Following on from my recent post about the new Lowrance StructureScan I now have some more screenshots to show you. These are of a wreck lying 33m down in the English Channel off Brighton. The scans were taken at 8 knots in a moderate sea.

I think these shots are useful to British boat anglers who have mostly had only shots from freshwater American lakes and the like to look at until now. I think these show the technology works at sea!

There are 3 shots of the same wreck – the first is the down scan view, the second is the side scan view and the third is the conventional 2D fishfinder view (albeit this is from the latest Lowrance Broadband sounder – a leap ahead in it’s own right).

Hope you find them useful:

Down Scan View

Side Scan View

2D View – Broadband Fishfinder

We don’t normally fish on these inshore wrecks, but they gave us an opportunity to at least test the equipment and see what kind of images and information we would get, in readiness for use offshore on the deep water wrecks we normally fish on. There has been a lot of hype and rave reviews about this new technology, but most of it has been from small sports boats fishing shallow lakes in the USA. We needed to see what it could do when rolling around in a bit of a sea in the English Channel! All the images were captured at a displacement speed of 8 knots.

In short, we were not disappointed – this technology is certainly a leap forward. It wont turn a bad Skipper into a good one, but in the right hands it will allow an experienced Skipper to fine tune things a bit further on the day when drifting or anchoring a wreck. It will also speed up the process of learning a new wreck, as the side scanning feature will allow you to view the seabed up to 250ft either side of the boat as well as straight down in the conventional way.

Screenshot 1

In this first shot we passed over an inshore wreck known to have trawl nets snagged upon it. You can clearly see the netting on wreck on the side and down scan StructureView (left and top right window). This detail is not picked up by the conventional 2D fishfinder (bottom right window).

Screenshot 2

This screenshot shows a small WW2 landing craft. You can clearly see the structure on both the down and side scan views, a very different look to the conventional fishfinder (again bottom right).

The conventional fishfinder was very good at doing it’s job of showing fish echoes and bottom composition – alas we hadn’t worked out how to record screenshots when we saw some shoals and so don’t have any meaningful images to show you this time. We’ll get some for future posts though as we learn more about how to get the best from the equipment.

Typical!!

Despite the weather we were really excited to get back into the water and check out all the new gadgets and have a look at how the new structure scan works.  Was it going to be all that the reviews said it would be????

We had a good hour to kill waiting for the boat yard staff to jiggle boats around to make room for us to get out of the shed so there was nothing else for it but to indulge in a nice hot coffee and McDonalds breakfast!

Fuelled up we braved the cold as Grey Viking was pulled out into the pouring rain and lifted into the slings.

On the move.

Into the Slings.

A quick run round with the anti-foul saw her ready to be lowered. Steve, Matt and myself stood by and watched as Ray (Skipper) paced up and down like an expectant father until the boat was safely back in the water.

With the weather conditions being close to a force 7 with winds blowing from the south east we knew we were not going to get out of the marina which was a little disappointing but having said that we could still check out the new structure scan etc within the harbour.

Engines started it was time to turn on the new equipment and see what we had got.

All I can say for now is that we were blown away by the images that we saw and we can’t now wait to get out and get on with some fishing.  Fingers crossed that the weather is kind to us and we will be out there soon – we will then post a detailed report with photos and videos for you to see.

Steve and Matt have been working hard to get all of the electronics in place, the autopilot has been fitted and all wired up to the relevant equipment as has the radar, plotter and the structure scan sonar.  This has involved a lot of work and crawling in and out of a lot of tight spaces, which is why I think Steve, is on a diet!

Working Hard

Making sure its perfect!

I do also have to wonder though if it has taken just a little longer due to the fact that he has been trying to do all this wiring with his eyes shut!

Whilst fitting the new anodes we noticed that one of the propellers’ had a problem so that was another job that needed to be taken care of.  The propeller was loose as it had been put on with the washer fouling the thread and had over time worked itself loose.  This was quickly rectified

The new sound system and the four speakers have been put in place and all wired and ready to go.

We have also had a couple of additional windscreen wipers put on and this we will find very beneficial as we only had a central wiper.

Today saw us putting the finishing touches to the polishing of the hull.  We gave it a good covering with Autoglym polish sealant before popping out for lunch and then once back at the boat buffed her up to a lovely shine.

Yes you can see your face in it!

This left very little in the way of jobs for Ray and myself so we buffed up the rails and set to some of the smaller jobs such as adding new warps to cutting boards on the bait wells and side hatch and also resealing the engine hatches.  A bit of rope splicing is excellent for keeping your fingers warm when the temperature drops and whilst your waiting for Ray to make the next coffee.

I know you will all want to know more about the new structure scan etc and we will be back in the water tomorrow and testing it all out.

Tomorrow I get to sit back and let Ray write the blog post telling you all about how this works so look out for his post in skippers log.

Ray turned his attention to cutting the gel coat on the wheelhouse and I made a start on the second coat of anti foul.

Is Ray working or taking a coffee break?

