I recently installed a new Garmin Echo 550C and mounted the transducer on my trolling motor.
Problem with that is, I can't use the Garmin unless troling motor is down and I'm not running fast.
Anyone have any experience electronically? I'd like to make a junction box and switch to allow two transducers, on on transom, one on trolling motor, and be able to swith between them! Cool Idea huh?
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most rigs I've seen use two units. one in the front of the boat mounted on the trolling motor and the other hard mounted to the back.
I have found when trolling it is more important to have the transducer up front.
drifting side ways down river, mounted front and back works best and you need them both at the same time to cover unknown terain. It also helps to know wich side the fish are on as well. "done a lot of side ways drifting"
the best thing is to find a second unit at a garage sale. If you cant find that just leave your self enough cable where you can switch cables on the unit.
having some one build you a junction box will cost as much if not more than picking up a used unit.
to build a junction box, you will need two female receptors and one spare male counter part with cable and one toggle switch. Those parts are pretty hard to find except on old units, Hence if the old units are working, put them to work.
true you can cut the cables of the transducers, but you will short suit your self if you ever are in need of having to sell something for a quick buck.
. They do make the parts you are talking about but it is so you can have two transducer with different cone angles for shallow and deep water fishing .I think it would work the same for what you want .Curt G.
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Don't mess with the transducer. It's not the same is splicing over a couple hot wires on a 12v connection. If you cut into that, you'll screw up the transducer. The Garmin should have come with a transom mounting bracket, and that is where is should be mounted. There is no legit way to mount it anywhere else, that it won't rip off your boat when it's up on plane. I've always thought trolling motor mounts were silly , but that's just me. The absolute best system is a thru-hull application. However, people with john boats and such are limited to transom mount since they don't have a sub-deck. Thru hull mounts are typical on saltwater applications, as there are times when a boat must back down on a larger fish, and anything mounted to the transom is subject to the pressures of that. Thru hull eliminates the possibility of damage from water resistance when backing up, and centers the transducers beam under the boat.
But like Dave mentioned, you're better off getting a second sonar unit for the bow. That is where the trolling motor transducer mount is designed to be used. You run with your rear sonar, when you're ready to fish, the motor is trimmed up or what ever, you plop down in the bow fishing seat, drop the trolling motor, and now you also have eyes on up there.
Another option is that the newer sonar units have the capability of linking together. So in other words, you could mount your transducer on the transom where it should be, and run it to your primary sonar unit on the drivers console. From there, the newer units have the ability to connect a second sonar display in-line up front, allowing you to get two seperate heads up displays from that one transducer. It's pretty nifty actually. This way, there's no need for a second transducer on the trolling motor, and you're getting an accurate feed all the time.
Let us know what you end up doing. We can coach you through mounting the trolling motor on the transom too. It's really easy.
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I was looking at a dual system at one of the fishing shows a couple years back, they had a split screen to monitor both front and back at the same time, realy cool, expencive too.
mounting the transducer wasnt all that difficult, we ran two hose clamps around the motor base of the trolling motor one in front and one behind the motor stem.
Then we used high quality zip ties to tie the transducer to the hose clamps, We used hose clamps to tie the transducer cable to the motor stem, first applying a gennerous application of friction tap around the stem and cable before toughtening of the clamps. 3-4 clamps on the stem to make sure there is no wiggle of the transducer cable fluttering against the motor stem.
we opted to not use zip ties around motor stem because they would just slide up and down in use. In addition that in time would pinch the transducer cable.