Hi all,
Backstory: My girlfriends father is nervous to drive his pontoon boat because he's not familiar with the depth around the lake and he's already went through one propeller. The pontoon boat does not have a depth finder; I was thinking of just installing a depth finder for him but I'd prefer he keeps his attention to what's around him rather then a gauge.
I'd like to put something together that would automatically trim an outboard motor Up/Down based on depth and speed while also keeping the manual control of the outboard available.
The current trim on the boat is just a basic analog up/down switch so tapping into that wouldn't be difficult.
The reason I bring up speed is because the stern (back end of boat) drops down with speed and the bow goes up and its efficient to trim up the faster you go. This is not a speed boat, its a simple pontoon boat with a 90HP outboard.
I was thinking of using depth for speeds under 5 MPH and using speed of vessel for the rest.
Idea is; trim up/down based on depth then trim up/down based on speed.
Ideas/advice/direction on how to approach this would be great and appreciated.
Not being a sailor, I guess.... Is there no danger for the pontoons to hit underwater obstacles? Is it "only" the propeller?
Learning the waters ought to be number one. Any chart showing the low depth places?
Taking care of the issues like You intend to looks rather difficult, unreliable to me.
Unless you are referring to the Great Lakes in the USA, there are no charts nor depth, no any agency doing such mapping. Most lakes here are reservoirs behind dams and the water can vary from week to week. Many here are getting close to zero depth!
Same for rivers, unless they are "navigable" and then they are only channel markers.
But I suspect the problem will not be depth, which is a quite narrow beam, but obstructions not registering on any depth device.
Paul
It's an inland lake, roughly 650 acres. The obstacles underwater is closer to shore and some known danger areas by everyone on the lake. The problem with that lake is that you can walk 20-30 yards out in some places and the water is only about 3 feet deep, while other places its 10+ feet, also the water level varies throughout the day so it's a bit difficult to know where the ground is and how low the outboard should be at that point. It's more likely to hit the ground with your prop rather then a rock or log.
Interesting, I didn't think of sonar. Is there something available that would show an obstacle 20ft-50ft ahead? The sonar would be a great 2nd set of eyes for the unseen ahead
This is a 650 acre inland lake. It was mapped a few times but that was long ago and it seems like you already know what happens with time. Depth finder would be just the simple digital gauge showing depth. It's really just 3 inputs and 2 out. 3 being, Depth, Speed, Trim position, 2 out being up and down... Idea is, more tilt UP to 70% if depth under 3ft, Tilt to 60% at 4ft, tilt 50% at 5ft.. Speed comes into play, if speed 8MPH and depth 3ft, tilt 80%... These figures are just an idea, this would have to be calibrated aboard the vessel to verify correct level.
The depth gauge with alarm was my initial plan. I just kind of wanted a winter project, even if it doesn't get used. I also don't want to be his captain every weekend
For You to feel safe I suggest a commercial product. There's surely some "entertaining type" device You can add to the boat.
I've got a 95 year old mother and I know here limits regarding "high tech" more then well.....