Trolling motor/hb questions

I have been saving for a while now, and have gotten the green light from she who is really boss and finally I am ready to upgrade both trolling motor and fish finder. I have a triton stick steer and plan to put a hb 898 s si combo and a terrova 55 with 48 inch shaft and ipilot on the front.Several questions.Should I get some sort of ram mount or just put it right on the boat. I would like to use the hb both out the back and with the trolling motor.Whats the best way to do this. should I get the terrova with built in transducer and go to a switch or would i be better buying another si tranducer for tm. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Want to get the best set up while Im able. Also after reading one of the previous post will I need to run heavier wire for tm. Thanks in advance for any help. have been on c.c for only a few moths but have learned a lot.

US2 trans. doesn't have si capabilities. You'll need a si transucer for that. You could mount a second si tranducer on the front, or run a cable out of a splitter switch and use the transom transducer while at the front. Your real-time would be from the transducer at the back versus the front though, maybe not the best. Just depends on how you want to do it.

IMO, two separate stations would be the best. Mount a si transducer on the TM with a cable to the front station. Mount a transducer off the stern with a cable to the operator station. That would also take 2 mounting balls, but you could leave the unit attached to the bracket and clamp to move with you.