Hey HPB, congrats on your new boat, Alumawelds are real nice - I looked at one of those but it would have been more money, more weight, a bigger motor, and a bigger tow vehicle .

Actually, my boat is wider than it looks and the transducer is over 2 feet from the motor. It works just fine, as does the speedometer which is about 6 inches closer to the motor - it is accurate to with 1/2 mph compared to my GPS. I put the transducer mouting plate there because that's the only place I could get access to through-bolt and seal it - any closer to the edge of the boat and the lower part of the transom is covered up with flooring and sprayfoam insulation.

How'd you do at Sekiu? I had a day in August where I took 7 of my relatives out in 2 shifts - had 16 fish boat limit before 8 with one group and 16 more after breakfast and before noon with the other. Kind of felt like a commercial fishermen