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fish finder vs depth sounder

  • Thread starter Gabriel Latrémouille
  • Start date
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Gabriel Latrémouille

Jan 1, 1970
0
Fish finders seem to provide more information (bottom type) than depth
sounders. Are there any arguments for and against using either one on a
sailboat.


Gabriel
 
L

Larry W4CSC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Are there any arguments for and against using either one on a
sailboat.


Gabriel

I think the most important data you get, on a sailboat or any boat, from
the depth sounder is "How close is the bottom to the keel?", you know, that
awful crunching sound.

I'd much rather have a charting "fishfinder" than that stupid digital
readout from the sailing instruments, any time. With the fishfinder's
chart you can easily see the TREND of the bottom, coming up shallow,
staying level or going deeper. You'd have to log the depth on the digital
sounder to see a trend. I'm too old and busy to keep all those numbers in
my head.

Aboard Lionheart, the old Garmin 185 GPS/fishfinder is the most valued
depth indication....not the B&G Depth instrument behind it.
 
L

Larry W4CSC

Jan 1, 1970
0
What I can't figure out is why I haven't seen a CD software of the Defense
Department's underwater mapping system, making your $700 depth finder
unnecessary. The DoD has mapping data of ever underwater place on the
planet. This should be coupled with your favorite nav software so instead
of the stupid old chart's little depth numbers, you'd get an underwater
surface contour map in any direction around your boat's GPS
position....like the street maps ashore. Every known underwater
obstruction would be there that they know of.

Your measured depth would be correlated with the data's stored depth and
the entire output 3-D display would be continuously depth-corrected,
compensating for tides, etc.

Here we sit still looking at a paper chart on a huge computer....stupid.
 
M

M.F.

Jan 1, 1970
0
Larry said:
What I can't figure out is why I haven't seen a CD software of the Defense
Department's underwater mapping system, making your $700 depth finder
unnecessary. The DoD has mapping data of ever underwater place on the
planet. This should be coupled with your favorite nav software so instead
of the stupid old chart's little depth numbers, you'd get an underwater
surface contour map in any direction around your boat's GPS
position....like the street maps ashore. Every known underwater
obstruction would be there that they know of.

Your measured depth would be correlated with the data's stored depth and
the entire output 3-D display would be continuously depth-corrected,
compensating for tides, etc.

Here we sit still looking at a paper chart on a huge computer....stupid.

The newer versions of nobeltec charting software have a 3D view with your boat
in the center.
 
J

Jack Erbes

Jan 1, 1970
0
Larry said:
What I can't figure out is why I haven't seen a CD software of the Defense
Department's underwater mapping system, making your $700 depth finder
unnecessary. The DoD has mapping data of ever underwater place on the
planet. <snip>

I don't think DoD has that data. There are still some "gray areas" in
the Western Pacific and who knows where else. You might ask the
recently fired Skipper of the USS San Francisco about that.

http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=21183

That was what we used to call a "CLM" (career limiting move).

Jack
 
L

Larry W4CSC

Jan 1, 1970
0
That was what we used to call a "CLM" (career limiting move).

Jack

Any punishment Navy gives him will be small in comparison to the ones in
the minds of the forward sonar technicians at his favorite Naval
Shipyard....(c;

Sitting up there in a hot drydock testing all those scanned transducers is
NO FUN! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt....
 
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