Sailboat depth transducer - useful?

[Wckoek]

Most of the boats I been to and sail didn't have underwater transducer, I think it might not be a necessity.
How many of you have transducer installed in your boat?
Would you find it useful or even necessary?

[Dogscout]

Of course I have a depth transducer. I want to know the depth beneath my keel. To me it is very important and charts are not as reliable.

[StuM]

First question:
I have a transducer, a few smaller boats that I sail on at times don't.

Second question:
It depends entirely on where and how you use your boat:
For how and where I cruise, it's almost essential.
For the boats we race around the harbour, not really necessary at all.

[requiem]

Most, if not all the boats I've sailed on have one.

There are various places where knowing the water depth means being able to get through without going aground. Sure, I'll use charts and tide tables for planning, but I'm not going to blindly trust them. Similarly when picking a spot to drop anchor I'm also watching the depth sounder to build a mental picture of the bathymetry.

[cal40john]

Not an absolute necessity. In the 70's the club boats I had access to only had leadlines. I sailed Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands that way. But why wouldn't you have one today? It is much easier to navigate and less dangerous. There are $50 fishfinders that would work fine if you don't have a lot to budget, and if you don't have a cored hull you don't even drill a hole, just glue the transponder to the inside of the hull.

My Hobie 20 doesn't have one, and I don't see the need for around the buoy day racers like J24s to have one either.

[csonquist]

Where I cruise in the morth end of Lake Huron the claciers scrubbed all the dirt south and left very hard rocks, the size of a city block. Hitting that with your keel is not my reference. Mud or sand bottom, not so much. Good luck.

[realem]

There are plenty of thru/inside transducers on the market. Every sailor has either run aground or will at some time

[Wckoek]

Thanks for all the opinions, I originally think it wasn't so much a necessity for a boat with 1.5m of draft, I will think about it again in the refitting process.

[sailing_gal]

If the boat only has a centerboard, not necessary. A keel? Absolutely.

[ronbrett]

Sailing as I do mostly in Thai and Malaysian waters having a depth transducer is essential and all the boats I have owned over the past 35 years have had this facility.
You can probably get by without if you are well out to sea but it will be touch if you want to anchor somewhere or enter a marina.

[Stress Recess]

Since I’m not interested in the depth of where I’ve been, I like the forward looking sonar, that allows you to see the contour of the bottom in real time coming up ahead of you. Great for the islands and ICW.
John

[singlespeed]

A necessity for anything larger than a dinghy in most waters. My catamaran came with a depth sounded in the port hull, mostly useless in the ICW as we frequently found our starboard hull aground while the depth sounder displayed six to eight feet of water. I installed a cheap fish finder in the starboard bilge (the wiring extension to carry the sounder data from the transducer to the cockpit almost cost as much as the fish finder). While the maximum depth readings were severely degraded by having to "see" through almost an inch of fiberglass, it worked very well to depths of 40'. For the ICW, small narrow channels (like the entry channel into the Mona Island anchorage) and gas docks with minimal dredging, it provides an inexpensive solution for wider vessels.

[nepal]

As every instrument and tool on board you can do without, but you must know how to handl without and stop the moment the safety margins become too small.

[Mike OReilly]

Maybe you should tell us what boats you sail. All cruising-level boats I've ever seen have some sort of depth sounder, and most are electronic.

Personally, I rank my depth sounder as the third most important navigation tool, just slightly behind my compass and charts. I would much sooner give up my chartplotter than surrender a good depth sounder. It is an invaluable tool for gunkholing and exploring the surrounds. It's also a great for cross-referencing a location on the charts.

[Scorpius]

Absolutely essential! I have two on at all times in case one fails at a bad time. Of course I am gunkholing and love poking into the smallest possible coves and inlets. This is a rocky part of the world and I try to avoid as many of them as I can. (For protection the transducers are mounted inside housings carved from 2" steel plate and welded into the hull).