I want to put a fish finder on my 10' alum tracker pond boat. what options do i have to mount a fish finder to it? The boat gets dragged through grass and stored on concrete to mounting the transducer on the bottom isnt practical for my situation. Can it be mounted on the side? 

 

Post pics of your set up for this type of boat

the transducer doesn't have to be on the bottom, it just has to be under water and with a side imaging you obviously need a clear shot to the side of the transducer as well, so i would think your normal transom mount would work as long as you are conscious of it being back there.

I think that the easiest answer would be to mount it to your trolling motor.  Back when I had a pond boat, that's how I did it.   You just had to be mindful raising and lowering the trolling motor and don't crimp the cable.

It has been about 10 years ago, but I used to have a transducer with a suction cup on my jon boat. It was a Humminbird unit, but I  don't remember where I got the suction cup transducer mount. 

Take a look at the Fishing Buddy by Hummingbird.  It mounts on the transom like a trolling motor and has a built in transducer.  I used one on my 12 ft. jon for several years and now use it on my Bass Raider.  It is powered by 6 AA batteries.  I normally change batteries once a year.

 

Ken

I have mine mounted on the transom to my pond boat. It's at the perfect height where I can fold it up, and drag it through grass. I don't drag it on concrete due to ruining the bottom of the boat, but it's stored on concrete with no issues. I only have experience with Lowrance, but I'd think most manufactures would use a transom mount that folds uo incase it's hit on something. 

 

Take a look a Deeper. Works great on my yak. 

RAM mount with a transducer arm on my kayak.  I imagine something similar would work pretty well on your pond boat.

you can always do the DIY route too.

If Humminbird still has the portable units, they have a suction cup mount for the transducer as well as a battery built into the base the unit sits in. Other options include buying an aftermarket transducer clamp. It mounts to the transom with a c clamp and the transducer mounts to it so you can remove it when you want. A final option would be to mount the transducer higher up on the transom. Normally you want them level with the bottom of the hull to provide smooth water flow over them when moving. since you won't be moving much and not fast when you do, it might work for you.

1 hour ago, carlm01 said:

This is almost my exact set-up with my Garmin 73sv. Great mounting option for us "tin users".

Mount a couple pieces of 2X4 on the transom of your boat, then screw the ducer mount to it, that way you can have the ducer above the bottom of your boat and 3" out off the back of the boat. 

Use the old Bottom Line fish finder on my small boat that goes back to the 90's. Still going strong and  serves its purpose well. 

I have my depthfinder mounted to wood in transom. Clamps for battery conncections, and then i just hang the transducer over the back of the boat.  I tried it without weights and the transducer would rise to surface and drag behind when running trolling motor, and not read correctly doing so.  A few 1oz. weights on zipties through transducer mounting holes solved this. 

18 minutes ago, junyer357 said:

I have my depthfinder mounted to wood in transom. Clamps for battery conncections, and then i just hang the transducer over the back of the boat.  I tried it without weights and the transducer would rise to surface and drag behind when running trolling motor, and not read correctly doing so.  A few 1oz. weights on zipties through transducer mounting holes solved this. 

Theres no way your ducer is hanging level and giving you a good reading. They have to be perfectly level or you are going to get false and inaccurate readings. a self leveling ice transducer would work like that,