chartplotter/fishfinder, raymarine a65?

[iscurt]

as a coastal cruiser is the fish finder a good aid or useless clutter?i mean can the it aid as a reliable depth finder or is it for fishermen only?i bought a package deal at 1/4 what they were for sale on ramarine's site included a transom mount transducer that i cant use so ill have to get a thru hull to make it work.is it worth it???

[Amgine]

There's no yes or no answer. Personally, I still miss my flasher (a very old style of depth sounder) because it gave a sense of the how 'hard' the bottom is as well as how far down it is.

Some of the fish finders also give some idea of the penetration of the bottom. That can help you figure out if you're over weeds, soft mud, hard mud or softish sand, hard sand or rock... and so give you one more tool in figuring out whether to try to anchor and which anchor to try first. Many of them give you a track, so you can see very visibly the bottom trend.

Most of the 'sailboat' instruments just give you a digital number.

As to whether it's worth it for you, you're going to have to do your homework. Find out what kind of thru-hull or in-hull transducer you can use and how much it costs. Figure out if this is an installation you can do or if it needs to be done at a yard. (You might want to use the yard quote anyway, because your time isn't free and you may need additional tools, materials, etc.) If your boat is in the water and you're installing a thru-hull, you're going to need to haul out anyway.

[iscurt]

thanks amgine ,
it helps more than you know ,alot of questions between now and launch,some maintenance, some navigational, but i am sure glad i have found this forum!
curtis

[bitman]

i have the A65 on-board but without that transducer so i can't tell you about the fish finder functionality... i can call the slit screen but missing the fish finder info.

if you have other questions about the A65 i might be more a help, sorry.