I am curious if anyone has pics of how they did the thru-hull transducer mounting. Since i will be renting a canoe, I think I will cut foam for my Garmin Striker 4 CV, but wanted to see pics of what other people did.

I'm sorry I don't have any photos but on my previous canoe I bought a block of duck seal ($2 or $3) from Menards. All you have to do is put a glob on the bottom of the canoe, (below the water line of course), and then sink your transducer into the glob with the goal being to get rid of any air bubbles. When your done the duct seal will peal right off the bottom.

Here is a link to the same stuff at Home Depot. Duct Seal

You can just leave the transducer on the bottom of the hull with water added. It takes very very little water to allow it work. I have used a levee of silicone caulk to keep the water in but you don't even need that. I have 100's of miles of experience with it working without the levee of caulk. I just use a bailer to throw about a pint of water in. I would never affix a transducer to my canoe.

plumbers putty works well enough. like the duct seal advice, just avoid air bubbles

I like to put a glob of black duct seal putty on the floor of your canoe up towards the bow, preferably under the bow seat. Be careful to not position your transducer over a dense foam core that are latterly positioned across the bottom of your kevlar canoe. The foam core has air in it and will alter the sonar waves from your transducer and give you a false reading or no reading.

Form the putty and make a "bowl" to accommodate the outside of your transducer. Lay the transducer flat on the floor and fill the putty hole with the transducer in it with some water. Adding some water to the bowl of putty helps to better conduct sonar transmission and reception.

Then close the sides of the putty around the transducer.

You can do a "SEARCH" of the threads on transducer setups and there are many pictures of bwca.com paddlers transducer setups.

Here is a pic of my semi-permanent well system for my Lowrance X-4 transducer that I use on the front floor of my Bell Magic. You just cut out some closed cell foam and cement it to your floor. I used some foam from a life vest that my grandkids used a few years ago. Some folks would prefer not to make a "shoot through the hull" transducer well that is cemented in. But I prefer to mount it this way and not mess with duct seal putty. You can easily putty knife it off.

If I am paddling in someone elses canoe or renting a canoe ... I will bring along some duct seal and putty in the transducer.



I found a couple of Duct Seal Putty Mount pics from a Canoecopia Presentation I gave back in 2014. The picture quality is not very good with the red background but I think you can get the idea on how to use a Duct Seal Putty mount.

I am sure many can throw in a duct seal putty picture if you need a picture with more clarity.

Garmin makes one that fits this unit perfectly. I mounted mine in the bow area.

Another vote for the duct seal approach. The stuff is cheap and long lasting, but easy to take off without worry of leaving damage or lasting marks on a rental. I've had duct seal on my kayak for 2+ years and it stays in place nicely, but remains pliable should the need arise to remove it.

Make a well slightly larger than the transducer, place the transducer in there, then fill with a splash or two of water. You can make a "strap" over the top out of more duct seal to secure the transducer if you find that it moves around.

Nota great shot below, but you can see I just have a piece of blue closed cell foam with a whole cut for the ducer. I just set it by my feet between the ribs and dump a handful of water on it and it works. When I pack it up the foam goes over the screen with two rubber bands to protect it. In the photo it got bumped a bit to the left of center boat because of the fish.

Ducer epoxied in the bow, run the cable under the seat, plug n play with my Pirahna locator. Works great for years.