fish finder ????

or is the FF permanently mounted?

Terry - my FF is not permanently mouted but the bracket is. On a big surf day, I'll disconnect the FF head and store it inside my dry box. The bracket also folds down flat - which keeps it from being torn-up if and when my kayak rolls on the shoreline. I try to keep my deck clean of anything that sticks out for that reason alone.

 Ok,  Ive decided to join the 80s and finally mount a FF and It looks lile the humminbird matrix 17 will be the choice, at this point. But I have a question for those of you who are using the Matrix 17.
  I want to keep the top side of my deck as clean as possible but the Tarpon 140 doesnt have the small "shelf"  that you can see on Mooch's prowler.
 My question is, can the adjustable angle on the mount allow the FF to lay flat?
  Im thinking of mounting it on the vertical surface behind my foot pegs at the distal end of the leg wells, instead of a horizontal surface like on a deck.
 What I need to know is if the matrix can be adjusted so that I can still see the screen if the bracket is mounted on a vertical surface.

I got the 160 and I mounted mine on the lower part of the twin ribs.  It is right at you knees and easy to get to.  Drilled the hole before the little bungie cord and seems to work for me.

Ken kickfish

Mount? Dismount? Get out the sawzall and get cuttin (and watch your warranty dissappear ).
  Below is my good Ole reliable pacific norwest boat.  This has been mounted like this for 6 years and does not leak a drop (well, it has not sunk yet) I like a flush deck as it makes it a bit easier when my boat is raked across my body as it passes me in surf.   Actually I would not recommend the flush mount ff to the faint of heart. It was a bit of a PITA fabbing the frame and I've been poking holes in plastic boats for a long time.

On my Tarpon 160 I used a Ram Mount off the forward side of the center console.Then you can swivel it into the footwell for rough surf  landings or if you need to slide your butt up to the front hatch.