Transducer In and Out / Broken Clip

[dudemanbubba]

I went out on Saturday and about half way through the day my A98 all of a sudden turned it self off or went out. I pressed the power button and it came back on and it started repeatedly indicating that the transducer was not available. I don't remember the exact error but something like transducer of the type not available. It started going out about every 10-20 minutes and would stay off for about a minute each time and was happening when I was drifting a ledge. Issues continued and eventually started happening about once a minute at times. I didn't want to shut off the system, motor and batteries while 30 miles offshore so I waited until I got back to the dock. Reset everything and sat there for 10 minutes without issue. Also, turned everything on sitting in my driveway for about an hour and didn't notice it losing connection anymore. However, while cleaning the boat I noticed that the transducer did not appear to be latching down. I have the CPT-100 which come as part of the package with my A98 MFD. I have had a P66 on my previous boat which was notorious for popping up so I check it every time I pull out and what ever happened occurred on this trip as it was latched that morning prior to launching. Also, while sitting in my driveway, I moved the transducer up and down, waved my foot and hands in front of it and it marked as if there were fish under it as usual and never dropped out from the A98.

Had the P66 on my old c-series for 6 years and popped up about every other trip. Never gave out on me like this one in less than a year as far as the latching clip which appears to now be broken. There were no incidents that I can point to where I hit anything so I am not sure why it failed. Also, hoping that the weirdness with the dropping in and out was related to this. Supposed to head out on a 2 week trip on the 18th and hope this is a simple fix.

Attached are some photos of the transducer and mount.