Depth Alarm at Idle

[Raleigh]

I’d like to set my depth alarm for 15 feet, as a warning to the driver to avoid shallow water. Problem is, we post up in coves at 8-10 feet. Is there a way to turn off the depth finder alarm when the engine is off? Seems silly. I’d set the alarm to 7 feet but your screwed if you’re moving and hit 7 feet...

[Leftlane]

What do you think you are going to hit at 7’ depth?  I have mine set for 3 feet - your draft isn’t that much.  At 15 feet my alarm would be going off over 80% of my lake. 

[Raleigh]

4 hours ago, Leftlane said:

What do you think you are going to hit at 7’ depth?  I have mine set for 3 feet - your draft isn’t that much.  At 15 feet my alarm would be going off over 80% of my lake. 

When I’m surfing with lots of weight and a wedge it pulls the boat down. Not sure what the danger point is. 

[formulaben]

23 hours ago, Raleigh said:

I’d set the alarm to 7 feet but your screwed if you’re moving and hit 7 feet...

If you're surfing you don't want to be in shallow water anyway, since it kills the wave.  No idea of what your home lake looks like depthwise, but deeper is better.

I do find it odd that you can't turn it off with the engine off.  My old boat has it on during engine on and in ACC position; with key off it is indeed off.  Whenever I want to check depth I turn the key to the ACC position for a moment.  I don't pretend to know why yours is always on, but it would bug me for sure.

This doesn't answer your question about turning off the depth finder, but my unsolicited advice is to set the depth finder to something closer to 6-8 feet and just be in the habit of keeping the depth finder in your scan at all times while underway.  Your quote above implies you may not be in the habit of scanning the depth finder on a regular basis.  We obviously should be keeping a good lookout when driving/towing, but should also be glancing at the gauges/gauge cluster and depth finder at regular intervals, especially the depth finder. 

Think of it this way: the alarm is in case you got distracted or have a bad scan, not as a regular substitute for ignoring one of the most vital tools a Captain has available to them.  Unless you're headed towards an underwater cliff or bench, you will see the trend coming way before the alarm were to activate.  Also, you'll get a really good idea of the depths of your home lake, allowing you to relax your scan a bit.  When I go to new lakes, I'm vigilant about monitoring depth until I'm familiar/comfortable with the area, but with "known" lakes I already know the general depth and watch it more closely only when I know I'm getting nearer shallow areas.

[Raleigh]

18 minutes ago, formulaben said:

If you're surfing you don't want to be in shallow water anyway, since it kills the wave.  No idea of what your home lake looks like depthwise, but deeper is better.

I do find it odd that you can't turn it off with the engine off.  My old boat has it on during engine on and in ACC position; with key off it is indeed off.  Whenever I want to check depth I turn the key to the ACC position for a moment.  I don't pretend to know why yours is always on, but it would bug me for sure.

This doesn't answer your question about turning off the depth finder, but my unsolicited advice is to set the depth finder to something closer to 6-8 feet and just be in the habit of keeping the depth finder in your scan at all times while underway.  Your quote above implies you may not be in the habit of scanning the depth finder on a regular basis.  We obviously should be keeping a good lookout when driving/towing, but should also be glancing at the gauges/gauge cluster and depth finder at regular intervals, especially the depth finder. 

Think of it this way: the alarm is in case you got distracted or have a bad scan, not as a regular substitute for ignoring one of the most vital tools a Captain has available to them.  Unless you're headed towards an underwater cliff or bench, you will see the trend coming way before the alarm were to activate.  Also, you'll get a really good idea of the depths of your home lake, allowing you to relax your scan a bit.  When I go to new lakes, I'm vigilant about monitoring depth until I'm familiar/comfortable with the area, but with "known" lakes I already know the general depth and watch it more closely only when I know I'm getting nearer shallow areas.

I agree with the above. I scan for depth of 25’ feet deep! Agree with the depth for the wave 30’ or more is ideal. There are a couple of areas where the bottom jumps up quickly, and depth can change in the lake over time so what is 15’ now may be 5’ in a few weeks. I’ll see if the key being on or off can change this. It caused an issue with my power button so perhaps that could be the issue.