Normal Waterline for riveted 1542 Lowe Pro????

I am about to float my Lowe 1542 jon for the first time after upgrades so I can find the normal water line for the FF transducer. The boat has two benches and one small casting platform. the middle bench will be referred to as "second bench."

My question is what would be considered a normal water line depth to make sure I haven't overloaded it with weight. My upgrades are listed below.

Front casting deck up front - starting from the front second bench to the small "factory" platform. It does not cover any bench.. (weight = 25-30 lbs)
Gas tank and 2 batteries (one for starting/running, one for trolling) located just in front of second bench under casting deck...Weight (136 lbs w/fuel and battery cells)
Front casting chair and pole...(weight 5 lbs)
bow mounted trolling motor....(weight 20-25 lbs)
Transom mounted merc 25 hp electric start (172 lbs roughly I think.)
navigation panel mounted in the middle about 3 lbs..


I think that is about it for the upgrades that are going to add significant weight.

What do you guys think? Too heavy, just fine, or will balance out with my 260 lbs sitting and running the motor?

deep will it sit in the water like this do you think?

The weight of what is in the boat doesn't matter when mounting the transducer. The bottom edge of the transducer always has to be located just barely below the bottom of the boat if it is at the transom. The water line on the hull will change depending if the boat is still in the water or on plane. While on plane, the entire transom will be out of the water. If the bottom of the transducer is located above the bottom of the boat, it will be out of the water while the boat is under power and won't read anything.

Scott F said:

The weight of what is in the boat doesn't matter when mounting the transducer. The bottom edge of the transducer always has to be located just barely below the bottom of the boat if it is at the transom. The water line on the hull will change depending if the boat is still in the water or on plane. While on plane, the entire transom will be out of the water. If the bottom of the transducer is located above the bottom of the boat, it will be out of the water while the boat is under power and won't read anything.

Click to expand...

Thanks Scott. That helps a ton! See, I was a bit confused because people were saying that the transducer had to be under the waterline at plane, but not so low that it will hit the earth when in shallow water so my understanding was a bit conflicted. lol I will just mount it so that the top of the transducer is about 1/4 below the hull. In other words, the bottom of the transducer will be about 1-2 inches below the hull in total, but the top will still be under water by about 1/4 of an inch when planed out.

Ethanw08 said:

Scott F said:

The weight of what is in the boat doesn't matter when mounting the transducer. The bottom edge of the transducer always has to be located just barely below the bottom of the boat if it is at the transom. The water line on the hull will change depending if the boat is still in the water or on plane. While on plane, the entire transom will be out of the water. If the bottom of the transducer is located above the bottom of the boat, it will be out of the water while the boat is under power and won't read anything.

Click to expand...

Thanks Scott. That helps a ton! See, I was a bit confused because people were saying that the transducer had to be under the waterline at plane, but not so low that it will hit the earth when in shallow water so my understanding was a bit conflicted. lol I will just mount it so that the top of the transducer is about 1/4 below the hull. In other words, the bottom of the transducer will be about 1-2 inches below the hull in total, but the top will still be under water by about 1/4 of an inch when planed out.

Click to expand...

1-2 inches below the bottom of the hull is far too deep. The bottom of the transducer should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch maximum below the bottom of the hull. Much deeper than that and you'll have tons of spray coming off of it. That, plus the pressure of the water hitting it will probably push it out of the water. Don't over tighten the bolt that holds the transducer itself. If you do hit something, you want it to swing out of the way and not break off.