My considerations was to have the antenna close to the transducer since mine was to be used on the bow. I didn't like seeing the antenna on the stern and your graphs transducer was on the trolling motor and trying to locate brush piles on the graph. I usually just work a brush pile using the waypoints and not toss out a bouy marker. I have a internal antenna and yes my graph will be unusable if the antenna need some repairs and I didn't really have that much room on the bow for another item like a external antenna. Just my thoughts and what I've done.
“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.” Ayn Rand