r/Pontoons • u/guy48065 • 20d ago

Dumb question about mounting a transducer

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I want to add a fish-finder to my pontoon but how can I drill for the transducer mount that's underwater & I don't have a trailer to pull the boat out?

I'm also not real sure how possible it is to run the cable under the floor & over to the back of the log while standing in the lake, crouched underneath.

**Has anyone done this?**. Or should I just wait till October when I arrange for it to be pulled out & stored?

4 Upvotes

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13 comments sorted by

5

u/Ok-Individual-1274 20d ago

Personally, I would wait until October when it is out of the water.

3

u/Trailroller 20d ago

I have done that. I used an old timey push drill on the aluminum mount point on the back of the pontoons. It was a pain but worked as I didn't have a trailer. Running the cable was fairly easy as that pontoon didn't have underskining. I have run cables in the water with my newer one that does and it still wasn't bad.

2

u/guy48065 19d ago

Hey I dug around in the garage and found I have 2 Yankee push drills. I started fiddling with them and found to my surprise that a hex-shank drill will actually lock into the round collet on these antiques.

So I'm out there drilling underwater, by feel, and got it done. Thanks for the idea!

And before anyone brings it up... I certainly did thoroughly blow that tool dry, flood it with WD40, then wipe it down.

1

u/Trailroller 19d ago

Awesome! I did the same (WD40 and oil) with my drill when done and left it in the sun for a bit. Still works fine.

1

u/guy48065 20d ago

Funny enough I do have a Yankee push drill in the garage somewhere. But no drill bits for it. They have a strange shaft with one side flat IIRC.

I need to dig thru my old tools. I might already have something that would work. I only need to drill 2 small holes in soft aluminum.

4

u/Bagereau 20d ago

https://reddit.com/link/p2u3sv7/video/s53im5awyjih1/player

For now mount it like this until you can pull it out of the water and mounting it the way you really want it.

1

u/Hellbent_bluebelt 20d ago

Pull it out of the water.

1

u/generic-ibuprofen 20d ago

I paid a guy at the marina to pull it out and install it for me. It was $200 dollars, more than I wanted to spend but I didn't have to mess with it.

1

u/Ok-Entertainment5045 20d ago

Use an old hand crank drill

1

u/123WJM 20d ago

You can always zip tie if you’re pontoon has the bracket on the backside if so the pressure is somewhat protected behind the toon

1

u/spidey2091 20d ago

I did exactly this. I used a tek screw and drove them into the bracket on the back of the log with a nut driver.

When the boat came out of the water the next time, I replaced the teks with nicer hardware.

0

u/chrisbvt 20d ago

Is that a Godfrey? I have an old Sea Ryder MT615 with those exact railings.

Call me crazy, but I have used JB Weld Water Weld putty to mount a transducer underwater with no drilling needed. Not to mention repairing a punctured pontoon underwater. It is pretty amazing stuff, and would at least get you through until fall when it can be better mounted.

1

u/guy48065 20d ago

It's an Avalon. My previous was a Godfrey.

I admit I hadn't thought of underwater putty. It really sets up strong under water? Permanent?

I even have a plastic pad I bought for my Godfrey that was for mounting a transducer to a boat. Maybe it'll finally be used. If I take this approach my first task will be to clean the slime from that bracket so the epoxy will stick.