[Public-List] Internal mounting of depth sounder??

Fri Feb 18 06:08:29 PST 2022

Great story.

Winslow Ayer
Tinkers Damn #283

> On Feb 18, 2022, at 8:36 AM, Gordon Laco via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> Good morning Mike, 
> 
> My old sailing club in Toronto used to have a special award called the ‘Leif Erikson Memorial Award’.  It was a viking helmet given to the yacht who had ‘found new land’ in the most spectacular manner.
> 
> The first year the Leif Ericson Memorial was granted, I won a special award myself.  There was no name for it due to the bizarre circumstances and almost unbelievable story surrounding it.  So they made me stand up and tell the story… while holding a fire extinguisher.
> 
> That season I had sailed TOUCH WOOD, my Folkboat, out to Lake Ontario’s Thousand Islands for my summer holiday with my girlfriend.  As usual we were beating coming back west along the nothern shore of the lake, a 160 mile slog.  We got as far as Whitby on Sunday… we both had to return to work Monday morning, so we left the boat there at the very hospitable Whitby Yacht Club.  One of the members actually drove us home to Toronto.
> 
> So on my day off from Tom Taylor Co, the now defunct chandlery, my Mother drove me out to Whitby to sail the boat home.  In those pre-cell phone days I used to always give two return ETA’s… this time I told my Mom I should be considered late if I wasn’t back by 6pm… if not by midnight, i was ‘overdue'.   
> 
> So Wednesday morning away I went merrily sailing home alone in TOUCH WOOD.  I was taking long tacks out into the Lake almost sinking the land then coming back in as close as I dared.  I ate lunch hove to with Toronto’s skyline clearly in sight to windward.  However, during the afternoon the wind fell light and by late afternoon I was becalmed.
> 
> I started up TOUCH WOOD’s auxiliary which in those early days was a ferocious British Seagull outboard.  I rattled and vibrated along at 4.2 knots for several hours and eventually used up my fuel.  I was at that point within four miles of my sailing club… in a glassy calm about two miles off shore.  Darkness fell and I saw I was off the foot of Woodbine Avenue.    The night was so still l could hear cars even though I was a fairly long way out.  
> 
> I tried sculling, I tried towing with the dinghy, I set the sails as perfectly as I could and watched eagerly for the lightest zephyr… nothing.  Hour after hour the bearing on the traffic lights remained the same.   My battery slowly died, already depleted by the week of cruising, and one time while climbing back into the boat from the dinghy I dropped my flashlight overboard.  I had the interesting experience of watching it spiral down and down through the very still water.
> 
> Midnight came.  I knew my parents, who were not sailors, would probably be hitting the panic button.  Sure enough, about 1am I saw the lights of a fast motorboat going back and forth inshore of me.  I guessed it was the Toronto Harbour Police looking for me.
> 
> But, how to attract their attention… my battery was stone dead, so I had no VHF and no lights.  I’d lost my flashlight.  I lit the kerosene cabin lamp and held it up as the boat made each pass (at long intervals) inshore of me.  They didn’t see it.
> 
> Ah, I thought, thinking swiftly, the flare pistol!  I didn’t want to start a general alarm because I was in no danger, but wanted to make contact with the police so as to relieve my parents of worry.  I decided to fire the flare horizontally when the boat was at it’s nearest to me, and hope that they saw the flare.   I waited like a hunter… OK, here them come back heading west… still way inshore (did they think they were looking for a canoe?)  Ok, that’s about the nearest they be… I raised the pistol and fired it.  It just clicked.  I cursed, aimed it down at the water and tried again… this time it went off.  
> 
> In the flash and bang, I saw that my dinghy had drifted alongside.  The 12g flare shell went right through the 1/4” plywood of the transom and continued on into the water.  I could see it boiling brightly as it sank (water doesn’t put phosphorous out) And enough of the flare was stuck to the transom that it sparked and sprayed flames for a few seconds singeing the oars.
> 
> Of course the police boat didn’t see the flare and I decided not to bother trying another.  The found me about an hour later and I was able to confirm they were indeed looking for me.  I asked them to tell my parents I was OK, which they did.  
> 
> I was content to work my way home, a light breeze had come up, but they insisted on towing me back to the club.  I gave in and accepted the tow and asked ‘how fast will you tow me?’  The responded ‘Oh about five or six knots’.  Perfect.
