Hand held depth sounders

[veshengro]

New boy here, well, in the 1940's I was a boy...Seeking advice /experience about battery powered hand held depth sounders. For use in a 12 foot fibreglass creek crawling dinghy. I see that one particular brand states the sounder head must be submerged, while another brand advertises that the sounder will operate through a fibre glass hull. Practical experience and knowledge of either would be helpful. A nagging Granddaughter prompts me to progress from a stick with insulating tape depth markings..

 

[snowbird30ds]

They can work through grp but still need to be submerged, it's air gaps they don't cope with, usual transducer fitment is a glassed in tube full of oil or antifreeze to submerge the transducer.

 

[Refueler]

OK ... simply put :

The sounder creates sound waves that travel through the water and bounce back from the bottom ... the time taken to travel is halved and depth is calculated by the electronics. That's simplest explanation.

I would suggest for your use ... a Fish Finder type .. NOT Garmin or other expensive mounted version .... but the cheap handhelds sold for Anglers ... where you have a handheld display ... a long cable and a tranducer in a foam float at end. The kits usually give you a small mount as well if you want to fix the transducer to the boat. It runs of AA batterys instead of a full 12V installation.

I have this for fishing ..... gives me depth and what depth the fish are at ....

Portable Fish Finder Sonar Alarm Sensor Transducer Fishfinder | eBay

Of course someone will come on and say poo poo ... you need Garmin ... Lowrance ... or whatever ... but if all you want is to read depth and maybe do a bit of fishing .... the above works very well ... and you can carry it for use on other boats etc.

In water or through hull.

ALL must have direct contact with water without air gap as another said. Best is in water of course .... but fixed to inside hull - only really feasible with GRP hull. Inside hull will reduce the 'signal' transmitted into and read back - so a hand held unit will usually struggle with this.

 

[Refueler]

Checking eBay - the same unit can now be had wireless ... removing that long cable ... for same money.

 

[veshengro]

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies. I am particularly interested in any opinions on the hand held devices that look like a torch that do not require any attachment to the hull and operate off a couple of AA batteries. ( https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ptwAAOSwv4FckC8G/s-l500.jpg )
The portable Fish Finder Sonar Alarm looks handy for fishing from a static position but I suspect troublesome being towed up a weedy creek.

 

[veshengro]

Thanks, just spotted your post...I'm now sculling around on Ebay.

 

[Gsailor]

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies. I am particularly interested in any opinions on the hand held devices that look like a torch that do not require any attachment to the hull and operate off a couple of AA batteries. ( https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ptwAAOSwv4FckC8G/s-l500.jpg )
The portable Fish Finder Sonar Alarm looks handy for fishing from a static position but I suspect troublesome being towed up a weedy creek.

I have one of these that I used to use but will be selling one day when I find it. Don't know why it is twice the price of the Amazon one.

Platimo Echotest II - Handheld Depth Sounder

 

[veshengro]

I have one of these that I used to use but will be selling one day when I find it. Don't know why it is twice the price of the Amazon one.

Platimo Echotest II - Handheld Depth Sounder

Not sure..perhaps something to do with Brand names?

 

[Gsailor]

Not sure..perhaps something to do with Brand names?

Possibly.

The red one in the photo looks like it has a small metal ringed hole on the side. Is that so?

If so, how can it be waterproof and submersible do you think? I could be wrong about the metal hole of course.

 

[veshengro]

Possibly.

The red one in the photo looks like it has a small metal ringed hole on the side. Is that so?

If so, how can it be waterproof and submersible do you think? I could be wrong about the metal hole of course.

Good point. Looks almost like a small brass Grommet in the plastic. I'm not familiar with the red sounder, it's just an image I found to clarify what I was wittering on about in my first post. I think that illustration may possibly be of a Chinese copy of the American 'Hawkeye' design hand held sounder and sold under a different brand name. My search so far, indicates a Plastimo model in a fetching bright yellow is favourite.

 

[Gsailor]

Good point. Looks almost like a small brass Grommet in the plastic. I'm not familiar with the red sounder, it's just an image I found to clarify what I was wittering on about in my first post. I think that illustration may possibly be of a Chinese copy of the American 'Hawkeye' design hand held sounder and sold under a different brand name. My search so far, indicates a Plastimo model in a fetching bright yellow is favourite.

Well, mine served me well; better than a lead line ?

 

[veshengro]

I'm was happy with a marked stick, but my Granddaughter is determined to drag me screaming and protesting into the 21st Century. It all started when she got wet hands while taking soundings with the stick...Can't find a decent Leadsman these days..