Forward facing fish finder/sonar

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mjcp

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An idle thought the other day…

One of the draw backs of a depth log is that it tends to show you the depth directly under you, not 20 feet infront where it might save a bump or two.

A fish finder will ofter show you a nice graph of the sea bed, that you have been over already…

Has anyone see the same/similar technology used in a forward pointing position? If the transducer were mounted on the keel bulb (facing forward, but low enough to be always submerged), it could be set to "alarm" at 50m say in open water (think submerged containers etc) or at say 3m or 5m in shallows (threading through the cuts to the nice anchorage) or disabled when moored.

mjcp
 
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There are several such systems available. The subject has been discussed on here several times so a search should bring up some information.
I had an Interphase system that I found of very limited use, others have had more success.
 
I had a brief look at the EchoPilot systems the other day, since I do a fair bit of creek-crawling. As well as deciding I didn't really want to spend the money or complicate the boat (my co-owner thinks that even a numbers-only GPS is a luxury) I was also not keen on the drag of the big square lump it sticks out the bottom of the hull in order to see forwards.

Pete
 
My limited understanding of these is that while conventional sounders only show you what you have already sailed over, the forward-facing ones show you what is too close ahead of you to be avoided.
 
My boat came with an Echopilot, which is good when there is a sudden shoaling. But for 'ditch crawling', in shallow water it cannot see very far ahead and is no better than a conventional echo sounder.
 
Very disappointed in my Echopilot FLS, absolutely useless in a boat at over say 10 knots, has transducer frequency issues with my Raymarine equipment.
Spoke to Echopilot, they they suggest ,using either the FLS or the plotter, but not both at the same time, doh. I never use it nowadays, it came with the boat, glad I didn't pay to have it fitted.
 
The main problem with forward-facing fish finders is that many of the fish will be facing backwards, or even sideways. Unless it's a jellyfish of course, in which case it's always facing forwards.
 
I had an Echopilot Forward Looking Echo sounder, and as with many things it's a lot better in some circumstances than others.

It's not particularly good on a flattish shallow bottom trying to scan around for where it slopes away to deeper water - because it can't 'see' over the convex start of the slope, and returns from soft mud are weak anyway. It is pretty good with harder bottoms, looking at a bottom profile that it can get a good sight of: e.g. seeing right up to the wall in a small harbour and making sure that the bottom doesn't slope up before the wall. It was quite good for spotting wrecks on the bottom (I'm a sailor-diver).

Downside: the backlight was too bright for night use, and the controls for changing range were awkward (about 4 button presses, just when you needed it most).

But the final straw was that the display wasn't robust enough for cockpit use. I sent it back when there were signs of condensation inside the display, and Echopilot failed to spot the defect where water was getting in; whereupon it failed altogether after I had reinstalled it. I was not offered a replacement, and I figured the 'cost of ownership' was too high if I had to replace it after a couple of years. (I've still got the transducer if anyone wants it!).
 
Re: Forward facing fish finder/sonar Hello have you still got the transducer for sale

Barnacle Bill said:
I had an Echopilot Forward Looking Echo sounder, and as with many things it's a lot better in some circumstances than others.

It's not particularly good on a flattish shallow bottom trying to scan around for where it slopes away to deeper water - because it can't 'see' over the convex start of the slope, and returns from soft mud are weak anyway. It is pretty good with harder bottoms, looking at a bottom profile that it can get a good sight of: e.g. seeing right up to the wall in a small harbour and making sure that the bottom doesn't slope up before the wall. It was quite good for spotting wrecks on the bottom (I'm a sailor-diver).

Downside: the backlight was too bright for night use, and the controls for changing range were awkward (about 4 button presses, just when you needed it most).

But the final straw was that the display wasn't robust enough for cockpit use. I sent it back when there were signs of condensation inside the display, and Echopilot failed to spot the defect where water was getting in; whereupon it failed altogether after I had reinstalled it. I was not offered a replacement, and I figured the 'cost of ownership' was too high if I had to replace it after a couple of years. (I've still got the transducer if anyone wants it!).
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