Living in landlocked Pittsburgh, I don't sail my 15 enough to justify a wet cell electrical system. But I found a fish finder, Pirhana 1 by Hummingbird, that works on AA cells. Amazingly, it will run many hours (20-30+) on a set of batteries (4, I think.) The transducer hangs from a suction cup that mounts on the transom beside, or right ahead of the rudder. No problems when heeling. No holes in the boat. Great performance. Low cost, about $125. Everyone has their winners and losers. The Pirhana 1 is definitely one of my winners. Bill Riker M15 - #184 Storm Petrel -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+wriker=mindspring.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+wriker=mindspring.com@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Howard Audsley Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 8:17 AM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: Depth/Fish Finder For M15 I have a Garmin 168...combination depth finder and GPS....with crude charts. On my lake it's overkill, but on bigger water like the Chesapeake, it really helps. ID a navaid and go straight to it, and you can watch the depth on the same screen as you move along. It even has tide tables built in. One advantage of a "fish finder" unit, instead of a digital readout depth finder, is that once you learn how to read it, you can predict what the bottom is...soft mud, rock, weeds, etc. Useful when deciding where to anchor. It's the greyline or whiteline feature. If the unit you mention is one of those things where you hang a post with transducer on the end of it over the side...or off the transom, I'm not sure how well that would work on a boat that is heeling. And you have the rest of the unit still sticking up for lines to hang up on. On a regular unit, you can mount the transducer to the inside of the hull simply by pressing it into a puddle of silicone sealant (about 1 inch high x 2" around). It will shoot right through the hull and give you a good signal. Not as clear as if it was shooting in the water, but good enough for sailing purposes. Howard On 8/24/04 8:37 PM, "Peter Deffenbacher" <pwdeffen@easystreet.com> wrote:
Hello all! I would like to know if anyone with an M15 has ever used a Depth/Fish Finder on their boat. I am leaning to the Fishin' Buddy 2255 by Bottom Line because it is removable. I don't want to drill a hole in the Hull. Anyone can email off line it they would like. I also would like to hear more sailing adventure stories too if you have them. I don't have too many myself yet! Thanks, Peter Peanut M15 618 "Its better to have feet then no shoes" It's raining here quite heavy! _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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