# Mounting a cutting board for a tranducer + troubleshooting



## Gramps50 (Mar 3, 2012)

When mounting the cutting boad to mount the tranducer on do you bolt through the tramsom or just use a couple of sheet metal screws, stainless steel naturally.

Also the weld at the seam on the bottom of the transom and the bottom of the boat is such that it there is a ridge there across the entire bottom of the boat. I'm thinking this will cause turblance all across the back and make it real hard to get a transduce to work right. This weld probably is 1/16-/18 below the actual bottom of the boat.

Mine currently is mounted to the transom and when going slow or idling the depth reads fine. When you start running faster at a point the depth display will start blinking and continue this until you slow down. 

Any suggestions as to what I need to do here?


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## earl60446 (Mar 3, 2012)

I would use bolt thru hardware and use some 3m 5200 guys on here always talk about. Try making adjustments to the transducer height and angle to get it to work better at speed. Mine gets kinda fuzzy when at speed but I can still read the bottom depth.


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## devilmutt (Mar 4, 2012)

I ran stainless bolts with nylon lock nuts through the transom. I sealed these with 5200 and ran a good bead of 5200 around the edge of the cutting board.







This is what I started out with.


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## Sawdust Farmer (Mar 4, 2012)

devilmutt said:


> I ran stainless bolts with nylon lock nuts through the transom. I sealed these with 5200 and ran a good bead of 5200 around the edge of the cutting board.
> 
> This is what I started out with.



That looks good!

Where did you get the cutting board? How thick is it?

sf


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## Jdholmes (Mar 4, 2012)

I don't think it matters much...it doesn't weigh very much so there isn't a weight issue that would require bolts.

I am just planning on a bit of epoxy/superglue to hold it on place while the 5200 sets. No need for any more holes in my boat.


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## Jdholmes (Mar 4, 2012)

FYI - Walmart is where I got my cutting board...looks like I would say under 1/2...


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## richg99 (Mar 4, 2012)

You can double them up if you need more thickness. I use 3M5200 on ANYTHING below the water line. R


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## Gramps50 (Mar 4, 2012)

I started with 2 that were a 1/2" thick and have glued them together with Gorilla glue which has now cured for 24 hours so it should be dry. I think the mounting boards you buy at Bass Pro & Cabela's are 3/4" thick. I wanted the 1" thickness so I would have plenty of meat for screws without hitting the transom.

I don't want to glue/epoxy it to the transom in case I would want to take it off in the future. I did plan on sealing the holes with 3M/5200







I ordered these off Amazon for $3.99 ea


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## richg99 (Mar 4, 2012)

Looks good. 

Gorilla glue is pretty amazing stuff. I just used some yesterday when I repaired a shattered rod handle. 

I stuffed a 20 inch long piece of carbon fiber golf shaft up the old rod's base; after coating everything liberally with Gorilla glue. The Gorilla Glue oozed out the cracks where the handle cracked. Stronger than new, I think. 

We'll see, on Tuesday, if I get lucky and we find a redfish. R


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## Jdholmes (Mar 4, 2012)

Nice job...I think I paid less at Walmart though.


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## devilmutt (Mar 4, 2012)

Sawdust Farmer said:


> devilmutt said:
> 
> 
> > I ran stainless bolts with nylon lock nuts through the transom. I sealed these with 5200 and ran a good bead of 5200 around the edge of the cutting board.
> ...



It's a 1/2" thick. I had it laying around for a while, but it came from the camping section of a Kmart.


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## Gramps50 (Mar 4, 2012)

Jdholmes said:


> Nice job...I think I paid less at Walmart though.



For what ever reason I never even thought of looking at Walmart. That is not a setion I would normally visit. #-o


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## atuck593 (Mar 4, 2012)

Jdholmes said:


> I don't think it matters much...it doesn't weigh very much so there isn't a weight issue that would require bolts.
> 
> I am just planning on a bit of epoxy/superglue to hold it on place while the 5200 sets. No need for any more holes in my boat.



How are you attaching the cutting board to the back of the boat? Is the 5200 the only thing holding it to the hull? Just wondering because I don't want to have to drill anymore holes in the hull than I have to either.


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## Jdholmes (Mar 4, 2012)

Yeah I am Going to use a couple dabs of quicker setting glue and then plaster the 5200 on it. That stuff holds like crazy once it sets. And I don't care about ever taking it off...I can't see a reason to ever have to. And it matches the white back of my boat.


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## atuck593 (Mar 4, 2012)

Sweet... I didn't know that. This just made my job much easier... less holes to drill.


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## Gramps50 (Mar 13, 2012)

Finally got around to installing the mounting board yesterday. I had to drill a hole in the back of it for a rivet. I didn't want to put a lot of new holes in the transome, I had the old ones welded, so I only used 2 bolts to hold it on.





Took it out today and tried it. Didn't have any issues with the depth flashing when I got up to speed. After looking at the pictures of the old install it looks like the transducer wasn't deep enouth in the water.


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## richg99 (Mar 14, 2012)

Good for you. One extra nice thing about the big plate of material is that you can change out to a new/different T'ducer in the future without drilling more holes in your boat. R


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## jojo (Mar 14, 2012)

How much did it cost to have the old holes welded? Was curious to know in case I do this in the future.


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## Gramps50 (Mar 14, 2012)

jojo said:


> How much did it cost to have the old holes welded? Was curious to know in case I do this in the future.



I'm lucky a friend of mine has a tig welder and all it cost me was a 6 pack


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## whistler (Mar 14, 2012)

Gramps50 said:


> I'm lucky a friend of mine has a tig welder and all it cost me was a 6 pack



Shame on you taking advantage of someone else habits! Dr. Phil would call you an enabler! ................I wish I had a drinking friend with a tig, I sure could keep him enabled!!! :wink:


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## Gramps50 (Mar 14, 2012)

whistler said:


> Shame on you taking advantage of someone else habits! Dr. Phil would call you an enabler! ................I wish I had a drinking friend with a tig, I sure could keep him enabled!!! :wink:



That's Oprah's Dr. so he has no credibility in my book. :lol: My buddy & I have been know to work on a 30 pack so the born on date won't go out of date. :LOL2:


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## JMichael (Mar 15, 2012)

Looks like AR and MO pay scales are very similar. I had a new 1/8" plate welded over my existing transom because it had too many holes to weld, and it cost me a 30 pack. :lol:


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