Depth Finder Blues

[Boont Boater]

Hi All. I got the front berth Reverse Air system working - possibly an air block. Thanks!

Next problem our depth reading is blinking and stuck at an old depth. This was a gradual problem over the summer but has gotten worse until it is unusable. I tried reading old posts and they said to check the connections behind the garmin display, which I did. Double checked that the frequency (?) was on auto, which I did. When the boat was out in July I inspected and cleaned the little wheely thing which seemed fine - according to the Cap Sante Marine guy.

I have an R29 which has the transducer mounted behind the auxiliary tank. I removed the floor of the locker below the sink and can see it but not really work on it. Plus I don't know what I should be checking on or doing to it.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or input. This is a great group!

Jeff

 

[Irish Mist]

Mine came loose It read funny depths then just two flat lines. To access I had to undo the aux tank brackets. Undo the ties that hold the filler hose and vent hose and then I spun the tank sideways and was able to get at it.. If it is the least bit loose you need to re glue it.. I used epoxy and really gooped it up so no air between it and the bottom of the boat.
Works great now..
Good luck

 

[knotflying]

Did you try disconnecting all the lines to the sounder unit. Sometimes it needs a total reset and that is how you do it and it has always worked for me. Also, I believe there is a setting for maximum depth and perhaps yours may be to shallow. At our last rendezvous there was a discussion about that and the resulting symptoms sound like yours. I would definitely try the easy stuff first.

 

[Irish Mist]

Your right the blinking sounds like the depth range is set wrong go to sonar then full screen and make sure in the middle at the top it says auto If not touch it and it will change to auto
Hope this is it. as is an easy fix

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

Also manually set the gain on the sonar screen menu. Other threads mention this and it sure worked for me. Do the easy stuff first and if that doesn't do it then the unit may indeed be loose.

Pat
Ladybug, Too

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

Also manually set the gain on the sonar screen menu. Other threads mention this and it sure worked for me. Do the easy stuff first and if that doesn't do it then the unit may indeed be loose.

Pat
Ladybug, Too

 

[linedoctor]

I had a very similar problem that Andrew correctly identified as a setting. This was after we had the factory move the transducer without success. And like you it started out working well. Something was changed somehow.

It was an easy fix but the setting wasn't obvious to me at the time. I hope that's all it is. I wish I could recall what the setting was but maybe Andrew remembers. It's been a couple of years.

 

[Boont Boater]

Thank you all. "Rebooting" the Sounder unit sounds like a good start. I'll take a look at my settings again per suggestions. Moving the fuel tank, gulp, I'll probably procrastinate on. It also seemed like there is a big hose (exhaust?) that is in the way.

 

[Irish Mist]

Tank is actually not bad to move. You need to remove the clip on the rear of the tank . I'm sure you saw that when you looked through the floor you removed in the storage locker. It also makes replacing the shear pin in the rear thruster a lot easier ...... But start with the reset
Good luck, let us know how it goes

 

[Boont Boater]

I was out yesterday and the first thing I did was disconnect the power to the sounder, waited a few minutes and plugged it back in. Still blinking at an old depth.

I know that there are posts about updating the Garmin unit so I was trying to figure out how to do that when I saw the restore factory settings button. I said "what the heck" or something similar and pushed it. Well I did lose my electronic fuel total and fuel consumption on my navigation screen but I did "fix" the depth finder 😀 We took Aurora over to San Francisco depths ranged from 12 feet up to 86.

Since we bought the boat used and I'm too cheap to higher someone to walk me through all the systems, with the help of the Tugnuts, I'll keep plugging or unplugging along.

Thanks again.

 

[knotflying]

You just need to go into the menu and set up the screen configuration to get those information blocks back.