Depth sounder and windpoint questions

[Wayne]

Hello.  I'm new to the board, having just purchased a new 34, hull #1762.  I am having a couple of problems with the Raymarine 60 series instruments.  I am talking to the Raymarine factory folks, but I would appreciate some experienced feedback.

1.  Depth sounder periodically reads really shallow.  I have an offset programed to account for the keel and a little over a foot of insurance, but I think this offset is irrelevant.  Five or six times during a roughly 6 hour sail the instrument will read two or three feet of water under my keel.  This has happened in shipping chanels, in areas of 30-40' of water, and a couple of times in areas of over 100' of water (I have checked my depth against my chartplotter).  When it happens, depth doesn't just jump from, for instance, 100' to 2'--it seems to work its way up in stages (20', 12', 8',5',2') and likewise works its way back down to the correct depth.  Raymarine is telling me that it might be picking up wood or other debris floating below the surface (that would make it about 8' deep).  I am sailing in San Francisco Bay, and we have had a very wet spring with some flooding and debris being carried downstream by the rivers flowing into the Bay, but I'm pretty skeptical of this explanation.  Seems to me that if the sounder 'saw' and object, it would go back to correct depth immediately after clearing it--not 'stairstepping' its way up and down.  And yes, we have joked aboard about an amorous whale . . .  Anybody have any thoughts or advice for me?  I'm sure depth sounders give occasional bad readings, but I've never noticed anything to this degree on other boats.

2.  Windpointer needle points off about 30 degrees from the masthead fly most of the time; sometimes points really off (as in downwind when we are sailing upwind.  Windspeed is flaky, too (sometimes like -10 kts).  I have tried user calibrating, and thought I had it solved, but within half an hour it has gone back to being eratic.  Any thoughts?

And yes, I am pushing these problems hard with my dealer.

Thanks in advance for any advice!  Oh, yea--I almost forgot to mention that I LOVE THE WAY THE BOAT SAILS!

Wayne

[Ken Juul]

Can't help you with the windex, but it sounds like something is broke or loose. 
Lots of things can effect the depth sounder; fish, different temp gradients or salinity in the water, debris, etc.   Sounds like it is responding normally.  I have an older model, can you adjust the sensitivity on the ST60?

[rirvine]

Wayne:

Sound like an electrical problem to me.  I would suggest that you check all the connections and terminals:-  12V, GND, and the connections to the transducers - at the back of the instruments.  Take them off, give them a good pull to make sure the crimp to the wire is well done, put them back on making sure it requires some force to push them on.

Since both depth and wind have problems, I would suspect the 12V and/or GND side.

Good luck,  Ray

[George Bean]

I second Ray's thoughts about pwr/gnd connections.  My anemometer used to "clock up" to 99 kph in a gust and then step down to normal (It's windy, but not that windy on the Bay!).  Dyna at Farallon told me to run a grounding wire from mast to keel which cleared up the problem right away.  Perhaps you have a loose grounding wire at the instrument.  There has been much more debris in the Bay than in normal years. We clobbered a submerged log during the 3 Bridge Fiasco earlier this year.

[Roger Patterson]

I raised a similar sounder concern with the local Catalina tech folks. The response I received echos Ken's comments: The transducer will see thermo clines and the difference between brackish and saltwater as differences in depth. You will find readings with fluctuate quite a lot in our waters (Strait of Georgia, Gulf and San Juan Islands). The transducers that Raymarine uses are "Airmar" and are used by almost all recreational onboard electronic companies. ...  recommend that you use your chartplotter as the first source of depth info (depth contours) and use the depth sounder in the shallow areas to confirm.