Shallow water depth sounder?

C

Chuck S

New member
Anyone got any tips on a shallow water depth sounder? The specs all seem to limit the shallow water display to three (3) feet or more. We run into very shallow bays, and up small creeks many times and it'd be nice to know when we get to that one (1) foot depth before the motor skeg touches bottom [;)].

-- Chuck
 
Chuck, I've got the Garmin GDS 20 Depth module that I use with my 182C GPS. It seems to give me soundings that are quite accurate down in the very low numbers and I can set in an offset for the props/keel to compensate for that. It looks pretty good in color and indicates bottom type too.
 
Charlie --

I'm unlikely to get one of the Garmin chartplotters because their chart coverage is nil on the Ohio River and it takes way too many chips for the Great Lakes.

I'm hoping Raymarine comes up with a way to integrate depth into their 435i plotter. This uses CF cards and I only need two of 'em for all my cruising.

Any of the standalone "fish finders" work the same way?

We poked into Raccoon Creek about mile 27 on the Ohio River yesterday. When the water got so shallow we lightly touched the skeg in the sand it was easy to see the bottom, but the rest of the way the water was little murky so I was getting anxious.

-- Chuck
 
Chuck,
I have had the best luck with depth finders for very shallow readings, by going to manual and turning the sensitivity way down, Probably to the minimum setting. Even then you have to remember that with the transducer mounted on the transom, you are always reading depth "history" in that by the time you get a reading you don't have time to react if you are moving very fast. Try the min sensitivity and see if you get better shallow readings.
 
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