Plotter Recording Of Betsey Anna

[Bob F]

Fished the Betsey on Sunday and made some great plotter recordings of the wreck as we drifted over it.

 

Using the Sonar Viewer software on my laptop at home I've being reviewing the recordings and ploting each of the peaks so that a picture of the wreck can be built up to show how the wreck lies on the bottom. She lies SSW to NNE. This is now plotted as a line icons on the plotter to help setting up drifts or anchoring in the future.

 

Also whilst viewing the recording I noticed some pretty big shoals of fish between 10 and 30 ft above and to the side of the wreck. Shame I didn't notice these when we were fishing it.

 

The recording also showed some interesting holes as we motored over to the wreck. so I'll give them a try next time out. Most were in the general area of the Spoil Grounds and 50-50 banks.

 

cheers

 

BF

[Member Removed]

Hi Bob, This is just what i"ve been trying to do for some time ie. chart wreck postions in relation to tide ect. What electronics are you running? Do you need a combi unit to do this or can you interface? I curently have a lowrance 6000 plotter and x97 sounder. There is no software available from navionics yet, coming soon i was told 12 months ago. Many thanks Becks

[Bob F]

Hi Becks,

 

I have the Eagle Seachamp 2000 combo unit (a repackaged Lowrance).

 

As far as I am aware, the Lowrance and Eagle combo units are the only ones that allow you to record sonar data. Unfortunately, there isn't a way of interfacing your two units and recording the data. This is the main reason why I chose the combo rather than 2 separate units.

 

The new Lowrance units have a new interface bus which is supposed to allow you to add stuff like radars, etc, but even then, I still don't think you can record sonar data with separate units.

 

Not sure what you mean by "There is no software available from navionics yet, coming soon i was told 12 months ago"??? I assume you are using Navionics Gold

on your plotter??

 

The Sonar Viewer software is available for free from the Lowrance and Eagle webs sites. The sonar/GPS data is recorded onto a standard SD flash card that you plug into the combo unit (it has 2 SD slots, one for your Navionics chart and one for recording your data). I have a 128MB SD card which records a couple of hours of data, so you can leave it recording whilst you are cruising around, and then view it at your leisure when you are back home using the Sonar viewer software. The beauty of the software is that when you place your mouse over an interesting mark it shows the GPS co-ordinates and depth. It's then a simple matter of entering the co-ordinates into your plotter.

 

Hope that answerd your questions.

 

Cheers

 

Bob F

 

 

 

[TomBettle]

This coming generation of Navman sounders have a record function, haven't gone much more into detail than that yet, but they do look like they will be very good.

[Coddy]

Hi Tom

 

I would be interested to read more about these Navman units as I am a fan of these.

 

I have the C-Map NT+ PC reader and found it useful but to do what Bob has done would be great.

 

Coddy

[Swainiac]

Bob, a 128 card only gives a few hours record time? can to chop and change record on/off easily........sorry teacher, I wasnt paying attention!!!

 

Rich

[john c]

Hi all

 

I have dived the Betsy Anna a number of times in the last couple of years. There is a lot of wreckage standing high off the sea bed and plenty of plates laying around the sides. The boilers hold an interesting cargo. While we were looking at the lovely little prawns on the edge of the boiler tubes, we glanced down to see dozens of broken edible crab shells on the sand. Further investigation into the tubes with the torch showed a whole family of congers. Some were very big.

 

The large shoals of fish we have seen are mostly Pout. The ones that hang in the tide normally upstream of the wreck are very large for Pout, but there are a lot of them. There are some Pollack and the inevitable Wrasse.

 

The sea bed around the wreck is fairly clean sand and broken shell. I havn't ventured too far from the wreckage so don't know what lies beyond.

 

The bow and stern of the ship are both upturned facing the surface as they have become detached. There is a fairly sizeable lump amidships and the boilers of course. This ship was not particularly large but is does show up well on the sounder. It is very snaggy so be careful when anchoring. During the summer it can be located at slack water by the number of large and small dive boats hovering over her.

 

What stood out for me with this wreck is the visibility. On each occasion that I have dived her, the water has been extremely clear. Perhaps next season I will be able to get some photos of her. This I hope to make a bit of an interest. Actual photos of what we are fishing over. Takes out the guesswork but also throws up a lot more questions.

