DFF3D Transom Mount Transducer Advice

I spent a couple hours today mocking up the transducer mounting location and would like some feedback on what I have so far. It's the Airmar TM54 (Furuno 165T-TM54) and I'm kind of limited on location because of the bracket. Can't mount anywhere under the bracket because there is not enough room for the transducer to kick up if it hit anything.

In addition to the kick-up issue, other locations closer to centerline have disturbance from the raw water pickup (port), thru-hull (center) and ground plate (starboard).

Boat is a Parker 2530 with F150s on an Armstrong bracket. The least worst remaining location is just right (starboard) of the bracket. The hull has strakes at about 18" and 32" out from centerline on each side. The transducer will end up 6" from the inner strake and 4" from the outer strake.

It's looking like with one shim (3 degree) to angle the mounting bracket upward, the bottom face of the transducer is as close to parallel with the hull as possible. It's probably slightly down at the trailing end (like 0.5 to 1 degree). When the boat is moving it will probably end up about 3-4 degrees angled down at the trailing end. I'm thinking this is a better option then with no shim which will put the trailing end angled down 3-4 degrees as it sits in the garage and 5-7 degrees when running.

Any advice or comments?

MarMax,
Can you post a couple of pictures for us?

Snips

OK, I had to chop the image in half so you can see everything. The strakes near the CL do not go all the way to the transom but are directly forward of the arrow with the 6" dimension.

Marmax,
Thanks for the pictures. Parker's have that nice flat area which is the perfect location for a transducer. My personal opinion is your starboard location is going to be prone to turbulence.
I have two thoughts, first would be be to get it as low and close to center line as possible. The second would be to look at the possibility of exchanging the TM54 for the B54 and locating it where your B116 is. I would then look to relocate the B116 slightly forward of the B54. Below is a B-260 mounted (which is much bigger) in that location.

Snips

Thanks Snips,

That is sound advice and probably the perfect solution. Unfortunately on my boat the flush mount could not be mounted ahead of the B54. The high speed fairing length would put it in a place where serious modifications would be necessary.

Thanks for the picture of a Parker with the B260. The good thing about the TM54 is that the bracket is the same for a TM260 and a TM258. Your suggestion makes me think about a B54 in place of the B117 and then a TM258 or TM260 where the TM54 is.

Is another option to use the 165T-50/200-SS260 DFF3D 50/200 Stainless Combination Thru-Hull transducer? I've not heard anything about this transducer. Sounds like it's the size of a B260 and contains both the DFF3D elements and B164 elements for 50/200. Do you happen to know the diameter of the stem for this transducer?

Since I have the TM54 in hand it's worth trying it to see if there are problematic noise issues. It's easy to fill in and repair the mounting holes. I'll just try it out in a temporary install and run the cables over the transom with zip ties to the bracket bolts. If it's unacceptably noisy then perhaps the 165T-50/200-SS260 DFF3D 50/200 is an option. Here is the TM54 mounted up.

MarMax,
Worth trying to see how well it works.
I don't have one of the combo transducers in front of me but since it is using the same faring and is the same size as the B-260 I am going to assume it has the same stem diameter (33mm- 1.3").

Snips