Where to mount-- SI transducer.

Looking into buying a Side Imaging unit soon. I fish an all electric boat, so i drive and steer from the front. That being said, shouldnt the transducer be mounted in the area im fishing so that images shown are not behind me?
Im afraid of a trolling motor mount bc ive been through 2 tm mount sonar transducers in 2 years. Im hard on my gear.
Also heard there are conflicts with it fitting on some trolling motors.. any thoughts?

You can mount the SI ducer on the TM, but since the TM is your only source of power/control on the boat, the SI picture will be distorted whenever you move the TM (and in turn the ducer). The SI portion would do better if you would mount it on the transom, or figure out a way to mount it close to the front but not on the TM itself. One guy in another forum makes a gps puck mount that works similar to a TM base, but is designed for gps pucks. Might could go that route, the xducer would not be spinning as much, (only with the boat) and the picute would probably be better

Lowrance units have 2 transducers, one for 2d and the the LSS for SS/SI, while HB has only one xducer. If you go with Lowrance, mount the 2d xducer on the TM, and the LSS 1 on the transom, the cords are long enough. If you go HB, try it, it might work for you. The Lowrance LSS-1 xducer is a big sucker, and the newer LSS 2 is even bigger.

You might be able use a 2 transducer set-up the same way on a Humminbird SI too. Can't say for sure since I don't know which HB you have, but I did it on my 898c SI.

You'd need an XNT-9-20 type transducer (2D) and an AS-SI-DB-Y cable (or the equivalent of those for your finder). The Y cable disconnects the 2D sonar that went to/from the SI transducer and routes it to/from the XNT-9-20-T transducer. In other words, you'd get SI images from the SI ducer, and 2D sonar images from the 2d ducer. You may get distortion if your TM and HB are on the same battery.

You didn't say which SI unit you're using, and that can make a difference as the Lowrance SI ducer is twice the size of the Hbird one. The newer LSS2 is thinner than the LSS1, but I think it's longer yet...

Any way, there are shield mounts available for the LSS1 that will mount to a trolling motor:

https://www.transducershieldandsaver.com/home/transducers?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=16&category_id=5

They're not cheap, but it'll protect the transducer. Same company has sheilds for all kinds of transducers if you don't have an LSS1, check under "shields".

If you are going to use them on the trolling motor, it's best to leave the motor in one place and not turn it as you'll have distortion of the flat beam.

I have my HB DI tranducer mounted on my TM, it works fine when looking at 2D images but I don't care for it for the DI, granted it my be my TM driving skills which I am still refining but my DI images is distorted much of the time.

They make TM mounts that don't turn with the TM and I have seen DYI one also. One could also make a clamp type mount for it. Haven't decided how I'll mount mine come spring, I'm leaning towards a clamp mount using some C clamps.

I knew I'd seen something like this somewhere on here...just took me a while to find it.

Something like the one shown in this tread might give you want you're wanting for a non-trolling-motor bow mount.

Hb 598si or 798si. Is my target. You guys answered my main question on if there is any distortion. And the chance i may rip it off on bumping stumps.