Added a 'Star board' plate to my transome

[Hoosier_Steelheader]

Ok so I know it's not a new thing, but this being my first aluminum big water boat, I hate the thought of drilling into the transome.

So I had a couple of new additions in my electronics this year, a New Humminbird 586c fishfinder, and a used Fish hawk 840.

Which meant a transducer swap out, and three new holes in my transome. So I remember when my buddy got his new Lund, and the guy at the marina where he bought it suggested he use a piece of 'Star board' instead of drilling holes in his transome.

So yesterday mad a run to the marina, picked up a piece of brown 1/2" Star board(wanted grey but he gave me a deal on an end piece he had that fit my dimensions), brought it home cut it to size and bada boom bada bing....

Here she is. No more drilling into aluminum for me...

JC

[blahblahduchunter]

JC,

It looks good. Do you fish out of New Buffalo at all? I will be over that way on April 30th for the weekend and was just wondering if you might be fishing up that way.

Todd

[Hoosier_Steelheader]

Hi Todd,

Yes I do. I usually begin fishing in Michigan City, then move on around to St. Joe in late spring / summer.

We will drop in at New Buffalo and head north when the water warms up. (and when the perch start up..)

JC

[Nailer]

Good idea JC. looks nice.

[Priority1]

Looks good.

[flyman013]

Looks great. Do you just epoxy the board to the transom?

[Hoosier_Steelheader]

Thanks, actually I used the two top holes which were already there, and 3 of the five hole holes along the bottom were there, so I only needed to make two additional holes, then I covered the entire board with Marine grade silicone and tightened her down (you can see a couple of silicone stringers hanging in the pic.) cleaned her up and mounted the transducers, and speed impeller, and pitot tube.

[Paulywood]

How thick is that piece of Starboard? I am going to add one to my boat but they all seem to be pretty thin. How long were the screws that you used on the ducers?

[Hoosier_Steelheader]

How thick is that piece of Starboard? I am going to add one to my boat but they all seem to be pretty thin. How long were the screws that you used on the ducers?

The Starboard was 1/2" thick you can get it up to 1" thick if you need it. (If you need a source for starboard shoot me a PM and I'll give you their info.) They can tell you the whole range of sizes they carry.

I used 12 X 1/2" stainless screws to mount the transducers. The thickness of the transducers kept the points from penetrating the starboard all the way thru. The pitot was the thinnest, and only the points pierce thru just enough to notice they were there. (Hint drill your pilot hole for the screws just smaller than the minor diameter of your screw, it makes for a tighter fit and a better hold. add a drop of lock-tite to the hole before running the screw in.)

JC