Depth sounder transducer in oil.

Lee_Shaw

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1 Jun 2004
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Stoke on Trent
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Hi

I fitted my transducer last night in a tube inside the hull which is filled with oil. The tube and oil were already there I just changed the transducer and cockpit readout. It's a NASA Target.

I would just like to check that this is an acceptable way of fitting the transducer as the boat is out of the water and the depth readout varies from 29 - 35 metres very rapidly - is this normal? I was under the impression that the readout would be nought or there abouts.

Thanks for any help.
 

JerryHawkins

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4 Sep 2001
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Plymouth
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No problem

This is a perfectly acceptable method of installation. I have mine as you describe. I use castor oil, but other types will do - even olive oil!

It won't work correctly until the boat is back in the water. Any reading you get will be totally erroneous. Mine, for example, just shows "--" rather than a number. Sonar waves don't travel through air, so the reading you are getting is the instrument trying to make sense of a non-existent echo.

Cheers,

Jerry
 

rjp

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29 Apr 2004
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North Wales
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Yes fitting the transducer in oil should be fine. Castor oil is generally recommended I believe. Your depthsounder won't read zero and in air should read about 4 times more than it would in water. If you are out of the water and standing on soft or uneven gound you may get false readings, but a piece of board directly underneath the transducer should help give you a more reliable reading, but don't expect super accuracy. I recently tested my depthsounder this way and it needed the gain turned up quite a bit to get a reading initially which can cause it to jump about a bit (at least if it's the rotary type), but with judicious twiddling I got a reading good enough to convince me it was reasonably accurate.
 
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