Seafarer 301 Echo Sounder dilema.

[Nicholas123]

My boat came equipped with said piece of equipment & it seemed to work sort of... (admittedly it did'nt seem much good at giving a reading while underway) but I soldiered on that is until I decided to tidy up the cable to the transducer under the floor boards & the outer cable fractured inspiring me to shorten it & tidy up the mess.Sadly not a good idea because it works no more.(the manual warns about not shortening the cable but of course I did'nt discover this until it was to late) So,is it worth trying to find a replacement transducer or should I just bin the whole shooting match & buy a new one if so which one?(I have heard reports on here saying fish finders are the way to go) So are they & if so which one?
(I am determined not to buy a Nasa Target one again because it did'nt seem to last long in my last boat).

 

[VicS]

My boat came equipped with said piece of equipment & it seemed to work sort of... (admittedly it did'nt seem much good at giving a reading while underway) but I soldiered on that is until I decided to tidy up the cable to the transducer under the floor boards & the outer cable fractured inspiring me to shorten it & tidy up the mess.Sadly not a good idea because it works no more.(the manual warns about not shortening the cable but of course I did'nt discover this until it was to late) So,is it worth trying to find a replacement transducer or should I just bin the whole shooting match & buy a new one if so which one?(I have heard reports on here saying fish finders are the way to go) So are they & if so which one?
(I am determined not to buy a Nasa Target one again because it did'nt seem to last long in my last boat).

I think you will find that a Nasa transducer is compatible with the Seafarer 301.

But check the connections on the repaired wiring

 

[parbuckle]

I believe most of the old seafarer sounders use a 150khz transducer you can pick up a Nasa unit for around £25 from Cactus Nav.

 

[Nicholas123]

It sounds like 25 quid would be worth risking,thanks gents.

 

[Norman_E]

The last time I saw a boat with a seafarer it was installed at the chart table because of its size, and it could not be seen from the cockpit. Pretty useless when trying to navigate a shallow channel!

Unless yours is where you can see it at the helm I suggest you bite the financial bullet and buy a modern depth instrument which will give you a clear digital reading, with offset to show you depth under keel.

 

[Nicholas123]

The last time I saw a boat with a seafarer it was installed at the chart table because of its size, and it could not be seen from the cockpit. Pretty useless when trying to navigate a shallow channel!

Unless yours is where you can see it at the helm I suggest you bite the financial bullet and buy a modern depth instrument which will give you a clear digital reading, with offset to show you depth under keel.

My seafarer is mounted inside & I have just overhauled it so can't bring myself to abandon it just yet,besides it's a useful position to view internally but I have come to the same conclusion as you that I need one in the cockpit but which one?
I noticed some very naty looking Chinese made fish finders on ebay the other day so shall embark on some research

 

[VicS]

The last time I saw a boat with a seafarer it was installed at the chart table because of its size, and it could not be seen from the cockpit. Pretty useless when trying to navigate a shallow channel!

Unless yours is where you can see it at the helm I suggest you bite the financial bullet and buy a modern depth instrument which will give you a clear digital reading, with offset to show you depth under keel.

The trouble with the old type of echosounders was that with a rotating LED to display the depth you cannot see it in bright light... therefore they had to mounted below.

Mine ( Seafarer) is mounted so that it can be swung into the companion way, but its not easily readable there on a bright sunny day. They came with a bulkhead mounting kit but very few people used it for obvious reasons.

Been waiting for it to go wrong so that I can justify replacing it with a modern one with a digital LCD display. It is clearly going to outlast me though!

 

[Norman_E]

My seafarer is mounted inside & I have just overhauled it so can't bring myself to abandon it just yet,besides it's a useful position to view internally but I have come to the same conclusion as you that I need one in the cockpit but which one?
I noticed some very naty looking Chinese made fish finders on ebay the other day so shall embark on some research

Did you mean natty looking, or nasty looking? Either way I would look for something with a reliable makers name on it. My preference would be to have a proper log/depth instrument with though hull transducer, but for that setup you are probably looking at £600 outlay for an up to date colour system. My B&G Tritons are excellent, but pricey. For a cheaper solution you could do what I did when I first had the boat and wanted a backup depth instrument after a failure of the master log/depth system had left me guessing depths. What I did was but a Navman fishfinder 4100 which has a navigation mode in which it just displays the depth in metres in big digits. Its transducer is a transom mount one, so no good on my boat for mounting as intended. Instead I just stuck it inside the bilge with Blu-tack to try it, and it works, recording depths down to about 20 metres. I intended sticking it down with something stronger but after seven years its still stuck with the Blu-tack and still working.

Unfortunately the Navman fishfinders with the navigation mode seem to be discontinued, and although all types display depth they tend to do so on a fairly cluttered screen. All in all you would be better off with something like the Nasa target 2 depth instrument for less than £100 including transducer, or the Clipper for about £120. Even better and still a reasonably priced option (as I suspect it is being discontinued) would be the Raymarine ST40 bidata, which comes with both depth and speed transducers. http://www.force4.co.uk/10562/Raymarine-ST40-Bidata-System.html

EDIT: The Bidata is cheaper at JG Technologies, and available with both transducers or just one, cheaper still.