> 
> I gave them a line and off we went.  We slid along at about six for a few minutes, but being motörheads, they quickly became bored with this doodling, so I heard their twin outboards rev.  My knot meter pegged at ten knots and in a few seconds it was pegged.  I tried to get their attention by waving and shouting, but of they were all looking forward and of course couldn’t hear me.
> 
> Poor TOUCH WOOD had her bow in the air with giant bow waves shooting out from about her shrouds… I climbed uphill to the foredeck and cut the line.  That got their attention.  Back they came to ask if the line broke… I explained that was too fast and tried again to get them to leave me… they wouldn’t.   We eventually got back to the club… I got home and resumed life at work the next day.
> 
> Then I made a big mistake… I told a friend about the flare and the dinghy… hence the award at awards night that year.
> 
> 
> Gordon Laco
> 426 Surprise
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Feb 18, 2022, at 8:05 AM, Mike Lehman <mlehman at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Because I have been presenting the "Special Awards" at the Annual Dinner each year for the past 20+ years, I am hopeful that this discussion on depth sounders doesn't help and prevent people from running aground...we have not had a "Keel Wheels" award winner for several years.😜
>> 
>> On Thu, Feb 17, 2022 at 9:30 PM Gordon Laco via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org <mailto:public-list at lists.alberg30.org>> wrote:
>> Hello Michael,
>> 
>> My own opinion is that a depth sounder without a navigation chart is useless.  The depth reading can be correlated with charted depths to help determine position… and THAT is what lowers the chances of going aground.   Probably the most useful application of a depth sounder is when dropping the hook and determining how much anchor chain or rope needs to be let go.
>> 
>> Two months till sailing… wahoo…
>> 
>> 
>> Gordon Laco
>> 426 Surprise
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On Feb 17, 2022, at 9:14 PM, Michael Grosh via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org <mailto:public-list at lists.alberg30.org>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I'm currently in the process of upgrading Checkmate's electronics. I have
>>> been unhappy with depth finder performance in the past, both internally
>>> (with an oil filled can) and with thruhull-the last iteration. The Garmin
>>> combo plotter I am installing, as an accessory, offers a bronze thru hull
>>> ($189.00) that internally has a 20 degree cant to compensate for deadrise.
>>> I think Garmin says unit projects 3/16" past hull, if I recall correctly. I
>>> hope it works.
>>> Doing what I do, I find depth finders of marginal usefullness. I am always
>>> hoping depth will start increasing, anytime  now, until it is too late.
>>> Nonethless, I like equipment on board  to perform the way it is supposed
>>> to. I hope to find out about mid may.
>>> Michael Grosh
>>> #220
>>> 
>>> On Thu, Feb 17, 2022, 09:14 Jonathan Bresler via Public-List <
>>> public-list at lists.alberg30.org <mailto:public-list at lists.alberg30.org>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Dear Albergers,
>>>> 
>>>> Currently the depth sounder on Constance is mounted through the hull on a
>>>> fairing block.   A fairing block protrudes into the water steaming along
>>>> the hull and causes turbulence.   Considering the idea of removing the
>>>> fairing block and mounting the depth sounder inside the hull.
>>>> 
>>>> What are your thoughts on the internal mounting?    Pros?  Cons?
>>>> 
>>>> Second, the depth sounder is located to starboard in the under-settee area
>>>> just aft the divider between the forward under-settee (there's a drawer
>>>> forward) and aft under-settee areas.    Is that a good location?  Why not
>>>> farther forward, perhaps and internal mounting in the hanging locker.
>>>> 
>>>> What are your thoughts on fore and aft relocation?
>>>> 
>>>> All the best,
>>>> Jonathan
>>>> --
>>>> Jonathan M Bresler
>>>> S/V Constance Alberg 30 #262
>>>> Annapolis/Eastport MD
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>>>> 
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>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Please support them.
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>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Mike Lehman
>> ~~~_/)_/)~~_/)~~~
> 
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Winslow