blaynedmathis
Recruit
- Joined
- May 3, 2010
- Messages
- 2
I have a '97 Four Winns Horizon RS I/O (18') boat. It is my first boat, so I'm no expert on...anything.
It has a Lowrance depth sounder with a thru-hull transducer and under-dash control box, with an in-dash numeric LCD displaying the depth. Unfortunately, it is extremely flakey and unreliable. About 10% of the time, it will display the correct reading. Another 10% of the time it will display "303". And the other 80% of the time, it will display either ".8" or ".9", and I'm quite sure the I/O isn't running in less than a foot of water.
I'm not sure where to start, but I'd like to have a working depth guage. Has anyone else ran into this kind of problem before? What would you recommend?
I looked on Four Winns' website to get the part ID for the transducer to see if I could find one on ebay or anything like that. Well, I can't find the exact model, but I found one that looks the same and has the part number from the model that they used the following year. What's the likelihood it will be compatible?
While this is a bowrider, I do play to do a little fishing from it, so I wouldn't be against a fishfinder -- but I really don't want to deal with a transom mount transducer, so that's why I'd like to stay with the thru-hull type. That said, the current transducer is completely flush -- as in you could run your hand over the bottom of the boat and never feel it there. I've seen some that stick out a bit, and that concerns me since it's a trailer boat.
Thus, I'd like to know what to check or replace to get the current hardware working, first. But if that will be too expensive, I'm up for ditching the in-dash basic digital depth reading for a fishfinder with more features -- but I want to use the current thru-hull hole for a transducer, if possible, but have it safe and trailerable without concern. Oh, and ideally all of this fixed for under $200.
Thanks in advance for your help folks!
It has a Lowrance depth sounder with a thru-hull transducer and under-dash control box, with an in-dash numeric LCD displaying the depth. Unfortunately, it is extremely flakey and unreliable. About 10% of the time, it will display the correct reading. Another 10% of the time it will display "303". And the other 80% of the time, it will display either ".8" or ".9", and I'm quite sure the I/O isn't running in less than a foot of water.
I'm not sure where to start, but I'd like to have a working depth guage. Has anyone else ran into this kind of problem before? What would you recommend?
I looked on Four Winns' website to get the part ID for the transducer to see if I could find one on ebay or anything like that. Well, I can't find the exact model, but I found one that looks the same and has the part number from the model that they used the following year. What's the likelihood it will be compatible?
While this is a bowrider, I do play to do a little fishing from it, so I wouldn't be against a fishfinder -- but I really don't want to deal with a transom mount transducer, so that's why I'd like to stay with the thru-hull type. That said, the current transducer is completely flush -- as in you could run your hand over the bottom of the boat and never feel it there. I've seen some that stick out a bit, and that concerns me since it's a trailer boat.
Thus, I'd like to know what to check or replace to get the current hardware working, first. But if that will be too expensive, I'm up for ditching the in-dash basic digital depth reading for a fishfinder with more features -- but I want to use the current thru-hull hole for a transducer, if possible, but have it safe and trailerable without concern. Oh, and ideally all of this fixed for under $200.
Thanks in advance for your help folks!