 

[Burnham Bob]

I have a seafarer mounted at the chart table, but there is also a repeater mounted so i can see it from the cockpit. However, even on ebay I doubt if you could find a new transducer and a repeater for much less than the price of a new NASA unit. All I can suggest about the failure of the NASA unit is that you were unlucky. Mine was faultless for years. Despite all the posts about NASA kit i think they don't apply to the depth sounders as they are fine and the transducer was simply held upright in the bilges in a wooden 'case' and the bilge water made the contact with the hull!

 

[Nicholas123]

Did you mean natty looking, or nasty looking?

Natty looking.

I think what i'll do is buy a NASA Target & hope the mark two model is better than the old mark one that I owned (it lasted about ten year before giving erratic readings).That will have the double advantage that I could use the transducer for the Seafarer if it conks or I have had a brainwave that possibly I could use the same transducer if I can get some sort of splitter cable?

 

[Burnham Bob]

a working life of ten years seems quite acceptable to me - I wouldn't call that unreliable. however as to the splitter don't cut the cable. All I can suggest if you want to try it is a coax aerial splitter and two separate leads. whether that will work i'm not sure

 

[Nicholas123]

a working life of ten years seems quite acceptable to me - I wouldn't call that unreliable. however as to the splitter don't cut the cable. All I can suggest if you want to try it is a coax aerial splitter and two separate leads. whether that will work i'm not sure

Ten years dos'nt seem up to much to me when you consider Engineering in the past.My original Ultramarine log & separate distance unit were still working after 36 years until I disconnected them recently because I could'nt see much use for them now that we have GPS & wanted to tidy up the wiring.I also have an old BSA bike that has seen off several newer bikes that have worn out & could'nt stand the pace.
Why should a solid state unit like the NASA Target Depth Sounder wear out after only ten years when there are no moving parts to go wrong?

I have plumbed in the transducer now & it works well with the Seafarer even seeming to give a stronger reading.I am still considering wiring them in together using a coax aerial three way junction thing I have got but am concerned that if the two are powered up at the same time double the current flowing to the transducer might cause a fault of some sort.It could also flow across to the other unit through it's transducer socket & cause a fault? Maybe just making sure that only one unit is powered up at a time is the solution?

 

[tabernacleman]

hi, I know a long time since you posted this but can you recollect how the ships 12v was connnected to the Seafarer 301, the one I've just got has 10 screw connectors inside the battery compartment, I just need to know which is + and -

 

[tabernacleman]

Hi, any ideas as to the + and - on the Seafarer 301, mine has 10 connection on the block in the battery compartment, unit going into my drascombe longboat

 

[Nicholas123]

hi, I know a long time since you posted this but can you recollect how the ships 12v was connnected to the Seafarer 301, the one I've just got has 10 screw connectors inside the battery compartment, I just need to know which is + and -

Sadly I just deleted a photo of the back of mine showing the electrical connections having binned my unit but I think it should be clearly marked +-+- etc
I may have something scribbled down somewhere but I expect someone else will know.I will contact you if I find it.

 

[apogee]

You can adjust the alarm depth in a flash with the rotating Seafarer and without even looking at it - something that is not possible with digital units. Mine is still going strong after 30 years with only one mid-term service. Can't be beat!

 

[tabernacleman]

Hi Apogee, any idea which is + and - of the ten connections inside the battery holder on the 301. There is no indication what goes where

 

[tabernacleman]

thanks for that, no markings on the connections other than numbers 1 to 10. There is + & - signs on the plastic casings next to the synbolic signs for aa batteries but no connections for the batteries to fit into !

 

[Kylora]

Hi Apogee, any idea which is + and - of the ten connections inside the battery holder on the 301. There is no indication what goes where

Hi

I have 2 PDFs, of Seafarer manuals, one for the 501, and one for the 701.

The 501, and I think the 701 has 10 connectors. It seems very likely that the 301 is the same.

Anyway, the connections for the 501 are

1 to 4 are for a repeater
5 and 6 should be linked if using the boat's supply
5 and 7 should be linked if using the dry cell batteries
8 is +12V connection for illumination
9 is boat supply negative
10 is boat supply positive

Boat supply can be 12V or 24V

Hope this helps.

Send me a PM with an email address if you would like me to send you the PDFs.

Ash

 

[Nicholas123]

thanks for that, no markings on the connections other than numbers 1 to 10. There is + & - signs on the plastic casings next to the synbolic signs for aa batteries but no connections for the batteries to fit into !

I don't remember there being any connections for aa batteries I think you are mistaken on that.If I remember rightly mine used 9 & 10 for the 12v ships supply.
Anyway I have discovered a load of photo's in my recycle bin & will try to sift through those later when I have got a bit more time.I think it will be in there.

PS:Sorry I could'nt find it & think it must have been in a previous batch I binned.Pretty sure you just need to use 9 & 10.