Has anyone mounted a transducer to their kayak then put the plate over it that comes with a kayak? Does this work or have any interference? I have a vibe sea ghost that comes with a spot to mount one but wasn't sure how successful it was.

My transducer is shooting through the plastic skid plate on my Hobie and it works great. This is perfectly acceptable for a down image transducer. In fact, if you prefer, you can simply use "Goop" to glue the transducer to the inside of the hull and shoot it through the hull.

If you have a side image transducer, then shooting through the skid plate or through the hull will not work. For those, you need to mount to an external bracket to get the transducer below the kayak (it needs a clear line of sight to each side of the kayak)

I put a Garmin Striker 4 on my Sea Ghost and it works great.

I have the side imaging transducer for my Garmin mounted below the hull. It's protected by a BerlyPro cover from Mariner Sails. I get good pics and have never had a problem with any damage. They have a huge selection and covers for many different brands of transducers.

Thanks for sharing this, I'll have to look into it.

Does the side image have a lot of battery drain? Battery drain and transducer mounting are what holds me back from going with a side image. The BerlyPro might very well satisfy my transducer concerns... if so, I'm down to investigating the battery.

I've been looking at getting that Garmin. It seems like a good deal for the price.

I don't really have anything to compare it with, but I can fish all day with my Garmin running and don't run out of battery. I run two 17.5 amp hour batteries in parallel.

Shooting thru the plate that came with your kayak should work fine. You can actually install the transducer inside your yak, glued to the bottom IF (and this is a big if) you don't get any air bubbles or space between the transducer and the hull. I did it twice using marine goop and it worked. They key was getting all the air bubbles out and getting the transducer firmly against the hull. If the glue starts to disband it wont work.