Transom mounted transducer

Greg B

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I'm going to mount a 3/4" thick piece of Starboard to the transom to attach a transducer and be able to adjust it and possibly add or replace another one. How far into the transom should I drill? Once drilled I will fill the holes with 5200 before installing the screws. Anything else to consider?
Thanks
Greg
 

seasick

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Greg B said:
I'm going to mount a 3/4" thick piece of Starboard to the transom to attach a transducer and be able to adjust it and possibly add or replace another one. How far into the transom should I drill? Once drilled I will fill the holes with 5200 before installing the screws. Anything else to consider?
Thanks
Greg
I guess that you may want to move the transducer around so there could be several screw holes in the starboard. I don't know if I would take that approach since the baord could possibly cause turbuence which might screw up the transducer.
I wonder what other folks think.
Note that Starbaord doesn't take to normal adhesives so assume that the screws will take all the load. I would guess that you need a minimum of one inch penetration so with 3/4 board, you are looking at 1 3/4 screws, maybe 1 5/8. The size of the pilot holes is more critical than the screw size.
Depending on the size of the board, you will need at least 4 screws, one in each corner. I also wouldn't use 5200. It can be tough to remove if needed. Either 4200 or a marine grade silicone. Note that starboard has a different expansion rate than fiberglass. Some creep may occur as water temps change.

Let us know how things work out.
 

bigk23surf

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I just did this and didn't use any screws. I used 3m filler which also bonds. Its working fine so far and there are no holes in the transom. I also used the filler to patch the holes from the old ducer before I put the starboard on.
 

dduflo

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I used a piece of 5/4 pressure treated deck board and 4200. No holes in my transom. I cut the sides and top at a 45 degree angle and the bottom at the same angle as the transom, can't remember if it was 13 or 18 degrees. To hold it tight to the transom while the 4200 sets I used some creative blocking and the trim/tilt on the motor to apply pressure to hold the 5/4 in place. I tried a piece of 5/4 Plastic decking material but the 4200 let loose so I switched to pressure treated wood and have not had a problem. Good luck
 

bigk23surf

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wahoo33417 said:
bigk23surf and dduflo: Any chance you can add some pictures of your set-up?

Tx, Rob
I won't be back to the boat till Monday but Ill try and take some than.
 

Brad1

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I made a transducer mounting plate out of 3/4" starboard as your decribing. I used table saw to cut an angle on the bottom edge so that it would be parrallel with the hull bottom. I also routed the top edge round so that it would not chafe the transducer cables. I installed mine with 5 screws, though I can't remember exactly how deep they went. On the back side of the board (the surface that goes against the transom), I cut grooves around each pre-drilled hole, and filled those with 5200 to form a gasket. I also bedded the mounting holes in the transom, and perimeter of the mounting plate.
 

andrew

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I have a '90 Tournament, and mounted a lowrance transducer directly to the transom; used some bedding compound for the holes, then sealant around the bracket. works great, highly recommend it.
 

gradyfish22

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As stated above about using 5200...NEVER below the waterline, it is not designed for that use. 5200 is removable, use acetone in a small sports bottle to spray it over the area and use a scraper to get between whatever you want to remove and with a little finesse it does come off. 5200 is the only thing you should use to seal any screw holes below the waterline, only other thing I would use is a good epoxy, but that might be even harder to get off. As far as a piece of starboard, as long as the starboard is cut to match the foot print of the transducer mounting bracket and does not voerhang at all it should not prodice much turbulence, but good luck getting starboard to match that foot print nicely, for many it is a tough material to work with and do neatly. If you cut at the wrong rpm it will bond back together and edges are hard to keep neat, usually requires a routered edge to make it look nice, but that would then create a lip and turbulence for your application. Most transom mount transducers I've installed all had adjustable mounts that allowed for some movement up and down, if your location is correct, that is all the movement you would ever need, personally I think adding the starboard is more work then necessary, especially if your trying to avoid drilling into the hull. If you said you wanted to epoxy the starboard on and then mount it to avoid drilling holes in the hull I would understand that but you have no fear of drilling into the hull, so not sure of the big benefit. I would NOT use just a silicone sealant for under the waterline, it will break down over time and will allow water in and over time ruin the transom, 5200 is the best thing aside from epoxy to prevent this from happening, no sense in cutting corners and having expensive repairs down the road.
 

seasick

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4200 has the same moisture sealing properties as 5200 and is capable of being removed. Since there is a chance that the transducer will need to be removed at some future date, I would go with 4200.
 

Grog

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4XXX or 5200 is good for use under the water-line, Silicone IS NOT.

The only problem is I'm not sure how well either will bond to starboard. Not much will stick to it and that may cause issues later.
 

seasick

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Grog said:
4XXX or 5200 is good for use under the water-line, Silicone IS NOT.

The only problem is I'm not sure how well either will bond to starboard. Not much will stick to it and that may cause issues later.

Although folks have said that they used it to glue starboard, the starbaord product litterature says that the material is not intended to be used with adhesives.
 

Brad1

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seasick said:
4200 has the same moisture sealing properties as 5200 and is capable of being removed. Since there is a chance that the transducer will need to be removed at some future date, I would go with 4200.

According to 3m, seasick is correct. 4200 and 5200 share the same SEALING properties. It's the ADHESION properties where they differ.