How deep does your depth sounder go?

[Porthandbuoy]

Simple question. On my current and previous boat the depth sounder seldom read deeper than 30~40 metres. Boat one transducer was mounted in an oil filled tube in the hull. Current boat has the transducer mounted through, and faired into, the hull. I expected the second one to read deeper.

 

[Sandy]

My Garmin through hull bottoms out at 100 metres.

I only worry at <2.5 metres.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Raymarine ST60 system, tends to start loosing depth around 100 to 130 m.

 

[MAURICE]

yep about
100m

 

[Poignard]

I don't think my NASA Clipper can display more than 99m

 

[tillergirl]

1000m. I need it all the time in the Thames Estuary.

 

[dunedin]

Ours tends to get intermittent about 200m.
Regularly seen pot buoys in places with over 120m depth which surprised me, but confirmed accuracy with chart.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

1000m. I need it all the time in the Thames Estuary.

If it'll reach 1000m, it must be a pretty beefy bit of kit. The power required goes up as the square of the maximum depth, so a sounder capable of reaching ten times the usual range of a yacht's echo sounder should use about 100 times the power!

 

[michael_w]

On my old boat the Garmin 160 C fish finder would reach 350m. The new boat has had another Garmin fitted, but as I've only sailed her in the southern North Sean and the Channel I don't know how deep this one will go.

 

[Bouba]

It goes to infinity...but I don’t trust it after 60 meters

 

[Praxinoscope]

On my previous boat I remember the Raymarine ST50 becoming a bit erratic at depths over about 100m my current boat has an Raymarine ST 40 depth sounder, but have never sailed it in a greater depth an about 50m at which it still seems to work, but don't know how much deeper before it gives up.

 

[Refueler]

If it'll reach 1000m, it must be a pretty beefy bit of kit. The power required goes up as the square of the maximum depth, so a sounder capable of reaching ten times the usual range of a yacht's echo sounder should use about 100 times the power!

I would not even expect a ships sounder to reach 1000m !! But I did use a 500m line of West Africa ....

 

[PetiteFleur]

I remember on my previous boat, I suddenly had a shock when it suddenly started reading 2.5metres, consulted the chart and I was in 20 metres plus, confirmed with an ancient lead line. The depth sounder had moved the decimal point after 20 metres! Can't remember the brand though.

 

[vyv_cox]

I remember on my previous boat, I suddenly had a shock when it suddenly started reading 2.5metres, consulted the chart and I was in 20 metres plus, confirmed with an ancient lead line. The depth sounder had moved the decimal point after 20 metres! Can't remember the brand though.

This happens with ours at a specific depth, about 90 metres from memory, when it will suddenly display less than 10 metres. It is caused by the receiver 'hearing' the previous discharge rather than the immediate one.

The B&G Triton instrument reads to 130 metres mostly but sometimes will go higher.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

The Garmin one with chart plotter goes over 100m, as have seen over 120m in Western English Channel. The one with the TackTick gives up at 50m

 

[Mudisox]

Much depends upon both the substrate of the seabed and also the speed/ movement of the boat. My cheap one can detect the Hurd deep, and enable to detect crossing/keeping to 50/20/10m. It also will enable depth anchoring/ taking the ground.

 

[WoodyP]

Middle of the night watch off the Lizard and depth suddenly showed we were about to be wrecked. A quick check of position and chart depths put my mind at rest.

 

[LittleSister]

My depth sounder goes down about an inch below the hull.

If it'll reach 1000m, it must be a pretty beefy bit of kit. The power required goes up as the square of the maximum depth, so a sounder capable of reaching ten times the usual range of a yacht's echo sounder should use about 100 times the power!

But you have to remember that metres are not as substantial as proper British fathoms, and so the signal probably passes through them that much easier.

Anyway, who'd care about the power requirements if the alternative was using the lead line in 1,000m/547 fathoms?

 

[john_morris_uk]

Ours stops reading at about 120 metres.

At ocean depths (ie 1000 plus metres) it will sporadically read a few metres depth which I have always assumed was a fish or fishes.

 

[Daydream believer]

I sail on the east coast & could not care less, so long as it is accurate at 300mm (calibrated below the keel). On my last 2 boats, my 7ft bamboo cane went precisely that-7 ft (from my hand)- but boy was it accurate.
I always knew exactly when I had run aground