Forward looking depth sounder...

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rgarand

rgarand

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Aug 19, 2013
5
hunter 35.5 35.5 Champlain
Hi,
Does anyone ever heard of a depth sounder used as a front viewing sonar ?
I'm planning a cross atlantic tour, and from what I heard, floating container are a thing to beware of, so if the sounder is set to like 100 feet as low depth alert, it will alarm if it gets a signal back !
It could also be used as a proximity detection for coral or rocks when going in a strait or shallow water, so you know something is coming instead of something is there...
Any comments ?

Robert, sorry for english, i'm much better in french :|
 
FourPoints

FourPoints

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Apr 8, 2010
1,606
Frers 33 41426 Westport, CT
You would need to install it pretty low for it to not get surface interference. Sonar reflects off air /water boundaries more than the surface itself. A deep wave trough ahead will look the same as a container to nearly any sonar system...
 
capta

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,920
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
FourPoints made some good points. As a floating container is only 10 feet deep at the most, it is unlikely that your idea would work.
Unless you are an extremely unlucky person, it is quite unlikely that you will encounter one.
 
Bill Roosa

Bill Roosa

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Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
Have one on my boat. works great for gunkholing as you can find that channel into the creek. the sonar looks forward from surface to directly below the boat but only in a 15 degree wedge for about 300'. at 5 knots you would cover 300 feet in 36 seconds. Mine does not have a "proximity alarm" for the surface. Does for shallow water forward but not for floating objects so unless you are at the display you would still run into the object. You would have to be at the helm the whole crossing which is not practical.
It is a big ocean so I'm not thinking that this is a big issue.
 
cat38skip

cat38skip

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Jun 6, 2004
173
Catalina 38 San Francisco Bay
There is a line of forward-looking sonars made by Interphase. I have the Twinscope installed on my boat and it is a terrific piece of gear. Unfortunately, Interphase was recently acquired by Garmin. I don't know what their current line of products is. The Interphase technology is/was some of the best available. You might check it out.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
23,023
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
This has been discussed in detail at www.cruisersforum.com.

IIRC, it didn't do squat for containers. Also there are many discussions about the # of containers lost and one's ability to hit them ("All is Lost" notwithstanding).

I find the concept for fwd looking sonar somewhat unnecessary for a boat doing six knots. More important is to read charts. Beforehand.

Just my opinion.
 
Bill Roosa

Bill Roosa

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Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
I'd disagree Stu. Forward looking sonar is the cat's meow for gunkholing. There are LOTS of creeks in the bay that "don't have the depth" for my boat that I've gotten into using my interphase sonar. You don't really know till you try and the interpase takes most of the stress out of gunkoling. It does take some getting used to to read the thing though. Just because it indicates a wall "over near the bend in the creek" does not mean that when you get to it the channel will not continue in another direction. Takes reading the chart (which is mostly wrong depth wise but correct in the relative depth) and the sonar display to locate that passage and then follow it upstream.
 
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