Transom mounted sounders - vulnerability?

[9D280]

OK, quick Q for those of you with a transom mounted sounder.

How vulnerable are they?

I am "trailer based" and have on occasion beached the boat for lunch etc. I can see transducer removing / bracket snapping scenarios there, and have half concocted a method of lifting it clear of potential damage , but I am wondering what the chances of a "damaging dunt" actually are?

(and no, I don't have a transom well to glass it into.....)

[macattack101]

I have a transducer on the transom and have beaches a few times without damage. I prefer to drop the anchor and go astern with the motor trimmed so I can step down into knee deep water and take a stern line onto the beach. This means a wave won't wash over the stern and you can pull into deep wateron the anchor.
I prefer this method as you can avoid drying out on a sandy beach and stops kids climbing on the boat which they do when the boat is on the beach.

[PeterM]

I think slim chances of breaking it on a beach or trailer. Most if not all have a release system so if they do hit anything they swing up and the only time in the last 5 years of this happeneing to me ( beaching & trailing) was running up a floating versadock thing.

The only other thing was the force of water at high speed (40knts +) pushing it so hard it used to swing up.

I'm amazed the only time i dont have a depth lock is in really really muddy or churned up water behind other boats.

Pete

[jyasaki]

I did manage to snap a transducer; it was in 50 fsw, though; ran over something (log? barrel? Dunno) at about 30 kts.

Never had a problem with the ducer hitting the bottom or the trailer; kelp will swing it up though (we have a lot of kelp out here, and much of the diving we do is in or around the kelp fields.) Not a big deal: come to a stop and push it down with a foot. I recently tightened up the bracket so the ducer doesn't swing up whenever it senses that kelp is nearby.

jky

[thomas]

On my last boat I put it under the deck cos I could and it looks much better, new one came with it on the back and there's no chance of it coming to any harm on the trailer as what ever wanted to harm it would have to get past the engine first.

Mine has worked loose though and flipped up and once it gets warmer I'm going to arm my self with some Sikaflex and fix it properly.

[captnjack]

Never had a problem with mine on the transom. The bunks are not long enough to contact it and I would have to be hard aground for the transducer to to contact the bottom.

[9D280]

OK, thanks everyone.

Looks like I've been a little bit pessimistic Will run with the "as designed" installation & see what happens.

[r mcdonald]

9D280
I glued a piece of 12 mm PVC onto my transom with some Hyplon glue(make sure you sand both mating surfaces) and then screwed the transducer to the PVC. Saved me having to put screws into my transom.My max speed is only 32 kts though. It hasn't come of in two years.

[9D280]

Originally Posted by r mcdonald

9D280
I glued a piece of 12 mm PVC onto my transom with some Hyplon glue(make sure you sand both mating surfaces) and then screwed the transducer to the PVC. Saved me having to put screws into my transom.My max speed is only 32 kts though. It hasn't come of in two years.

You have just reminded me I have a lump of nylon in the garage..... next problem - finding out which box it went in when we moved......

[r mcdonald]

9D280
I am not sure nylon will stick with contact adhesive.It has a oily feel to it even when sanded.I could be wrong though.
regards
rpm

[9D280]

That's a good call... Not much sticks to Nylon now I think about it...

There is of course the big suitably preserved block of wood version, which I am also infinitely more likely to find this side of next Christmas.....