Humminbird Side Imaging Forums

Other Interest => DIY - Side Scan Sonar and towfish => Topic started by: Roddy on March 20, 2011, 07:55:43 PM

Title: TOW FISH
Post by: Roddy on March 20, 2011, 07:55:43 PM
Refit after a 5 day of Test. Offshore 20' to 150' of water.

1. X-FIN type: Single xducer, 6 lbs wt in nose, 250' poly rope and CAT6 cable spliced into the xducer cable.
  WORKED WELL TILL 120-130 ft depth. May have been cross currents plus 3' to 7' seas. Fish at depth would not hold ALT or HEADING. WENT WILD.

2. 2" TUBE FIN: Fwd mt IR B&W CCTV, Interphase Twin Scope Xducer, HB 797c2si Xducer, 250' 1/4 SS cable, 3ea CAT6 cables, Hook into control head's and laptop for CCTV.
   Worked well at all depth DOWN TO 160' @ 1-2 Kt gps ind.

THIS WAS A SIDE BY SIDE TEST BOTH FISH TOWED AT FHE SAME TIME!!!

The XFIN WORK'S FINE.

THE TUBE FIN IS THE ONE FOR ME!
  1. Fwd looking IR CCTV.
  2. Fwd/Vet sonar.
  3. Crash/Snag avoidance.

ALL INFO/SUGGESTIONS/HELP WELCOME. Roddy[attachment=1][attachment=2]
Title: Re: TOW FISH
Post by: RGecy on March 20, 2011, 08:35:56 PM
Hey, that fin design looks familiar!  ;D  Looks great.  I would be more interested in looking down with the camera to see whats under the towfish.  If you sync the time on your HB unit with the time on your video, you would be able to go back and play the video at a certain point where you find a target of interest.

As for obstacle avoidance, you could have a cheap sonar on the boat that runs 83khz to give you depth readings.  Make sure to turn the 83khz off on the HB SI unit.

Robert
Title: Re: TOW FISH
Post by: Roddy on March 20, 2011, 09:24:11 PM
Robert; Yep YOUR FISH inspired the mfg of my fish. It is the best I have tested to date! Very stable and EZ to handle.

DOWN LOOKING CAMERA ! OK I'll try it out this week (more CAT6 ):'(.

The camera and SS are in sync with GPS at home on my desktop. All will be on one screen. for review. COOL !

Next: MFG of a SLIP RING REEL!!!! >:D
Title: Re: TOW FISH
Post by: sonar2000 on March 21, 2011, 07:34:36 PM
Roddy, if HB wont build a towfish maybe you can start a business.   ;D... ::)... :P... :D

chuck
Title: Re: TOW FISH
Post by: Roddy on March 21, 2011, 11:26:48 PM
Chuck; Yep, 250' cable, SI xducer as A ACC. To EZ.

How about "THE RODDY FISH KIT" You supply the xducer, We build and test within senen working (7) day's. Shiped with MMC of TEST RUN. To EZ.  Roddy ::)
Title: Re: TOW FISH
Post by: sonar2000 on March 22, 2011, 10:18:28 AM
Now you are on to something.
Ship us your Transduce and we will build you a towfish.
I like the idea of a mmc recording of the test run.
Customize the cable length 30 meters to 100 meters...
Something to consider, the impedence of the cable length. May have to stay a bit shorter for the first year.
You might end up the next millionaire.  ::)

Chuck
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