We took several trips out of the shed to buy anodes and bits and pieces.  Whilst out and about we spotted a music system perfect for the boat and so now we had to decide if we should get it and so it was back to the shed to measure up and work out where we could place the speakers etc before making a final decision.

Steve, Ray and myself worked that out over a coffee and then it was back to work.  Well it was for Steve and myself.  Ray had disappeared.    Mmmmmmmm

All was revealed about 15 minutes later when he arrives back having gone and bought the music system. So it was another coffee to arrange the fitting.

This sort of became the trend of the day so not all that much got done although we did enjoy the day.

Day 5

Saturday was about getting back on track with the work and I set to finishing the anti foul that I hadn’t finished the day before.

Ray got on with polishing the wheelhouse, a job that didn’t get finished yesterday and Steve carried on with his stuff, which is all a bit too complicated for me.

Once the anti-foul was done I turned my attention to the teak trim around the boat which we were going to re-varnish but have now decided to completely sand it back and apply teak oil.  This is going to take a while and a lot of sandpaper.

The new radome was put in place by Steve and then he turned his attention to getting a new transducer for the (secret) new electronics in place .

No Steve it didn’t fall through that hole!

Lunch was a fantastic fry-up in the marina, which Ray and I really enjoyed and poor Steve couldn’t have due to a diet.

It was very nice Steve.

The website address was added to the outside of the wheelhouse along with the telephone number.  Spot the deliberate mistake.

Whoops

That will be put right tomorrow.

The old anodes were removed after some effort, as some of the bolts used when they were put on were not stainless steel and had become corroded.  The angle grinder soon sorted out that problem.

By this time all thoughts were turning towards getting home.

Everything packed away for the night and that’s exactly what we did.

Back in the morning for more.

As soon as he arrived we realised that for some of the jobs to be done today we would need another extension lead but guess what?  We only had the one with us.  Luckily for us another guy in the boat shed offered us a loan of one (Thank you!) so that saved a trip back home.

It was soon apparent that I was just no good at cutting the gel coat so Ray took over that job and made a start on the wheelhouse whilst I bit the bullet and started applying the first coat of anti-foul and as you can tell from the picture it was going to be no fun on a freezing day and sat on a freezing concrete floor!

We stopped for an early lunch today as we suffered a major disaster – the milk was off!!!!  No coffee – No work!

Back from lunch and feeling refreshed and a little warmer the painting started in earnest as the first coat needed to be finished before home time. Ray put a coat of wax on the starboard side of the boat and after a final buff its looking great.

Tomorrow Steve will join us and he will be fitting some of the new gadgets and the new radar etc….. more on that in Fridays blog.

We had purchased some cleaner for the stainless steel but it was soon apparent that it was not up to the job so Ray popped out and came back with something that was.

It wasn’t till I got started that I realised just how much stainless steel there was on the boat I guess until you have to do a job like this its not something you have to think about but at least now I had a compound that would give a pleasing result.

Alan had also arrived this morning and was tackling some of the fibreglass work that we needed doing.  It’s always nice to know a man who can and Alan was the man for this job!

Thank you Alan.

By lunch time I was getting to the end of my task and Ray was also doing well with the gel coat.  He was working on the stern and port side and these two sides of the boat  needed the most attention.

The afternoon saw Ray cut the last of the grey gel coat and I finished the stainless steel and rubbed down the woodwork.  We also managed to scrap off the loose bits of anti-foul and start sanding this down ready for re-painting.

We also had a quick visit from Terry who very kindly commented on how well the propellers and rudders had cleaned up and then went on to tell how he does his.  Cheers Terry if I had known that before I could have saved myself a good 6 hours work.

By this time and with a coffee in hand we decided to call it a day so Ray headed off to the DIY store to pick up some more supplies and I headed home to put the dinner on.

I will be back tomorrow with more news.

These pictures will show you what we were starting with…These will need some scraping and sanding!

A bit of elbow grease will soon bring back the shine!

So out came the tools and we all got our heads down for a good hour or two before giving in to the temptation of putting the kettle on for a brew.  Given the amount of dust flying around it seemed we were going to need quite a few of these today.

An early assessment over coffee was pleasing and at the rate we were working it looked like we were going to get a good amount of work done by home time.

By lunchtime the seacocks were done, Ray had sanded down the anti-foul and cut a quarter of the gel coat and I had got the worst of the crud off the starboard rudder and propeller.

The afternoon saw more of the gel coat cut, the stern glands packed and some of the hosing and clips replaced.  Also most of the crud was now removed from the propellers etc and some of the woodwork sanded down.  This is how we left it and the work will continue again tomorrow.

Just a little more to finish off!

To be continued………

The time had flown by and it was already lunchtime so we headed off to McDonald’s to get a hot drink, something to eat and a chance to warm up a bit.

Feeling a little warmer we headed back to tent to make an assessment of what we would need to complete all the jobs this coming week and then headed off to pick up the supplies.

New Sea Cocks, clips and pipes – all the sanding and polishing gear – anti-foul tools etc and a lighter wallet sees us all set for a busy day tomorrow.

We will hopefully get a chance to take some photos to share with you over the next couple of days when the hands are not too cold to hold the camera.