[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by lamb

Flush mount external transducer looks neat... I'm sure the reading of your FF is now as good as it gets, but the fact that the hull needs to be cut would make me nervous, especially over time. What did you use to seal it?

First thing I should say: is this may be a little advanced for some.

Here's the components.

A Garmin transducer with the top part (mounts) cut off, down to an inch thick in height. Two half inch chunks of neoprene roughly 3" by 5" with the shape of the transducer cut out in the middle of them.

A piece of 16 gauge Aluminum the same size as the neoprene with a hole big enough for the transducer and wire connector.



I slathered a bunch of 5200 caulk on the transducer and slid into the first half inch chunk of neoprene, and then I covered the top of the transducer with the caulk as well.



I then put on the second chunk of neoprene and slathered a bunch of 5200 on top of it too.



I then sandwiched the top with the aluminum plate and then smear a bunch of 5200 on the bottom of the neoprene and aluminum sandwich.



I cut a hole in the bottom of the kayak the exact size of the transducer...



........placed the sandwiched transducer inside so it lined up with the hole and then drilled some small pilot holes up through the whole sandwich through the aluminum. I then used the screws to compress the neoprene which in turned pushed the transducer down through the hole.

I started with one then went to the other corner and tightened it evenly down like I was tightening the bolt pattern, (like when you change a tire) until the bottom of the transducer was flush and even with the bottom of kayak. You have to watch it because if you over tighten it will start to deform the bottom of the kayak so you just want it level and tight enough to make a good seal.



Then cleaned the bottom of the transducer off with paint thinner.





Pretty simple. took me about an hour to do it. You get a compression seal with the neoprene as well as the caulking seal by the 5200.

If I was going to do another one Id make a template and pre-drill everything as the only hard part was holding everything in place while drilling it. It worked out OK but I would of preferred a more controlled exact spacing for the holes.

I initially used normal screws but later changed them out and counter sunk them. for a more flush appearance. Worked fine, did not leak, and it would be easy enough to remove in order to change out for another transducer.


Jim