Depth gauge readout

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johnsail

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Hi
I have just bought into a syndicate which currently uses a depth gauge set up for "Depth of Water" rather than "Depth under the keel".
This is completely foreign to me and seems to be more prone to mis-interpretation than the under keel readout.
I would like to convert my fellow owners to "under the keel" and would appreciate any arguments that support my case.
However, if I am wrong to try and bring about the change, no doubt you will tell me.
 
Not sure it matters so long as you know which it is! And whether you make a habit of regularly sailing in thin opaque water like Poole Harbour. I have mine set at depth of water, draft is 1m and transducer forward of keel - still been known to run aground when taking liberties.
 
I prefer 'Depth of water', so set my shallow water alarm to say 3.0m. But I do sail in the Thames Estuary which is shallow all over - always worries friends who sail on the west coast of Scotland who get jittery as soon as we get 3 m water depth!
 
Depth to waterline for me. Simpler for thickkos like me to do the tide sums.

You just need to know at what depth you run aground. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I prefer 'Depth of water', so set my shallow water alarm to say 3.0m. But I do sail in the Thames Estuary which is shallow all over - always worries friends who sail on the west coast of Scotland who get jittery as soon as we get 3 m water depth!

[/ QUOTE ]
As a Thames Estuary sailor myself, I have to ask: why do you set your shallow water alarm to deep water level?
 
It changes for me.

Depth under keel when racing, depth of water when cruising, as it makes tidal calculations easier.
 
I have mine set for depth under keel. Purely personal preference. (although i remember my YM examiner saying it is preferable/more commo to set it for depth of water!)

But for doing tide calcs/chart work/following contours etc it is easier to have it set at depth of water. Otherwise I have to keep adding/subtracting my draft to everything. (But don't do much of that potering around the Solent etc.)
 
I have a lift keel so I tend to go for waterline. Athough the unit often mis reads at depths below 1 meter. Which is a pain as lots of Christchurch is less than that. At least it is soft mud.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi
I have just bought into a syndicate which currently uses a depth gauge set up for "Depth of Water" rather than "Depth under the keel".
This is completely foreign to me and seems to be more prone to mis-interpretation than the under keel readout.
I would like to convert my fellow owners to "under the keel" and would appreciate any arguments that support my case.
However, if I am wrong to try and bring about the change, no doubt you will tell me.

[/ QUOTE ]You couldn't convince me.

Anyhow, as it is you, against them surely it is for you to change, no?
 
I get confused on depth under keel setting - it says 3 feet and I have to try and remember if it's set to depth under keel or depth of water. I don't use off-set now and I don't have to remember. Sailing on the East Coast it usually says less than 10 feet. I get nervous crossing to France, it starts saying things like 85 feet - I didn't know water could be that deep, or is my depth sounder getting scared and just giving me random numbers? Really spooked me crossing the Sandete (?sp)bank and it suddenly went down to 5 feet. I guesed it was a clump or weed or a knuckle of turbulance, but it was one of those 'moments'. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
There is no greater fun in life than lifting the keel and then motering through a minus depth, if you have a first timer onboard.
 
You are lucky. I would like depth-of-water but can't adjust mine to do it. I can only enter the offset from the transducer depth to keel depth.
 
After my crew ("her indoors") began panicking when we had 10cm under our keel I would suggest depth from waterline. She has no idea of our draft and would never suspect that 2.07 minus 1.97 is 10cm. This is the same logic that leads me to switch the car speedo to k/hr when on continental holidays.
 
It all depends on what you are comfortable with. If it's your own boat that's fine, but I would say that some standard convention would make sense for charter boats.

On my boat I have a digital reading giving depth under the keel, but the fishfinder on the plotter, which is used mostly to check the type and condition of the sea bed, for anchoring, is set to give total depth. This makes scope calculations more simple.
 
By depth of water, I take it you mean depth under the transducer. This tends to be the default setting and what the depth sounder will most likely reset to if the power is disconnected. As long as you know what depth this needs to read to "float your boat" I personally believe this is the best setting - you don't need to reset it every time you disconnect your batteries.

As you are also the "new boy" it is likely the rest of the syndicate are happy with the current arrangement and it is probably better for harmony if you try to fit in. Either that or reset the depth sounder to your preference when you use the boat and then set it back to what others prefer when you have finished with it.
 
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