At what depth is your depth alarm set for and why?

[Wake Havasu]

I was at 3' feet but after tearing apart a prop in Parker AZ , I now set mine to buzz me at 5'.

What are your thoughts?

[Zacky]

I would set it no more shallow than 7-10 feet, especially if it is on a body of water that I am not familiar with. If I see less than 10 feet on the depth finder and I am going into the unknown, somebody is usually watching off the tip of the bow. And, I am at idle speed. You never know when a rock pile or unknown sandbar is going to creep up on you. And, given that most depth finders could be +/- at least a foot, it's better to be cautious than bang up a $350 prop and ruin your day...

[whitlock87]

In my home lake, I have it set at 5. When I go to the river, I have it set at 10.
If I do not know the waterways, I set it at 12.
I also will drive the area before we ski.

[mjirving]

So here's a stupid question. Do I have this functionality on my 2003 22v or is it an option?

[Tip]

That's good question, I also have an 03 22v. My previous boat had an alarm but I not sure about this one.

[embo]

Reading this older post...I have the same question? Do I have an alarm on my 2005 22v? And if so how to I set it?

Any Help would be great!

[Fiveflat]

something is aweful weird about my depth finder.... In my slough I frequent (I don't have an alarm at all set on mine - see why shortly) I know it's deeper than my sounder says because often it'll say 3.5' deep and I'm in the water behind the boat and I can't feel the ground - what gives?
Are sounders not accurate below 10' maybe?
I don't have my set to alarm because I know this slough very well but often it makes me question my sounder because I don't know what's the truth to be honest...

[gcsuper]

something is aweful weird about my depth finder.... In my slough I frequent (I don't have an alarm at all set on mine - see why shortly) I know it's deeper than my sounder says because often it'll say 3.5' deep and I'm in the water behind the boat and I can't feel the ground - what gives?
Are sounders not accurate below 10' maybe?
I don't have my set to alarm because I know this slough very well but often it makes me question my sounder because I don't know what's the truth to be honest...

If the unit is on the bottom of the boat and the boat is sitting two feet in the water, it will be off by two feet showing shallower than the actual depth.

[Ewok]

If the unit is on the bottom of the boat and the boat is sitting two feet in the water, it will be off by two feet showing shallower than the actual depth.

That has been my experience with mine, off by about 2' on the conservative side. I have my alarm set for 15' in water I don't know, 10' in water I do know. If I boated in a slough that is 10' all the time, I probably wouldn't use it either.

[embo]

That has been my experience with mine, off by about 2' on the conservative side. I have my alarm set for 15' in water I don't know, 10' in water I do know. If I boated in a slough that is 10' all the time, I probably wouldn't use it either.

How do you set the alarm?

[talltigeguy]

Reading this older post...I have the same question? Do I have an alarm on my 2005 22v? And if so how to I set it?

Any Help would be great!

Who wants an alarm sounding every time you put the boat on and off the trailer?

Around here, you rarely have time to stop before you hit a rock. Similar to what SBFan did at Mead last year...you go from 25 feet to rock in no time, so I find the alarm not very useful.

The depth finder should be calibrated to give you a depth from the bottom of the hull to ground. As long as you know how yours is calibrated, then that will tell you where you are at. I know mine is actually calibrated for the water depth. So mine reads 2.5 feet when it is on the trailer...and my prop is actually about 8 inches above the ground at that point.

[skyski_tige]

I don't think I would hear the alarm over the music...

[turbonine]

I was at 3' feet but after tearing apart a prop in Parker AZ , I now set mine to buzz me at 5'.

What are your thoughts?

Need to be careful in certain spots in Parker, especially in the morning up past Buckskin. Since Parker dam is hydroelectric, water output is determined by power consumption, which is peaked between 3pm and 9pm. 5am to 11am the water is about 2 feet lower than it would be at 3pm.

[embo]

Who wants an alarm sounding every time you put the boat on and off the trailer?

Around here, you rarely have time to stop before you hit a rock. Similar to what SBFan did at Mead last year...you go from 25 feet to rock in no time, so I find the alarm not very useful.

The depth finder should be calibrated to give you a depth from the bottom of the hull to ground. As long as you know how yours is calibrated, then that will tell you where you are at. I know mine is actually calibrated for the water depth. So mine reads 2.5 feet when it is on the trailer...and my prop is actually about 8 inches above the ground at that point.

Yeah, you are right. Probably not going to hear it in time to stop. Plus probably going to be watching it pretty closely when in areas that you might think it's shallow. In the areas you don't think it's shallow, it will probably be too late to know it's too late.

Good idea about checking the readings on the gauge though with it on the trailer and see what it sees. Thanks for the tip.

This does bring up a different question though...if I find that the gauge is way off what it should be and you say you know yours is calibrated for the water depth, how do you re-calibrate the depth gauge? Is there a way to do this?

I would think about doing this if I found that with the boat on the trailer, but in the water, and it reads 10 ft when the actual depth is 5 or 3 feet. I would think it would be nice to re-calibrate the depth finder so it is closer to the actual distance and not something way off the mark.

Can this be done...re-calibrate the gauge?

[Ewok]

Yeah, you are right. Probably not going to hear it in time to stop. Plus probably going to be watching it pretty closely when in areas that you might think it's shallow. In the areas you don't think it's shallow, it will probably be too late to know it's too late.

Good idea about checking the readings on the gauge though with it on the trailer and see what it sees. Thanks for the tip.

This does bring up a different question though...if I find that the gauge is way off what it should be and you say you know yours is calibrated for the water depth, how do you re-calibrate the depth gauge? Is there a way to do this?

I would think about doing this if I found that with the boat on the trailer, but in the water, and it reads 10 ft when the actual depth is 5 or 3 feet. I would think it would be nice to re-calibrate the depth finder so it is closer to the actual distance and not something way off the mark.

Can this be done...re-calibrate the gauge?

Probably, but my boat is a 2009 and the dash board is a little different. My depth and the alarm for is displayed in LCD under the tachometer and on a center LCD MFD. When the shallow water alarm goes off, it changes the center MFD to a WARNING! SHALLOW WATER! message. You'll have to try and find a 2005 owner or the manual