adding a depth finder

Sounds like a solid plan.

I've been looking at some depth meters with air and water temp on them as well. Too bad I will have to either drill another hole , not my plan, or consolidate 2 gauges into one like you are doing.

That might be an even better idea Donald. I just have to see if I have any room to mount one like that. A newer boat shouldn't have an issue, but an older Nautique like mine as you know has limited space.

Your clock still works? I didn't think any of them worked after a couple hundy hours...ha

Ditch the clock, time stands still when your out on the water.   I do agree with mounting the depth finder where it is easy to see unless you always stay in deep familiar water.

I have the Hummingbird but with the hull mounted puck. It is the second one I have had in two different boats and both have worked perfectly. Spend the time and get the puck in the right location and bedded correctly.

i just ordered the Humminbird hdr 610P with the p standing for puck transducer. Purchased from Amazon.com for $95.95 with free shipping. A decent price in my opinion. My plan is to remove the clock and put the depth gauge there.

Morfoot, can you snap a photo of where your puck is located in your hull?

Thanks Tim,
I've wondered about the ziploc bag of water testing method. What holds the bag and puck down during the trial. I plan to glue mine down in a similar location to yours but I don't know how you could keep the ziploc and puck stationary long enough in that location to test it. Wait a minute. Is it recommended to test it under way or with the boat sitting still? I can see that test method working with someone holding it in place, but that would prove difficult and maybe dangerous if under way. I definitely want it to read underway and guess you'd need to test it underway to ensure know bubbles from the fins interfere with the signal.

I did mine in the water, of course that's easy when the boat is in a slip. I didn't have any issues with it moving around in a big ziploc bag. I figured 10 mph was good enough because if Its shallow enough to be watching then that's as fast as I'll be going.

I bought a 2 year old unused unit off craigslist for 65$ it had the transom mount transducer which I tested as a through hull but could not get good readings so it hangs off the back of the boat. I put it in place of my broken clock. For me the idea is to have it in plain view so it will save my prop in unknown waters. I personally would not be happy with it under the dash.

I would definately be further aft than the drain. Mine is about six inches aft of the motor and works great at all speeds and even when the bow is way out of the water.

Mine is as far forward as I could get it, it's to warn me about something hopefully before it happens. I also keep it set with an offset to where the bottom of the rudder is 0, I've thought about moving that even lower to the bottom of the foil since that is another 10 inches below the rudder.