ThomWV - Depth sounder problems

[kcjefff]

ThomWV, I have seen many posts from you on several boards and I have to say I am impressed with your level of knowledge regarding sonar installs. That is why I am trying to grab your attention. (Anyone else's help would be appreciated as well)<br /><br />I just bought a used boat (93 Sunray sterndrive OB) that has a digital depth sounder with a shoot thru hull mount in the engine compartment. It is made by Leisure Lectronics. At first, I thought the transducer was shot because it always gave me a reading of 2.0 ft. However, the other day I was on the lake and turned it on (I have been hoping that someday it would just work) and low and behold it was working. This was in shallow water reading between 4-7ft and the bilge had a decent amount of water in it. <br /><br />I started to take off and it stopped working again, never to come back and I pumped the water out of the bilge. I had moved to somewhat deeper water, but probably not deeper than 15 ft.(just away from the boat ramp)<br /><br />Do I have air bubbles in my epoxy? If so what can I do to fix it? If not, what could my problem be.<br /><br />I just remembered, it also started showing 777(presumably max range?) feet when the boat was trailered the other day, but that only lasted about 3 tries of switching it on and off, then it went back to 2.0.<br /><br />All help is much appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

 

[ThomWV]

Re: ThomWV - Depth sounder problems

Well, let me take a guess.<br /><br />The very first thing that jumped out at me was that probably your transducer had broken loose from whatever it is that is holding it down to your hull. When you said that water in the bilge made it work again that pretty much said that there wasn't anything wrong with the transducer because if it was broken loose but still in place the water would have filled any little crack between the transducer face and the adhesive that would presumably still be stuck to the hull. Or, of course, it could be adhesive broken loose on the hull side of the joint, but the effect would be the same either way. Anyway if water made it work again it had to be because the water was filling a void between the transducer and the hull.<br /><br />So the first thing I would do is grab hold of the transducer and really give it a good yank. It if pops up in your hand, or even just moves a little bit, I'd take it up and reglue it. Use any sort of epoxy you have handy, just make sure the mating surfaces are good and clean first.<br /><br />If that doesn't do it then its probably the traansducer but even if its the display unit I'd just replace the whole thing. I've got it in my head that what you have is one of those round dial digital depth readouts, what are they, 2" in diameter or something like that? I think you can get a replacement for around a hundred bucks, transducer and all. There are a couple of companys that make them but I have to tell you, I don't know a thing about them. I've never installed one myself.<br /><br />Oh, on those numbers you saw, and this is just an educated guess. They probably have it made so that it will never give a reading less than 2 feet simply because very few fish finders actually work at all below that depth, even though they may show some lower number and the high end number you saw was probably a response to noise.<br /><br />Thom

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: ThomWV - Depth sounder problems

Slap me down if I'm wrong but isn't it bad to turn it on on dry land? Something about the signal bouncing and damaging the transducer???????<br /><br />Aldo

 

[ThomWV]

Re: ThomWV - Depth sounder problems

Dunaruna,<br /><br />Actually I asked that question of a fellow from Airmar once. He told me that running them dry doesn't hurt them at all. <br /><br />Thom

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: ThomWV - Depth sounder problems

Thanks!

 

[kcjefff]

Re: ThomWV - Depth sounder problems

Thanks Thom. You are right, it is just a "don't drag your lower unit" depth sounder with the 2" round gauge.<br /><br />I was thinking that the epoxy issue was what I had, but I didn't know of anyway of removing it so that I can attempt to re-install it, if that is a word. Is there any way of chemically removing it? If not, is there any risk of tearing up my hull when I try to pull it loose?<br /><br />I don't want to damage the boat trying to get it off. Like you said, $100 for a replacement, several thousand to fix a hole in my hull.