Stand alone transducer mount

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I’m looking for a stand alone, retractable bow mounted transducer mount.

It’s not for FFS ( at the moment) just for normal sonar/down/side imaging transducer.

 

Anyone have one they recommend?

 

[WIGuide]

Just curious, but why do you want to mount a normal transducer on a pole mount up front?

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Guide, I only have a front unit for sonar plus side and down up front.
Would love FFS but that will never be in my limited budget.
Managing the cable on the Terrova is a PITA . That’s why I’m considering a separate mount. 

[WIGuide]

There are a few routes you could go then. They do make a bracket to make cable management on the Terrova a lot easier, but it's not cheap.

https://cornfieldfishinggear.com/product/cable-save-r-cable-protection/

There are a few pole mounts for FF transducers you may be able to adapt to work with a normal transducer, but even most of those are fairly pricy.

I think the most cost effective option would be to mount the transducer on the transom and run the cable up front. The only disadvantage is marking things on side imaging, your waypoints will be off a little since it'll be pulling the location from the head unit and reading from the transducer "x" feet away. 

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Guide, the problem with that one, and any other that mounts to the troller is when on spot lock, it’ll wrap the cable up tight to the trolling motor.

I just know one of these times it’s going to go too far and damage the cable.

 I like having it up front so I can monitor what’s right under me.

I think I’ve found a solution, via u tube that uses a ram mount and pvc pipe. 
Thanks for replying.

[HenryPF]

Semi-long post a coming.

 

I had the Terrova and hated the transducer or ffs mounts available as sometimes I fish in the goop and those will just be giant weed catchers. I replaced it with a Force and motorized LMounts pole for the Force but I will zero on what you need:

 

PVC and RAM mount, 2nd cheapest option. Works but hated the flip the pole in an out every time I went to different spot. Also didn't like leaning over to move the transducer or ffs around but this should not apply to you as you are running a single transducer and not ffs. The angle of the pole in the water to the side of the boat should not be a big deal with a transducer than with FFS. You will have to deal with a cable coming over the side of your boat to the unit.

 

I then moved to Summit Transducer Pole With Quick Disconnect Transducer Mount with Summit Boat Mount Kit (still mounts via RAM) for a cleaner look (and I could use it for ice fishing) but again, you flip the pole in and out as you move spots and in my case worry about angle it is in the water.

 

Most Expensive: you can go with 50 other non-motorized options as you will be basically looking for a Livescope transducer pole or any of the 100 homemade versions. If you worry about the angle the pole is in the water, you can get ones that slide up and down only when you move spots. This looks goofy on the side of your boat while you run, but it is aesthetics at that point.

 

Cheapest option: regarding mounting the transducer to the terrova, the cable to the transducer must be precoiled to allow for spot lock using something like a hard plastic air hose or I saw some guy used a kryptonite coiled cable for a bicycle. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tranducer+to+terrova It will be as you said a PITA for cable management but it works but is cheaper than the PVC stick mount but either solution is running you under $20 (less RAM mounts). I have seen kayakers run the tranducer and FFS on the same pole.

 

Also - look into something like the Scotty Transducer Mounting arm where you can mount the  scotty base on the SIDE of your gunwhale and the arm just drops into place bypassing any worrying about the angle and massive amount of cords flailing about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SC53]

Henry, my existing setup is similar to your third option, transducer cable running through a piece of hose.  It work ok but still gets wrapped too tight on spot lock.

After much research, I’ve decided to go with a ram mount with the pvc pole option.

It’s the least expensive, other than complete homemade, and if it needs to be changed, the ram mount will work for other alternatives.