GL: GL Scouting depth

[Rich Gano]

I like the idea of a sounder-equipped scout boat, and I even had one once.
However, the sounder I had was a "flasher" style which gave me no history
nor depth alarm, meaning I had to have my eyes glued to the sounder rather
than on where I was going.  With no GPS onboard the dink, there was no way I
could keep the big boat on the narrow safe path I had just surveyed.  Back
then I was often towing a small Whaler which made it simple to jump into it
and zoom off.  Anyway, my arrangement wasn't what I would call really useful
and didn't ever get much use.

I haven't had an occasion to need to survey a really longish stretch of
suspect water before entering it with the CALYPSO, but if I thought I would
be doing that on a regular basis, a handheld GPS along with a sounder with a
history display would be an excellent equipment setup to have in the scout
boat.  The hand help GPS could then be transferred to the big boat helm to
follow the surveyed path.

The other problem to me with a scouting boat arrangement was the time and
energy required to get the dink off the mother ship and then back aboard
(since I have stopped towing a small boat).  That's not to say that I don't
occasionally use a "calibrated" boat hook in the dink to check a small area
out.

In the sandy/muddy (thus forgiving) bottom soils I typically deal with, I
normally employ a leadadmiral (cruising couple's leadsman) with a standard
lead line from the big boat's bow, which draws about two feet.  We typically
proceed at the pace of a slow shuffle with me clutching one engine in and
out to keep pace and boat orientation.  Should we somehow touch, backing
away is not an issue at this speed.

Another variation on this theme I occasionally employ when alone is the
"drift" method where I will get the boat going at about the slow shuffle
speed or use  a slowly moving current to move the boat over a suspect area.
If you are in tidal areas, consider NOT doing this on a falling tide.

A new piece of equipment now carried aboard is the Humminbird castable
transducer with wrist watch style readout.  Tie the little green unit to the
end of you fishing line and cast it to the area you want to survey.  Slowly
reeling it in gives you the depths all the way back to the boat.  I like to
use it when anchored in strange areas to confirm the depths in my swing
circle.

For general scouting, I think we are either seeing or soon to see remotely
piloted water and/or aircraft equipped with various sensors priced to suit
the consumer.  In the interim, something like a Humminbird castable
transducer towed behind a child's R/C motorboat could be useful.

Scouting, be it aboard the big boat or small, is fun!

Rich Gano
7407 Sale Blvd
Southport, FL
32409