Forward Looking Sonar - First Impressions

[Gludy]

I promised to let everyone know how well the platinum forward sonar worked on my new boat.

Taking the boat to the boat show was a 20 hour trip plus an 8 hour wait in the lock - that must be a record! The return journey was again delayed by a three hour wait for the lock 0 that is we were let out three hours after they told us we had to leave. But another 20 hours were clocked up via Ramsgate for the night.
Ended up probing up in Chichester mud flats at 1 am waiting for the tide to get into Emsworth.

So, in all about 40 hours worth of use - the system worked very well.

I had to alter the sonar frequency on the raymarine stuff to prevent interference - the new E series allows you to do that but once that was solved the Echo Pilot worked very well indeed giving consistent and reliable results. I left it on auto range so that in 50 metres of water it was giving me a 200 metre range ahead (it gives 4 times the depth).

The Echo Pilot is mainly a navigation tool whereas the USA forward looking sonar is more of a fish finding tool - never the less it still managed to work in spotting shoals of fish and big fish ahead which were then confirmed by the fish finder sonar as we passed over the fish.

It worked at all speeds but this is an SD hull and I cannot comment on how well it would work moving fast in a planing hull. never the less in both hulls it should work well when probing estuaries etc.

We travelled back from the show with a whole range of boats - one Sunseeker managed to get a 3 inch or so rope around its backend and did not even make it through the lock.

I can also report on the stabilisers - rounding Dover we met a f6/7 head on and it was a bit rough for a while - the boat had zero roll - i could fill a cup of water to within a 1/4 inch of the top and leave it on the counter without it spilling a drop - i was surprised as to just how ell they work - you are still left with some wave motion along the boat of course.

Perhaps the funniest little matter at the show was how a member of this forum went on my boat with the Trader rep - looked around and then told his mate they would go down and photograph another boat to post on the forum as mine as a wind up....... small world isn't it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Interesting report, gludy. My own experience with the Echopilot FLS on 2 boats is very poor. In fact both units have been all but useless and I'm thinking of ripping out the one on my current boat and replacing it with something more useful like a tinny holder. I have spoken to Echopilot in the past and their only advice has been to switch off any other echosounders on the boat as they may be causing interference. I have tried this but got no improvement in the performance of the Echopilot.
I would be happy if I could get this thing to work even only at slow speeds so if anyone has any other advice, I'd be pleased to hear it

 

[Gludy]

I may be able to help. What make of echo sounder do you have?

I use a raymarine sensor that is also the log and temperature so switching that off is not an option. In any event just switching off the plotter/radar/sounder does not, I think,switch off power to the transducer.

I set my raymarine sounder to 50Mz leaving the forward sonar to work alone on its 200Mz frequency hence there can be no interference.

I also investigated a number of other options to stop interference so if you let me know what make of sounder you use for depth, I may be able to make some other suggestions.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Gludy, its an Autohelm (now Raymarine) Tridata sounder

 

[steverow]

Got one of those too mike, and it interferes with my three other sounders on the boat and the HF reciever..big time. I only use it because it's on the seatalk bus and feeds the other Raymarine instruments.
They are quite "dirty".

Paul it's kHz kilohertz not Megahertz.

Steve.

 

[duncan]

[ QUOTE ]
In any event just switching off the plotter/radar/sounder does not, I think,switch off power to the transducer.



[/ QUOTE ]

not sure about relevance but yes it does - head unit off / transducer off.

 

[Gludy]

To answer the points brought up by yourself and others:-

1. On my unit, I also have a tri-data sensor albeit a new one. This feeds into the digital fishfinder box that then feeds the E series display. Switching off the head in this case does not seem to switch off the sensor - although I would be happy to stand corrected if someone else knows for certain. I can only go on when I get interference and when I do not. The fishfinder box has power to it all the time and hence the sensor, I think also has power to it all the time. The only way I can switch the sensor off is by switching the power off to it on my main switch board.

It may well be that you too cannot switch off the sensor that is used for speed, temp and depth - nor would you wish to.

It is possible to switch it off by intercepting a cable feeding it , in my case one of five leads to the sensor had to be switched - that is what Raymarine told me because they accepted that the sensor did not switch off.

Do you know what frequency the tri-data sensor you have operates on? Is it 200 KHz because that is what your forward sonar works on.

Steve
"Got one of those too mike, and it interferes with my three other sounders on the boat and the HF reciever..big time. I only use it because it's on the seatalk bus and feeds the other Raymarine instruments.
They are quite "dirty"."

Why do you have four sounders on your boat Steve? Are you trying to stun the fish with sonar? If so how do you know its the raymarine one that is dirty? Surely 4 sounders is just asking for trouble.

On my Tridata sounder I can choose to alter the frequency by plus or minus about 10% anyway in order to minimise interference.

Mike - is there a separate power supply to the forward sonar so that you can switch off all other nav stuff at the switch panel and try out your forward sonar?

Its either going to be interference or sensor position. at low speeds the sensor position is probably OK.