New airmar echo sounder...AF or not?

[ChattingLil]

Just had new airmar fitted. Because it is so new and shiney I paused for thought before anti fouling it ..my previous one was one was painted as routine. I thought , I know read the instruction book...which says to paint it. checked around the yard and it seems about 50/50. ....

 

[FullCircle]

Paint

 

[Twister_Ken]

Antifoul or trail a small beard of weed around with you.

 

[VicS]

I know read the instruction book...which says to paint it.

So paint it !

 

[macd]

+1
If you don't paint it, the only things that'll be impressed by the shininess are the sea critters.

 

[tillergirl]

Airmar in action - or not as the case may be.



Paint, Paint Paint!

Oh, by the way. The hand belongs to a forumite. For no prize at all, name him or her.......

 

[FullCircle]

Airmar in action - or not as the case may be.



Oh, by the way. The hand belongs to a forumite. For no prize at all, name him or her.......

Essex Lad?

 

[TradewindSailor]

Or take it out and clean it occasionally.

 

[tillergirl]

Essex Lad?

Ah but you have insider knowledge.

 

[pvb]

Or take it out and clean it occasionally.

That's not terribly practical though, as it's a depth transducer.

 

[wooslehunter]

Shiny implies a bronze one. If so go ahead & paint. But if it's a plastic one be careful. The book may tell you that Xylene based paint can damage the the plastic. I have an airmap log & a sounder which I don't anti-foul. The log is a complete pain in the bottom of my boat. The flange fouls up so fast, the log wheel gets blanketed by the critters & is useless. The sounder seems to work fine with a big growth though.

 

[pvb]

Shiny implies a bronze one. If so go ahead & paint. But if it's a plastic one be careful. The book may tell you that Xylene based paint can damage the the plastic. I have an airmap log & a sounder which I don't anti-foul. The log is a complete pain in the bottom of my boat. The flange fouls up so fast, the log wheel gets blanketed by the critters & is useless. The sounder seems to work fine with a big growth though.

I think the advice is generally to avoid ketone-based antifouling. I'm not sure that this is the same as xylene-based (although I'm sure our forum chemist VicS will advise). All I know is that I've antifouled my plastic sounder and plastic log transducer regularly for almost two decades, with no adverse consequences (apart from the fact that they don't get fouled, and work perfectly).

PS I wouldn't recommend using solvent-based antifouling on any Nasa transducers, as I suspect these are made from recycled supermarket plastic bags...

 

[TradewindSailor]

I take my log and depth transducer out when in harbour for more than a week. What's the problem?

 

[pvb]

I take my log and depth transducer out when in harbour for more than a week. What's the problem?

I didn't know you could get removable depth transducers, what make is it?

 

[wooslehunter]

The problem with airmar logs & many ohers i suspect, is that if you get fouling on the flange of the skin fitting, then it very quickly masks the paddle wheel from the water flow. You get a slow reading of anything at all.

 

[pvb]

The problem with airmar logs & many ohers i suspect, is that if you get fouling on the flange of the skin fitting, then it very quickly masks the paddle wheel from the water flow. You get a slow reading of anything at all.

Leaving aside the fact that the OP was asking about depth transducers, there's no reason why log transducers can't also be antifouled. It only takes a few minutes 2 or 3 times a year, and it works to keep them clean and functioning properly.

 

[Sniper]

When I installed my bronze airmar depth transducer, I seem to remember the instructions suggesting one coat of a water-based anti fouling over the bottom, which I did for the first few years. I must admit, I now use cruiser uno and that doesn't seem to have affected the transducer in any way.