Depth Guage

[Flipside]

Does anyone know how the depth guage reads? I have a 2002 SAN and when trying to get boat close to beach, the guage read 1-1.5 ft, yet when I jumped out off the back platform, it was well over my hips. (Spare me the jokes about being a midget - I am 6'-1"!!!)

Also where does the boat take the readings? Lastly, sometimes when cruising 30+ mph, the depth guage reads 1.5' in water obviously greater than this. When I slow down the guage will return to show proper depths.

[Mikeski]

RE: Depth Guage

Most are ultrasonic. They bounce a sound beam off the water floor and time how long it takes to return then convert that to depth. They read from the hull to the bottom, if your boat is displacing 1.5' of water it will read 1.5' in 3' of water. Note this can change up to 1' for most boats between idle and on-plane.

I had a teleflex/hummingbird unit in my old boat that was horrible. My current Faria unit works much better. When it reads less than 4' you need to pay very close attention and go very slow.

[AirTool]

Re: RE: Depth Guage

if your boat is displacing 1.5' of water it will read 1.5' in 3' of water.

Flipside - the depth of the puck can be set on many units to prevent this. The later Faria's have this feature. I'm not sure about your model. Check your manual.

At high speeds, these devices don't work very well....especially in shallow water.