I would like to ask you about your experience with depth gauges.
Do they really work on high speed and are they show what they should show?
What with transom mount transducer? worth to buy?
Is any difference between high end expensive gauge and cheap one? I mean for instance Lowrance LST-3800 and HawkEye D10DX.01T
I have a Yamaha sounder on my little Avon and it works faultlessly at every speed I can do ( 30ishknts) and depths from 3inches to 250ft +.
I had a raymarine on the old boat - useless at anthing over 10knts
Both transom mounted ........
I think a lot depends on fitting and hull shape with the amount of air running under the hull on the old boat meant it just didn't have smooth water at all....
I have a Raymarine transom mounted transducer. It can play up in lumpy seas and I put that down to air under the hull. If I was installing another transducer, I'd go "through hull", but obviously if you catch a lot of air, it won't work.
I have seen mine read (accurately) well over 100 meters at 25kts but at other times be foxed by a shoal of fish under the boat. Their air filled swim bladders reflect the signal and give a false "bottom". That's how sensitive the system is to air. Diver's exhaust bubbles show up quite spectacularly on most sounders...
I don't use a digital depth gauge, preferring the graphical display that a fishfinder offers.
My Lowrance LMS-520 (530?) has a transom mounted transducer, which works OK at all speeds; but at higher speeds, you tend to lose a bit of definition. Also, in really skinny water (readings of 1.x to about 5 feet), it may get confused by weeds and such, and lose lock for several seconds.
The transducer currently has a problem with being kicked up by kelp and such; I have deferred cranking down on the mounting bolt to give me time to come up with a spring pressure system, the latter which I have been too lazy to think about much. Probably time to tighten the mount up.
I have a garmin 160 c. It works well except at high speeds 20 kn plus and shallow depth circa 3.0m and less. If I slow down in shallow water it works fine. I generally slow down in shallow water any way
On two different RIBs each time a Faria depth gauge with transom mount transducer. Works very fine up to 50 km/hr, that's ok to me. At that speed you're to late to stop anyway.
cheapest sounder we have ever bought Eagle Cuda 128 (I think!) at about £70 works fine @ 30 odd knots with the transom mount transducer siliconed inside the drain well. Does it matter? - absolutely in an area where we have a deep underwater glacial valley with sheer sides to miles of very shallow banks it is a great tool for contour navigation when the fog drops down and also proving that the chart plotter is showing the right underwater profile, including an underwater pipeline that shows up really well. Trouble is it doesnt show a fellow club members gearbox which was planted into it at a fair old speed some years back. Basically we use it all the time.
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Clewless
and also proving that the chart plotter is showing the right underwater profile, including an underwater pipeline that shows up really well. Trouble is it doesnt show a fellow club members gearbox which was planted into it at a fair old speed some years back. Basically we use it all the time.
