Pontoon Boat Transducer location

[shardy217]

Hey folks,

Browsing through some old threads I’ve seen other people ask similar questions to what I’m going to ask. Please don’t be mad - I’m new to the whole pontoon boat thing!

So I’d like to mount a transducer, mainly to keep track of depth - we go to fairly shallow lakes in central IL. I know a lot of pontoons have the mounting bracket on the back of the starboard toon but mine does not. The rooms themselves have the V channels at the bottom so I tried to rig something up to mount the depth finder to but I’m not getting any good readings no matter how I adjust it. I talked to a rep and she said there’s too much turbulence in that spot since it has these V channels underneath. My question is - has anyone tried mounting their transducer off the transom or somewhere else? I would like to get a bracket welded on the back of the toon but it’s so badly corroded I don’t know that they’d be able to grind down enough to get to good metal.

I attached pictures for your viewing.

Thank you all for your time!

 

[HotTommy]

I have two thoughts. First, for a bracket you might be able to use a 1/8" x 1.5" x 20" piece of aluminum (I just guessed at the dimensions) with a 90 degree bend near the bottom end. Attach the short leg of the L to the V on the log, and attach the long end to the top of the log. My second thought is that turbulence is a problem when you're moving fast, but using a depth finder to avoid shallows when you're moving fast is kind of pointless. You'll hit something before you can react and slow down. My bigger concern with having the sensor out in the full flow of water is that it could be ripped off if not secured very well. So if you can secure the sensor very well, it might work adequately for avoiding shallows if you slow down before you approach them.

 

[shardy217]

That’s a really good idea - I never thought about running it all the way to the top. I’m wondering if maybe I had the transducer too deep as well. It probably doesn’t help I purchased the cheapest fish/depth finder combo money could buy ($90 or something like that). I think I’ll try and pickup some 1/8” aluminum strapping tomorrow and give that a shot. I’ll update in the next couple weeks when I get the boat on the water. Thanks Tommy!

 

[Scott Danforth]

that is mineral growth, not corrosion. a bit of cleaning with toilet bowl cleaner and a wire brush and you can weld a bracket on no problem

 

[bansil]

Clean the pontoon and glue a pc of aluminum channel or angle onto pontoon using 3M 5200 ( it will never come off) it takes about a week to dry. I used it to mount a pump and a transducer or both pontoons with no welding

 

[Starcraft5834]

Install the transducer on the side opposite the ladder.......... those who install on ladder side will end up being snapped off by folks trying to climb the ladder.... enjoy