Screw or Drill

[Saltwater Wade]

Hello everyone,

I will be the proud new owner of a 2008 190 Bay this Friday and I would like to thank everyone here for giving me all the info I needed to make an informed decision. I can't wait to get my hands on the boat. I also look forward to spending more time here on the site and getting to know everyone better.

My first questions:
I'm preparing to install the GPS/depth finder and I have never attached anything to the boat. For the transducer do I need to predrill the holes or just use self tapping srews and drill them right in? From what everyone has said, in either case the Rule sealant is a must. Has anyone had a good experience or problems with either method?

Has anyone mounted an entire CD player inside the console with a wired waterproof remote mounted to the outside of the console? I'm looking for a good way to support the CD player inside the console to protect it from the elements.

Thanks for the help,

Wade

[NCangler]

Hi Wade. Congratulations on the 190 Bay! And welcome aboard.

You can pre-drill mounting holes for the transducer using a smaller drill bit of course, but I wouldn't go very deep with them. Definitely coat the screws with RULE and they will go right into the Roplene with no problem. Just try not to over tighten them so they don't strip. If they do we can talk you thru how to Hot Seat screws that strip out.

[jack7265]

Hello Wade, congratulations on your new 2008 190 Bay. I bought a 2004 190 Bay about half a year ago, and I think it's a great boat. When you mount your transducer, be sure that it isn't too close to the chines located on the bottom of the hull. You will probably want at least a couple of inches between the transducer and the chine. When I got my boat, the transducer was located within a half inche of the chine, and there were times when I lost the depth reading. I found that when it steered my boat hard left then hard right, the depth reading would come back. The chine must cause some turbulence that interferes with the transducer reading.

[cagrove]

I've had better luck not drilling a pilot hole before putting in a screw. I usually just use my power driver and screw them directly into the hull...snug them tight and stop. If you coat the screw with Rule before you screw them in, you have a water tight seal and solid hold all in one step.

If you do decide to drill first, go really slow. The drill bits have a tendency to grab the plastic and feed the bit in too fast resulting in a deeper than needed hole. Good luck.