science behind the decisions so that I could make a real decision.

Either way, this search has revealed that the moron that welded up this transducer bracket didn't realize that the surface he was aligning the bracket with wasn't perpendicular to the transom.... So I'm cutting that off tomorrow and using a transducer mounting block instead. So, even though I'm probably mounting it in the stock location port of the kicker, at least it'll be straight.

 

[dingbat]

I wish I understood the science behind the decisions so that I could make a real decision.

If you answered my question I could explain the science.

If you have side viewing you have sonar beams coming off the bottom and both sides of the transducer.

Where the transducer is oriented relative to the motor(s) must be taken into consideration to work properly.

 

[JimS123]

As design, you mean the boat?

What I saw in the picture was a bracket on the transom that was an OEM design.

My Whaler also has a Raymarine and it was factory mounted in the same place as yours. It IS a side scan (you didn't say whether yours was or not). I also installed a kicker in the same place as yours. Obviously, pictures don't show dimensions, but mine works perfectly.

Not a lot of replies here, so I don't know what's conflicting. As I said before, install it where you have the bracket. It won't cost a dime and you can always remove it later. Even if it doesn't work there, no sense in cutting off the bracket. You might want it for something else later.

 

[micaheli]

Looks like a side viewing transducer.

Have a min. distance from motor to transducer. Otherwise the side scan clips the lower unit, limiting the view on the display

Sorry, this didn't look like a question. I read it as "it has a minimum distance from motor to transducer". Are you asking me to measure the distance?

 

[micaheli]

What I saw in the picture was a bracket on the transom that was an OEM design.

My Whaler also has a Raymarine and it was factory mounted in the same place as yours. It IS a side scan (you didn't say whether yours was or not). I also installed a kicker in the same place as yours. Obviously, pictures don't show dimensions, but mine works perfectly.

Not a lot of replies here, so I don't know what's conflicting. As I said before, install it where you have the bracket. It won't cost a dime and you can always remove it later. Even if it doesn't work there, no sense in cutting off the bracket. You might want it for something else later.

The conflicting information is entirely in every manual I've seen so far vs what I have on my boat" Not port of motor, but not on port." And I can't move my kicker. So unless I put it hanging off a pole on the starboard side, I don't see how to accomplish this.

However, from what people are saying, the kicker shouldn't give enough interference because it's small?

Yeah, it's side scanning, down scanning, etc. It's the 3d one.

 

[micaheli]

Also, no way that bracket was OEM. The welds look like bubble gum. The whole boat was a home build anyways (not by me).

Good to hear your whaler works good. Is it sidescan as well?

 

[JimS123]

Don't look at other manuals. Look at the one for your very transducer. I DID look it up. It has a 180 degree beam, so simply mount it on your existing bracket temporarily and look at the geometry.

Just by your pictures, it looks like if the kicker is a problem the main will be as well.

Also, Raymarine has a very good forum - they may be able to give better answers over there because they are most familiar with the product.

Lastly, call Raymarine's technical service. They helped me in the past.

Yes, mine is a side scan. All the welds on your transom look like bubblegum. If it was a custom made boat and the builder installed the bracket, that's what I would call OEM.

 

[micaheli]

I appreciate all of your input, and I did look at the manual for this unit, that said it still has the conflicting no-port advice, which spurred my question.

All the welds on your transom look like bubblegum.

However... The weld-shaming seemed a bit lame.. Kind of a **** thing to say. Perhaps keep that **** to yourself next time, ok? We can't all afford Boston whaler and be condescending arm chair experts.

 

[JimS123]

I appreciate all of your input, and I did look at the manual for this unit, that said it still has the conflicting no-port advice, which spurred my question.



However... The weld-shaming seemed a bit lame.. Kind of a **** thing to say. Perhaps keep that **** to yourself next time, ok? We can't all afford Boston whaler and be condescending arm chair experts.

Pardon my comment. It was not meant to offend.

YOU were the one that said bubblegum, not me. For a welded aluminum hull, the look of the weld is what I would expect. It looked neat and proper. Frankly I was surprised that YOU shamed the weld in the first place. To me, OEM means it came with the boat, and was not added later.

I offered reasonable comments because your situation is exactly the same as mine. Mine works. I'll defer future comments to the experts that wrote the manual.

 

[dingbat]

Here is the problem you’re up against.

The installation with two checks is a thru hull installation

Assuming clockwise rotation of the prop, a transducers should mount on the starboard side to minimize prop turbulence.

 

[micaheli]

Pardon my comment. It was not meant to offend.

YOU were the one that said bubblegum, not me. For a welded aluminum hull, the look of the weld is what I would expect. It looked neat and proper. Frankly I was surprised that YOU shamed the weld in the first place. To me, OEM means it came with the boat, and was not added later.

I offered reasonable comments because your situation is exactly the same as mine. Mine works. I'll defer future comments to the experts that wrote the manual.

Well, sorry for the confusion and my reaction then... This bracket was in no way installed by the OEM. I got pretty sick of looking at it yesterday and grinded it off. There was about a 3/16" gap between the bracket and the surface it was welded to. That gap was full of sand, dirt and whatever else. I installed an adhesive bracket and a bunch of starboard chunks to make up the difference. It's WAY better now and isn't going anywhere.

I did take your (all) advice and just stick it on the starboard side. If it gives poor performance, I'll revisit it.

@dingbat the location I ended up choosing is as far down on the hull as it gets without being in back of my drain plug. Fingers crossed.