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How Shallow is Too Shallow?


meb885

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My Lake has me worried bout my new Acme 525 prop....especially since my 1st ten minute accident.....

I have found my depth meter registering 5-6 in a lot of points between 70-80ft water.....is that OK if im up on plane in my 94 Echelon?

When im pulling up to my dock im in about 1-4ft water.....i know i shouldnt be turning this shallow.....but am i hurting it by pulling in under power and reversing to line up with the dock.....

God i feel so new to all of this!

Also how accurate is the onboard depth meter on my Echelon anyway.....i find some places where it reads 5 where i know it cant be that shallow....is it getting thrown off by a weed or something or is it just out of wack sometimes.....

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where's the depth-meter mounted?

remember, it is measuring depth from the transponder, not actual water depth...

if it's reading 4-feet, and it's mounted thru the hull - that means you've got 4-feet below the hull

still sounds rather shallow - be careful

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We got into some very shallow water the other day in our Rlxi. The depth guage was at 1.5 feet and we never touched bottom. This was at idle speed. We had to hit reverse and do a quick turn around but we didn't hit. I don't know what the minimum depth on the guage that you can go before hitting bottom, but 5-6 feet is fine. Just be careful, depth changes can come on quickly and, at planing speed, you have very little time to react.

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where's the depth-meter mounted?

remember, it is measuring depth from the transponder, not actual water depth...

if it's reading 4-feet, and it's mounted thru the hull - that means you've got 4-feet below the hull

still sounds rather shallow - be careful

no idea where the transponder is..... its a factory installed depth finder..... Part of Malibu's onboard computer they used on the Echelons......Mine works....i guess i should worry about it being 100% accurate just be amazed it works 100% of the time.... lol....from what i hear these computers go on 80% of the Echelons they were installed on....and malibu does not warranty or service them.

When i reverse by my dock i do kick up some sand.....but when i get out i always give it a few quick reverse blasts in deeper water to free anything that might be tangled in the prop like weeds.... should i be concearned that im making little sand clouds? does that for sure mean im rubbing my prop in the sand/ the hull doesnt hit bottom......

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Sounds like you are ok if the lake doesn't get any shallower than that. I used my boat on a private lake last year for a heavy weekend of use where the entire lake was 4 to 9 feet deep. It was a bit disconcerting at first, but once I trusted that it wasn't shallower than that I was fine and relaxed more. The problem for you will be knowing whether or not there are more shallow spots or if the level drops more.

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This link will give you a map of the depths of Cass Lake. I've always been able to see went it becomes to shallow on Cass pretty easy. Watch out around the islands by Marshbanks Park, the beach and by Cass Lake Road where to ould Wayside Inn was.

Edited by onamission
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At one point when I was doing my water monitoring program on Lillinoah, it was reading, 2, 2.3, 2, 2.1, 2, 2.3, and I was getting worried. Thing is, you can't even see the bottom, and my boat has a draw of about 2 feet, so it was REAL close. Not enjoyable, I still have no managed to find the channel where it is about 10 ft deep.

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Transducer, not transponder.

When it's reading 2, you're damn close. Too close unless you know the bottom exactly. If you're running at speed or over weeds, it wouldn't surprise me for a misreading.

Know the water, know the bottom. And I don't mean by reading the depth meter. Running or skiing otherwise is foolish at least.

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I don't worry about anything over 3 ft on my depth finder. Anything under that I get real cautious and try to steer away. I will hit the prop on any water at or under about 1.7ft.

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Best way to see what 1.7' on the depth gauge really means is to put a stick / pole to the bottom where you see that reading...kind of like the way they measure how much fuel is in the storage tanks at the gas station.

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and if you're stirring sand in reverse at the dock, you're almost certainly sucking it up your cold water intake.

if you've got a strainer, clean it once in a while.

if not... it's going thru the water impeller... and thru the block.

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I'd do what Edwin reccomends and if you're carrying a paddle (like you should) stick it in the water where it says it's 2-3' deep.

We've run in 3' on plane and turning at ski speeds once and I hope never to repeat it. The bottom was about 1' of soft mud. The end where we started was around 5'. We didn't do any "deep" water starts at the 3' end. We did notice a bit of a trail at that end. We have a strainer and were cleaning it periodically that day.

My boat draws 22" (supposedly), but anything less than 3' and I start getting a bit nervous (even where I know the bottom conditions).

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The factory transducer on my Echelon is next to the ski pylon, which is about 10-12" below the water line. You need at least 20" below the water line to clear your prop. I you read 2' on the gauge you are probably closer to 3' which would be plenty of clearance, but why take the chance, when it is that shallow it only takes moving a few feet to change the depth, the next thing you know, $90 at the prop repair shop.

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The factory transducer on my Echelon is next to the ski pylon, which is about 10-12" below the water line. You need at least 20" below the water line to clear your prop. I you read 2' on the gauge you are probably closer to 3' which would be plenty of clearance, but why take the chance, when it is that shallow it only takes moving a few feet to change the depth, the next thing you know, $90 at the prop repair shop.

Or a log sitting on the bottom.....

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I'd do what Edwin reccomends and if you're carrying a paddle (like you should) stick it in the water where it says it's 2-3' deep.

You should definately carry a paddle when you are going up a creek - !!!!! Biggrin.gifBiggrin.gif

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