Depth Gage Accuracy

[Jeff L24]

Sorry if this has been covered before but are the depth finders (2021 Yamaha 195S) calibrated to give the actual depth of the water or just the depth from their mounting position on the bottom of the hull? I ask because I found myself in skinny water that said 1.7 feet but I wonder if it was actually closer to 2.5/3 feet in reality.

 

[Robconn]

Do you have an independent navigational app you could compare soundings, and speed with? Although I do not have your particular model and year Yamaha, my depth gage is exactly what my navionics app states. I set my depth alarm at 5 ft and adjust my navionics app to display shallow water (I set it to 10 ft) a different shade of color. I boat in lake water and can update soundings based on current lake pool levels. I have an app for my local lake level as well. Navionics is subscription based and works on cell phone and tablets. My plan is $15.00 per year.

 

[Jeff L24]

Do you have an independent navigational app you could compare soundings, and speed with? Although I do not have your particular model and year Yamaha, my depth gage is exactly what my navionics app states. I set my depth alarm at 5 ft and adjust my navionics app to display shallow water (I set it to 10 ft) a different shade of color. I boat in lake water and can update soundings based on current lake pool levels. I have an app for my local lake level as well. Navionics is subscription based and works on cell phone and tablets. My plan is $15.00 per year.

I don't have the Navionics app yet. The 195S has built in charts, they show color grading but not actual depth in feet. I've been very happy with it so far. This was on a small local river, so my screen didn't give any details. If it's really only $15, I'll definitely get it. Thanks.

 

[blacksapphirez]

could be taking the draft into consideration. i have aftermarket transducer and they both show within 0.5ft of each other so I'd say they are pretty accurate

 

[TexAg2010]

I believe my stock transducer reads depth below keel. Seem to remember the documents that came with the boat saying something about it.

 

[Jeff L24]

I believe my stock transducer reads depth below keel. Seem to remember the documents that came with the boat saying something about it.

I didn't think about checking the manual. I'll do that too.

 

[the MfM]

There should be a setting to adjust the offset based in where the transducer us mounted.

I have my Garmin adjusted for the draft of my boat. So it reads how much water is below the boat.

 

[Elliott]

You are typically seeing the amount of water under the boat or the distance to thick vegetation (especially if you are in shallow water with thick, short vegetation on the bottom) in some instances. Your boat has different drafts - on plane versus at rest. My boat has a specified draft of 16 inches at rest, but that varies depending on load (total weight and how it is distributed). On plane, I do not know the exact number, but it seems to well under a foot of draft.