GL: depth sounding

[bob Austin]

Great suggestions from Rich.

I like the remote control boat  the best!

We carried the RIB like a purse seiner's pull boat, and it took about 30
seconds to launch and a minute to retrieve.  At the time, we had a
fishfinder--and this was before affordiable chart plotters.  But today, I have
portable combination chart plotters, you can transfer the chart plotter back
to the large vessel and then follow the "Bread Crumbs".

There is another technique which we are using for cruise / route planning.
That is to "survey" the way we are going with "Google Earth" and make screen
shots of the pages of interest.  Colors in some areas are very telling about
depths.  I also used this recently along with the protable depth sounder/chart
plotter in surveyiing sites for launching ramps.  Some of the Google Earth
photos are very clear and a 20 foot boat is very recognizable.  This is a
great tool.

Bob Austin