Something strange with my depth finder- any advice pls?

[Mike k]

What a lovely day to be out today- one of those days that makes you glad to be boating and gladly pay the berthing fees just falling due!!

My query is that in the marina the depth recorded accurately on my Trackfish but for the first time since I owned her,when out in the briny, I got either no depth or intermmittent readings but all of them totallly unrealistic in fact at one point my 6 ft alarm sounded- now that was just a shock!!

Get back in marina all working perfectly again!!.

Travelling between 9- 14 knots not much traffic but heard about some fishing reports of some algal bloom or other stuff in the water on what sounded like a largeish scale - not sure but could this be affecting it or is it something more sinister with the transducer- hope not because I have only been back in the water for 6 weeks!!

Would welcome any comments or views on this please as its never happened before and boy did I miss the readings as low water approaches!!

Many thanks indeed

Mike

 

[hlb]

It's quite normal to get strange reading from sounders, weeds and all sorts of other suff causes the problems

The only way I found round it, was to have both a fish finder and a sounder, that way mostly, one is telling the truth.

 

[omega2]

If you have a manual "gain" try turning it down a bit, high gain will give signals off all sorts of rubbish between you and the bottom. Having said that though it should work on "auto". unles it's switched off.

 

[volvopaul]

Last yearly sounder went haywire, kept flashing then giving silly readings.

I remembered the wife did the antifouling , lo and behold she had anti fouled the transducer! Bless her

 

[DAKA]

Bit of a long shot Mike but a couple of months ago didnt you say you had a wrestle behind the alternator when you changed your fan belts (I could b very wrong on this, apologies if my memory has malfunctioned ).

There is a small suppressor on the back of the alternator, it is possible you have caught it with your spanner, bit of a long shot but they only cost £10 and could be worth checking especially if your radar is also showing more clutter than usual.

Single black wire from a bullet connector going to a postage stamp size box bolted to the side of your alternator or now possibly dangling .

 

[[2068]]

Last yearly sounder went haywire, kept flashing then giving silly readings.

I remembered the wife did the antifouling , lo and behold she had anti fouled the transducer! Bless her

Bless indeed, she's a keeper.

When I mentioned to the wife that she might like to help out with some light boat maintenance, I got a reply that was something like "I'd rather eat marmalade made from your mothers toenails".

 

[Mike k]

HLB and Omega thanks for that in info- hope its weed and will check 'gain' too.

Volvo Paul how did you resolve the issue of the painted transducer-Lift out???

Pete- your memory is impeccable and I will check that- i would never have conected the two things- does this supressor affect other things? Just thinking though coz as it was ok in the marina while engine running would that not mean the supressor was still conected ok?

thanks very much all

Mikr

 

[DAKA]

Pete- your memory is impeccable and I will check that- i would never have conected the two things- does this supressor affect other things? Just thinking though coz as it was ok in the marina while engine running would that not mean the supressor was still conected ok?

I dont honestly know, I guess as the alternator rpm increase the supressor has more to do, but in any event as you increase speed and depth then you need a better signal which isnt interfered with from unsuppressed white noise from the alternator.

I guess Radar, VHF and depth is affected, but I dont know, if it has broken off, its a 5 minute
£3 repair


Now true story time

8-9 years ago MBM featured a report on Echo Pilot experimenting with different substances to enhance their depth sounder transducers, KY Jelly came out favorite.
At the time we were experiencing reliability problems with our echo sounder in the murky waters of the River Humber and reliable soundings were unobtainable above 17 knots.

After reading the MBM article you can imagine my excitement regarding the reported qualities of KY Jelly. (If you don’t know what that is you best ask your SWMBO).
I immediately dispatched SWMBO to the chemist and that week end I withdrew the transducer and removed all the oil from the sounder tube using an old hand soap pump.
Then I took the tube of KY Jelly squeezed out the contents and went for it.

I can indeed confirm I went deeper and faster than I had ever managed before.

The problem was it is a water based substance and with winter freezing temperatures on the way I had no way of knowing when it would go hard.

If anyone cares to try it I confirm it will enhance your tackle and with the aid of a hand pump the whole messy job can be completed in a couple of minutes.
__________________

 

[Mike k]

I dont honestly know, I guess as the alternator rpm increase the supressor has more to do, but in any event as you increase speed and depth then you need a better signal which isnt interfered with from unsuppressed white noise from the alternator.

I guess Radar, VHF and depth is affected, but I dont know, if it has broken off, its a 5 minute
£3 repair


Now true story time

8-9 years ago MBM featured a report on Echo Pilot experimenting with different substances to enhance their depth sounder transducers, KY Jelly came out favorite.
At the time we were experiencing reliability problems with our echo sounder in the murky waters of the River Humber and reliable soundings were unobtainable above 17 knots.

After reading the MBM article you can imagine my excitement regarding the reported qualities of KY Jelly. (If you don’t know what that is you best ask your SWMBO).
I immediately dispatched SWMBO to the chemist and that week end I withdrew the transducer and removed all the oil from the sounder tube using an old hand soap pump.
Then I took the tube of KY Jelly squeezed out the contents and went for it.

I can indeed confirm I went deeper and faster than I had ever managed before.

The problem was it is a water based substance and with winter freezing temperatures on the way I had no way of knowing when it would go hard.

If anyone cares to try it I confirm it will enhance your tackle and with the aid of a hand pump the whole messy job can be completed in a couple of minutes.
__________________

Cheers Pete - all noted!!