Side Scan Sonar

[lamont]

anyone know anything about side-scan?

i keep wondering if buying one of these would be worth it:

http://www.questelectronics.com/products.htm

are there any requirements for the boat in order to tow a sonar fish?

 

[Don Burke]

anyone know anything about side-scan?

i keep wondering if buying one of these would be worth it:

http://www.questelectronics.com/products.htm

are there any requirements for the boat in order to tow a sonar fish?

The boat needs to be able to hold everything you need and keep the towfish stable.

One of the killers is the coupling of wave action to the towfish.

When I was in the Navy, the answer was bigger boats.

When I was using the Marinesonic unit, I was fiddling with bungie cord to allow the tow cable to pay out as the boat pitched. It worked pretty well if the bungie cord was long enough to let the tow cable stay fairly independent of the boat.

I actually built a boom to move the pivot point as close to the boat's metacenter as possible, but never got a chance to actually use it.

Many of these units are pretty picky about power. You may go through some grief over that.

 

[Diesel298]

and how much does that cost?

 

[Don Burke]

and how much does that cost?

From the FAQ page:

Q: How much does the system cost?

A: 2003 closeout pricing is $8,200 for remaining NTSC systems. Normal list price is $9,995.

 

[Diesel298]

o wow. ill take two.....

 

[Don Burke]

o wow. ill take two.....

To put it in perspective, the MarineSonic unit goes for over thirty thousand and the Klein unit is seventy something thousand.

Just a MarineSonic towfish is over five grand.

 

[lamont]

The boat needs to be able to hold everything you need and keep the towfish stable.

One of the killers is the coupling of wave action to the towfish.

When I was in the Navy, the answer was bigger boats.

i was a little afraid there would be some requirement for a big boat...

although, on the other hand, mostly i want to use this in lake washington and puget sound -- there might be enough days when we have relatively calm water (particularly in the lake).

maybe you could splice an automotive shock absorber in the middle of the tow cable...

 

[Don Burke]

i was a little afraid there would be some requirement for a big boat...

although, on the other hand, mostly i want to use this in lake washington and puget sound -- there might be enough days when we have relatively calm water (particularly in the lake).

maybe you could splice an automotive shock absorber in the middle of the tow cable...

Bungie cord on the boat works very well. I would be happy to share my scar tissue with you.

Many use very small boats for sidescan work. Picking your day is pretty important.

 

[Bill51]

I saw someone use a long mooring whip stuck in a rod holder as a shock absorber for towing a magnetometer and it might work well for a sidescan as well.