echo-sounder / fish finder for beginner

[sarabande]

I want to buy an e/s or f/f for the new mini-cruiser, to be used principally by Offspring#1(F).

Presently the boat has no holes through the hull, and I would prefer to keep her that way, so what's a good reliable simple e/s or e/s+f/f, please ?

Black and white is fine, transom mounted ones are NOT, so it will have to be capable of working through (an oil bath in) the hull.

It's at least 20 years since I bought an echo-sounder


tanks in advance

 

[chal]

Last autumn I fitted a new Raymarine ST40 and I'm very pleased with it: it just shows the actual depth in large easy-to-read numbers. That's all I want, not complicated scans of fish etc etc. I have a through-hull sounder as I was using a hole already there but you can get a range of different ones including one where no drilling needed. Raymarine have recently updated their models so you might be able to get an old ST40 cheap(ish).

 

[pcatterall]

I think one of those little fish finders would be great. Using grey scale you can get a really good impression of the sea bed ( and spot fishy's!) An oil bath would work fine but I believe you could use wax or epoxy ( but avoid air bubbles) you could google for advice on that

 

[oldharry]

Modern fish finders work well through a solid GRP hull, and are much more interesting than just a set of numbers. Useful too for checking out where to lay an anchor as you can learn to differentiate between the various bottom types. I had one which worked fine in a puddle in the boats bilge even: I had not realised it had broken away from its mount until the boat heeled over far enough for the water to drain away!

 

[Slocumotion]

Modern fish finders work well through a solid GRP hull, and are much more interesting than just a set of numbers. Useful too for checking out where to lay an anchor as you can learn to differentiate between the various bottom types. I had one which worked fine in a puddle in the boats bilge even: I had not realised it had broken away from its mount until the boat heeled over far enough for the water to drain away!

I second all of that. Mine is an Eagle Cuda (they're about £100) and it has a transom bracket but exactly as above it works just fine in any puddle of water in the bottom of the boat. If you want to, you can glass a tube to the hull , put some water in it and drop the transducer into that. No need for whale oil or extra-virgin mermaids' sputum.
It's so worth it to know with reasonable certainty that there is nothing down there.

 

[cagey]

Hi,
Did ya get my pm.
K

 

[srp]

Had a Garmin 140 in the last boat, and have recently bought a Garmin 200 for fitting in the current one. Has a useful voltage display which you can select to display in the menu, and gives a lot more information than just a depth reading.

 

[Kelpie]

Interesting. My sounder died this year, and I noticed that a basic FF is cheaper than a replacement.
What do the panel think would be pick of the bunch from the <£100 units?

 

[markhomer]

didnt trust echo sounder on old boat , bought an eagle cuda or similar as backup , siliconed tha transom transducer into the bilge and hey presto worked a treat ,