Randy has brought up something that has caught my attention on locating the SI transducer correctly. I have just purchased the 1197 (being shipped now) and plan on installing it Saturday. I figured I was just going to slap it on the back and go. What am I missing here?
A proper install starts with reading, and following, the instructions that will come with your 1197. Don’t just slap the transducer on the back and expect your investment to perform to its full potential.
One recommendation I can provide quickly is to mount a transducer board on the transom, and install the ducer on the board, rather than on the transom itself. You are likely to end up repositioning the transducer at least once, and making fewer holes in the transom is much better than making more.
I’ll post a pic of my transducer location as soon as I put a few fires out.
The beam shoots sideways not down. So the motor can not be in the way. It’s a big [censored] transducer too. Should be mounted towards the outside of the boat. On my boat there was no way to accomplish this. I have a black line when in fishfinder mode at around 3 foot. Really not that big of a deal. If you are putting it on a small boat not much you can do.
Its not overly complicated, but it does require some forethought.
You don’t want anything blocking the sonar – this includes parallel to the water surface as well as straight down. The SI transducer should be below or otherwise out of the way of other intereferers… Such as motor shafts, livewell intakes, other transducers, etc.. Make sure its level with how the boat will sit in the water and make sure you have no obstructions in the “line of sight” of the sonar beam…
Some guys mount it high, so it rides out of the water on plane and protects the transducer from being hit by debris. It won’t read as well at speed this way, but some guys mount a separate transducer (through hull mounting on glass boats) to read 2d sonar at speed and SI/DI when not on plane.
Free from turbulence created by the hull/rivots is good too. The manual has a number of pages devoted to mounting the transducer.
I do have a new board on the back but have not recieved the unit yet to study the installation of it. Just feeling out for what has worked and what hasn’t. To add to the fire, Monday I picked up a different boat and not sure how it sits in the water.
In advance of your 1197’s arrival, go to the Humminbird website and download the operating manual (free, no registration required). You’ll be able to review the install instructions before your 1197 arrives.
Oh boy 
, the 2 outboards might be OK but the livewell intake could be close. The intake is the scoop type that can pull water into the livewell while traveling. I would say it’s about 1 foot or so to the side and a couple inches below where the Transducer would be.
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Should be mounted towards the outside of the boat.
I’m not sure this is required, but in general the motor(s) can cause some propwash/turbulence, and sometimes this can screw up the sonar return/reading. The manual might say something like “mount so many inches from the motor shaft due to turbulence” or something like that, but I have mine mounted closer to the center of the hull (and closer to the motor shaft than the manual recommends) simply becuase I have some other transducers / livewell intake that would otherwise interfere if I had it mounted up / out from its current position. I have had near zero issues, and I get CRYSTAL CLEAR images. Love it!
As you can see, my transducer is located not too far from center. The livewell intake does seem to cause a little bit of interference, but its mainly just a slightly weaker return on the left side. Adjusting the sensitivity can compensate for the difference, although in most cases the difference is generally unnoticable becuase the intake only blocks a very small portion of transducer length. Do I wish the intake wasn’t there at all?? yes… Is it a big enought difference to worry about and do something to fix? Not really. Doesn’t affect my readings to any substantial degree. Neither does having it mounted that close to the shaft. If my kicker (t-8) is all the way trimmed down, it can interefere a little, but its never an issue because we can always trim it up a few inches when in use.
I can get both SI and 2d readings (not highest quality, but readable) at 45 mph. SI readings at appropriate speeds are phenominal. 
Good luck
Mike
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Oh boy
That might cause some issues, but I’m sure there are ways around it…???
Here is what I did my livewell pick up was in the way, I doubled the thickness of the board no problems now to space the transducer further away from the transom
When running your transducer cable, try to keep it as far away from the outboard ignition cables as possible. I ran mine in the same tube and ended up with interference ( little white dots) on the screen. The minute I shut down the engine, it cleared right up.
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When running your transducer cable, try to keep it as far away from the outboard ignition cables as possible. I ran mine in the same tube and ended up with interference ( little white dots) on the screen. The minute I shut down the engine, it cleared right up.
Thanks for this tip!
FDR
Finished the install Sunday and headed out to a nearby no wake lake. The transducer worked great! Now I need to study up on all of the advanced functions and fully utilize my purchase. Any tips in this area sure would speed things up. Plan on hitting P9 this weekend.
Thanks for all your help
The most important thing for a new user is to get your chart speed, SI range, and boat speed all synchronized.
I tend to use a SI range of 100-120 feet. Any more than that, and any slight turns of your boat will make the far edges of the side images really blurry and unusable.
Boat speed needs to correlate with chart speed. For cruising around at 4-5 mph, looking at stuff, a chart speed of 3-5 is appropriate. For trolling or just slowly putting along, 1-2 on the chart speed is about right. You’ll need to pick a boat speed, and then adjust chart speed to give you your clearest picture.
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