[Huge29]

So, I got the Lowrance sonar and the fittings are huge requiring a 1" drill hole. This is a sterndrive, so no little holes to bring it through teh transom. There is a spot up high just below the swim deck that is nothing, but fiberglass. The owners manual confirms it requires a 1" hole; it will be 3-4" above the normal water line. Being only fiberglass I cant really put the plug back in and epoxy it in with the tiny hole for the line to pass through. What do you recommend? My thought is to just get a stainless clamshell vent on the outside with the opening facing down and silicone the hole of the clamshell??? I am really surprised that they dont have some sort of special fitting where it only needs a hole the diameter of the wire as I have seen on others I have dealt with.

 

[DallanC]

Nah, fabricate something that sticks on the back of your transom, then drill a hole through that. There are lots of ideas on the web of similar things.

**Edit, for some reason pictures are being removed.

 

[Huge29]

Sorry, I didn't describe it very well; the actual transducer will mount with two small screws into the transom; just the same as all others I have seen. The issue is that to get the cable to the transom being a stern drive there is no easy way to get it there like on the boats in your pics above. it is more like this, to where you need a hole in teh transom up above to route the cable into the engine compartment:

 

[DallanC]

Yea sure, you are just posting pictures of that "fishing boat" to show off... its hard to fish at 55mph on a wake board. :mrgreen:

On my dads SeaRay he loathed the thought of drilling holes into the hull so I got a T bracket from Home Depot and 3 of those big suction cups in the misc parts section hooked those to each end of the T, drilled 2 small holes in the center for the transducer to bolt to, then suction cupped it to the back of the boat. You dont even need to extend the tranducer below the profile of the boat unless you want to gauge depth at full speed, even that can be flakey with air bubbles at speed.

Anywho I got a few more suction cups with wire hooks and bent them to hold the wire, which I just routed over the back and down. It worked well for years. A little ugly with the wire showing but he didnt care.

They also make a board you can silicon onto the back of boats that transducers screw into to prevent holes in that purty hull. As for if you choose to thread the wire through the hull... cut through the wire about 12" from the end, now you are only drilling a 1/4" hole. There aren't alot of wires in side it so its easy to patch back up once you route it.

IMO: route it outside for now... you can always run it through the hull later... but once you drill through that gelcoat, its permanent. Remember You can paint that wire with spray paint too...

-DallanC

 

[High Desert Elk]

So, why can't you just do it like the pic of the yellow boat above where it comes out of the transom on the starboard side?

 

[Huge29]

Good info Dallan! Oh, and that is nothing like my boat, at all, I saw that coming, just the first pic I found on google search showing it. I hadnt thought about just cutting the wire open and splicing it; that would certainly void the warranty, but really not a terrible idea. Splicing would be much easier than such a big A hole. To do that towards the sonar end would keep all of that mess tucked up under the dash, not a bad idea at all; I like that a lot better than a big permanent hole; I can't imagine that any of those would be the fancy wire that couldn't easily be spliced.

HDE-I do plan to do it just the way it shows, my concern was just having such a huge gaping hole in there. With Dallan's idea I may be able to do so with the least amount of collateral damage.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[30-06-hunter]

Most hardware stores carry a decent selection of rubber plugs in various sizes that will deflect at least 90% of any water that may flow forward as you slow down, you could keep out the other 10% if you groove the rubber plug to the size of the wire and add a beat of silicon. I'm sure you can picture what I'm referring to.

 

[Huge29]

That makes sense too, the problem with that idea is that it is fiberglass only with no wood behind it, so it is not deep enough to really keep it in there, but a grommet may work.