Reefmaster and Structure Scan

[Paul]

Been playing around with this software called Reefmaster - Had it on trial but now got the full version....hours of fun!!

This is one of the scans taken the other week of a wreck in the bay....

On the left you have a map of the scan area, and the route i took - you can "play" the route to show exactly what was seen, where and when....

Then top middle is what the "normal" sounder produced - doesnt tell you much!! Then bottom middle is the down scan image directly below the boat.

On the right is the Side/Structure scan (white line is the boat, looking out to the sides)

reefmasterwreck.PNG (1.14 MiB) Viewed 1901 times

The beauty of the side scan is that you can drop a way point anywhere you like out to the sides.... Doing that, the wreck is actually running at 45 degrees to the passes i made - Dropping pins all over the structure scan produces this..... A wreck approximately 120m long - far bigger than we first thought!! It also sticks up a good 20ft off the surrounding seabed, but more like 40 ft taking into account the 20ft of scouring around it. We did this at around high tide, i bet some of the rigging shows on a massive low water

wreckmap.PNG (22.94 KiB) Viewed 1901 times

Need to do a few more scans over the top of it, and run alongside it i think and build up a proper matrix of the area, but really impressed so far

Going to have to fish this spot, bet there are a few congers knocking about on it....

[liphook]

Interesting stuff

[grumpyppops1]

The beauty for you is knowing where and where not to anchor if your doing a bit of wrecking.does this device,act as a fish finder too?if I had one id never be on dry land you could do your own shore mapping of snags off certain points eg ,north wall and sell them.also does this gizmo detect beanies lol.glyn

[Paul]

Its on its way, should be there tomorrow, with a freebie thrown in for the wait


Yes, the middle top image is the standard fishfinder/sonar screen, with the downscan below it, then the side scan on the right.

I had a little play on the north wall the other week too, around the old tanker pier dolphins and the hump.... Going to have to get out just for a spot of surveying....

[Paul]

Heres another screen shot of the dolphins at the end of the hump....

The main return is for the southerley one, but if you look on the left of the side scan you will see the second one...

Plotting them on the map using the waypoints gives the position even with a partial scan of it...

[grumpyppops1]

Thanks .its an absolute genius piece of kit better watch it doesn't put you off fishing.was the package very expensive?

[craggers]

a brilliant bit of kit now you have found the wreck can you trace its name and when it got there and why it sunk your going to have hours of fun
could be full of gold doubloons

[robo]

I was going to ask the same question

[Paul]

This is it running through.... its a bit jerky and poor res compared to viewing it on the laptop but you should get the gist

[Paul]

Expensive.... well, it depends how you look at things....

Considering the GPS chart plotter, fish finder, and structure scan is all built in to it....

I got a deal as part of the boat package as i chopped in the package 5" GPS/FF and it didn't cost me that much to upgrade really....plus Warrior managed to get a deal on it at the Boat show for me....Plus it was going onto a brand new boat - the price seemed a little insignificant at the time

BUT to go out and buy the Lowrance HDS7 Touch unit, plus structure scan transducer, plus a normal transducer.... about £1250


Would i go out and spend £1250 on it from scratch? Possibly.....given the price of a new fish finder/gps combo anyway, the cost of getting this unit isnt that much dearer.....certainly if you were to buy a non touch version and then add the Structure scan module, and the price of Humminbird sidescan units, its not that bad...

With the deal i got I'm more than happy with what extra it cost me