Sonar to avoid wrecks? #2

[GulfShrimper]

Revision 2

Sirs,


As you know here on the Gulf of Mexico coast we have taken a beating with hurricanes this past year. I own and operate a 80' steel shrimp trawler and need a way to navigate my bottom trawls around wrecks left behind by the storms. Our tow speed is less than 3 knots. The trawls cover an area of approx. 100 feet either side of the vessel. The trawls are located 200ft. behind the vessel. Do you have a basic sonar system that would work in shallow waters 20' to 150' for this purpose. Tearing of nets and lost time due to catching uncharted wrecks are a big problem for us. The inventory of wreck locations we have accumulated over the past years has changed with the passing of the storms. There are 50ft outriggers on the boat that could be used for hanging a forward looking sonar or could be mounted in the hull. Price is of concern with all the difficulty we have had this past year.

Thanks,

Randy Skinner
M/V Grace Elaine
[email protected]

[Kerno]

You are going to be very close to your goal with the Humminbird 987c. The only limitation is that it runs out of screen space at anything over 120 feet deep. Other than that, the hull mounted transducer and the sub $ 2k cost make it pretty attractive. It has more than enough width to cover the area you need for your net and you'll have the full 200 feet from the transom to the net to decide how to avoid what you see. I have both the 987c and a Marine Sonic towed system. At three knots, a towed 150kHz fish on 60 feet of cable will give you more than enough coverage. The cost (at about $25K) is stunning and someone will have to watch the display constantly. But if the type of bottom your covering has a bearing on how much you catch, the system may pay for itself rather quickly. Oh, you're also going to be towing a $5K fish on an $2K cable, so you'll have more money in the water. The tow fish are set up with a breakaway system to flip them over and up if they hit something. PM me for more details.

[Unregistered]

Here is what you want:

http://www.interphase-tech.com/

[Unregistered]

location

Where are you located? I may have an offer.

[Unregistered]

Alabama