275SD - Garmin ECHOMAP 9" UHD2 94sv with GT56 Transducer Install

[Judge]

Made some good progress today..... until the Admiral came out and wanted to start doing some stuff inside the boat because she is tried of looking at it over the last year and never seeing it in the water!

After reading about every transducer install thread.... I came up with what I feel is a good solution for attaching the transducer to the ride plate. While looking at every commercial and custom mount option I found the Garmin 010-12106-00 Step Mount for Garmin Echo Fishfinder on Amazon and it worked perfectly!

Amazon.com

I installed it about 2/3 back on the ride plate so a good 1/3 of the transducer is out past the keel. What is great about this mount over the stock plastic or heavy duty mount is that you don't have to worry about the jet wash in reverse pushing the transducer down and getting it out of alignment. So I'll be sending the Heavy Duty Garmin Mount back to Amazon.

I am very pleased with the way the transducer mount turned out.....

 

[Judge]

After dinner I am going to install the SeaChoice Thru-Hull Cable Fitting and seal it with 4200 Black. Here is the fitting with the slight mod on the head so it fit flush against the transition underneath the swim platform.

 

[Judge]

Here is a picture of the Busbar I installed to provide power to the chartplotter and Lectrotabs. I was able to take some 10AWG and tap into the ports on the sound system where two 6AWG battery cables came up to provide power to it.

 

[Judge]

Before I seal up the transducer cable, it was time for the power on test to make sure the transducer would be recognized before turning it off on the unit while its out of water.

I will say after powering it on I'm glad I checked with my stepson and moved up to the 9" after the deal he could get me. I would not have wanted to go to a 10" or 12" given the space in the helm but the 9" is a good compromise for display size and available helm space in the 275SD.

The transducer was automatically recognized and seemed to be working so I shut down the transducer in the software settings while I checked out some of the screens and configuration options.

Now that everything checks out I'll get out the 4200 and make a mess sealing up the transducer cable. At least I was able to get the black 4200 so it won't be very visible against the black gelcoat.

 

[TeenGee]

Looks great.
You might need to put some washers between your ride plate and step mount to get the GT56 into the water when up on plane.

 

[Judge]

Looks great.
You might need to put some washers between your ride plate and step mount to get the GT56 into the water when up on plane.

Thanks for the tip! I thought about some nylon spacers if needed.

I think it should be ok since the transducer is sticking out a couple inches beyond the ride plate. I'll have to measure the from the bottom of the keel to the transducer to see how many inches it is. If I am within 6" - 8" then the draft on plane in that area should be ok.

I'll let you know how it works out.

 

[drober30]

Oh that 9" Garmin looks sweet!!!

I'm hoping I can get a great/similar discount on the GPSMAP 943xsv on Black Friday.

 

[Judge]

I finished with the install. The last step was to seal the transducer cable and thru-hull fitting with 4200 after one last power on test.

I know a lot of us tend to make a mess with 4200 / 5200 and waste a lot of it so I tried a different approach that I found on another forum and it worked pretty well for me.

I ordered some 20ml syringes from Amazon and then filled part of the syringe with the 4200. I took a second syringe and partially filled it with regular 3M Marine Sealant as well.

I used 4200 to seal the outer fitting under the swim platform since that is going to see a lot of water splashing against it. I used the 3M Marine Sealant on the inside if the swim platform to add additional sealing around the base of the fitting nut. Applying the sealants with the syringe seemed easier and less messy than using the 10oz or 3oz tubes directly.

Since I could only find black 4200 in the 10oz tube I also ordered some small containers to try and save some. Not sure if it will completely cure since it has already hit the air but I thought I would give it a try. Since I didn't cut the tip for the tube I just put it back on the 10oz tube to see if the tube will keep for a while as well... but I'm not all that hopeful. I'll find out pretty quick since the 4200 I got was the fast cure.

The syringe will be a great way to add 5200 into the screw holes of the transom when I install my trim tabs next week. They are arriving tomorrow so now that I have finished the solar install and the chartplotter install, my last project is the Lectrotabs. I was able to get the black 5200 in a 3oz tube but I'm still going to use the syringes to squirt it into the screw holes and on the back of the tab mounts.

 

[Judge]

Finally got a chance to get the boat in the water....

I just wanted to report that the Garmin 010-12106-00 Step Mount and mounting the transducer as I did on the ride plate as shown in post #21 above works terrific!

I had depth readings at all speeds..... including topping out at 48MPH. I also seemed to have no issues with Ultra HD ClearVü and SideVü scanning or CHIRP. I put the ECHOMAP into scanning for all three modes and they displayed without any issues as best I could tell while moving.

 

[VitaminSea]

Glad to hear you were finally able to take your boat out for a spin. I know it’s been quite sometime since you acquired it. Hope it met or exceeded your expectations!

 

[Judge]

Glad to hear you were finally able to take your boat out for a spin. I know it’s been quite sometime since you acquired it. Hope it met or exceeded your expectations!

Thanks! So far I'm very pleased with it and glad I went with the 275SD.

I'll have it out the next two days so I'll have some good run time on it..... and I'm stoping at the dealer tomorrow to get the 10 Hour Service Scheduled since I'll have 10 hours on this weekend.

 

[dwakeman]

Many thanks for this extensive post. I’m purchasing the same Garmin chart plotter for my 2024 225XD, I wasn’t sure if the 9 inch would fit, but thanks to your Blog Post, I know it will. I’m gonna use the same type of transducer mount as you did, since you validated that it works fine. You saved me a lot of time, research and probably helped making a few mistakes. After I do this next spring, I’ll come back and post some pictures and report on how it worked.

 

[zackmorris]

Thats a clean install on the transducer.

Did you drill and tap the ride plate or use through bolts?

Does the side vu work on both sides with it tucked up like that?

 

[Judge]

Thats a clean install on the transducer.

Did you drill and tap the ride plate or use through bolts?

Does the side vu work on both sides with it tucked up like that?

I drilled through the ride plate where the gap was so I could use two bolts with nylok nuts, which I thought would ensure the bolts stayed in place versus tapping.

As best I can tell the Side Vu works ok. But I really only use the HW Chirp.

I have it installed two years now and it works great. I'm glad I went with the 9" screen and it is very readable.... even in the Florida sunlight.