 

Regards

John C

[Bob F]

Rich,

 

Yes, you can turn the record on and off (for example, when you are at anchor), and change SD cards. I take a couple of SD cards out with me just in case I fill one.

 

I'll post some pictures of the Betsey when I can get the print function in the Sonar Viewer to work!!!

 

cheers

 

BF

[Bob F]

Tom,

 

Just had a look at the Navman web site and can't find a unit that records sonar data. Which one is it? There is a boat speed log.

 

cheers

 

BF

[TomBettle]

Tom,

 

Just had a look at the Navman web site and can't find a unit that records sonar data. Which one is it? There is a boat speed log.

 

cheers

 

BF

Hi Bob

 

We sell a lot of Navman kit on our Fishers. I have to say I wasn't paying huge amounts of attention, but Peter the Navman rep popped in yesterday for a coffee and showed me some of the new stuff.

 

It will be in their new 2006 catalogue, but I am not likely to have that until London Boat Show.

 

Basically they ae moving forward in leaps and bounds on last years kit (which was OK, but not exceptional).

Everything is much higher definition, more colours, higher power, more functions etc. The next generation plotters will all be C-MAP NT Max+ or whatever it is called, and a the higher end fish finders have a record function.

 

They will also have a lot more choice in screen sizes and layouts etc. One thing I am keen on will be their new 12" multi function unit.

 

The only thing they bare still missing (on the drawing board) is a radar. Once they have that I reckon they will equal anything else on offer.

 

Sorry I can't give much detail, but I was only browsing the catalogue with the rep.

If anyone goes to London Boat Show, the Navman guys are in the north hall not far from the west entrance to Excel. They should have it all on display there and either Mark Parkin or Paul David wil be able to give you a proper demo.

[great white]

Hi all very interesting

 

Bob can you email the recording, I have the program on my PC

 

If its to big can you burn it on to a CD

 

Thanks

Charlie

[duncan]

Any chance of sticking on here as a download?

[Bob F]

Sounds like exciting stuff, Tom.

 

Charlie, emailed.

 

BF

[Bob F]

On the left is a trip across the Spoil Grounds, and the peaks on the right are a few passes across the Betsey Anna.

 

BF

[Bob F]

And this is the Betsey Anna.

 

In mid water on the left, the red splodge is a shoal of fish (probably Pollack, since I caught one). And immediately around the wreck the red shading is either pouting or nets, I suspect.

 

BF

[Member Removed]

HI BOB, Thanks for the info,looks like i"ll have to upgrade to a big combi unit(eyesight on the wane) I do have 2 SD slots on the plotter but nothing on the sonar. I have used the lowrance free software but found i couldn"t enter waypoints,routes ect. All I could do is view the chart. The navionics people at the boatshow told me software was on the way. I wonder if raymarine units record sonar as to me they were the most impressive on view(pricey though) Anyway mate keep the input coming, really interesting to know Exactly how things lie down there ( 3d sonar that works?) Regards BECKS

[duncan]

here's the Betsy in all her glory..........

 

 

[Bob F]

This was a drift along some of her length. We were catching plenty of Pout and the odd pollack. The description in Dive Dorset says she's fairly broken up with 2 big boliers showing. Perhaps that's we can see here. Incidently, in tems of scale, she lying in 80ft of water and is 20ft from bottom to top on this plot.

 

BF

[duncan]

now now your plot cleary gives only 12ft rise to the top of the weckage........and I assume it was just on low water when you took the plot (well not an assumption really as you took it at 1500h!)

 

just realised that you took this a week earlier........so nearer mid tide I would have thought.

 

looks like you planned your trip with more preparation than we did!

[Bob F]

I think you are probably placing the cursor at the top of the wreck and using the pop-up box to determine the bottom depth. If you do it that way you get bottom depth 72ft and cursor depth 60ft. But in this case I think the system is misinterpreting the deck plates of the boat as the bottom.

 

If you move the cursor to the actual bottom (average) it reads ~77ft, so 17ft. But what's 3-4ft between mates???