im looking to mount a fish finder on the front of my boat.i dont know what make or model yet. i dont want to run the transducer on the trolling motor. can i mount the trans in the bottom of the boat or near the front. i have a ranger cherokee. will the picture be affected by going thru aluminum. im a electronics novice but have basic skills so any help would be appreciated.
If it is a Ranger then perhaps it is fiberglass rather than aluminum? Either way there are transducers avaialable to go through the hull. Vexilar caries an aluminum hull trans, or many of the manufacturers carry puck transducers that can be epoxied into the hulls of glass boats… part of it may depend on the brand of depth finder – as to what is available for transducers… Chuckles
I think the biggest issue is going to be finding a good location to mount it and acess to it, I highly doubt there is a good spot to mount a transducer up front I don’t think there is a flat spot that is parallel to the water surface on my boat until the last couple feet of the hull. The best solution for non mounted trolling motor transducer I’ve used it an ice ducer, I used it on my Lowrance 332 a couple times and it worked really good, and didn’t tangle in the trolling motor. I just tossed the ice ducer over the side of the boat, had to remember to take it back in before I took off though. Now I run a Universal sonar on my trolling motor.
I found I had little issue runnning a puck style down the trolling motor shaft with a cable drive motor, but I dont think it works well with a power drive type of trolling motor.
I run a Vex FL-8 on my power drive without any problems.
You basically have a C-liner with a Ranger sticker on it. You have 3 choices:
1. Run the ducer off the bottom of your T-motor mounted with a big hose clamp.
2. Run the ducer off the transom and run the cord from the back of the boat to the front.
3. Best option. Buy a Minnkota Bow Mount with a built in transducer and be done with it.
-J.
Quote:
I run a Vex FL-8 on my power drive without any problems.
Not to say it doesn’t work, just that you are eventually going to end up pinching the cable or breaking it, as careful as I was the cable just seems to get beat up on the powerdrives.
I use a fishmark 320 on the bow with a puck transducer mounted to my Minn Kota power drive. Just give the cable 1 wrap around the motor and attach it to the collar on the bottom of the shaft with a plastic zip tie. Works like a million bucks. I have never had a cord tangle issue.
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