Hobie Lowrance Cover - Sand

[jkim0130]

Discovered sand in the Lowrance cover when I was installing my fish finder today. Does this happen at launch or landing? I'm thinking it's when I land. I've seen photos of people taping mesh around the opening. Any tips on avoiding sand?

[socal.beach.bum]

Probably from beach landing. A little sand won’t hurt things. You’ll be fine

[jkim0130]

Originally Posted by socal.beach.bum

Probably from beach landing. A little sand won’t hurt things. You’ll be fine

No depth reading from the fish finder today. I'm guessing sand from the beach launch was blocking the signal.

[TJones]

[QUOTE=jkim0130;309844]No depth reading from the fish finder today. I'm guessing sand from the beach launch was blocking the signal.[/QUOTE

The sand is probably not the issue. What kinda of unit are you running? If it is a Lowrance, check your source for depth. Was the picture Ok?

[jkim0130]

Photos attached. The display will show depth once in awhile. Thanks for any help.

[TJones]

but have used a gen 1, elite, gen 2, carbon, and live. I am not sure if you can manually set your depth, but double check that you are set in auto depth. If it is set at a manual depth and you go beyond the set parameter, you will experience a similar symptom. Hope this helps. If you are uncertain about your settings, than resetting them will bring you back to factory. Hope this helps. By the way, the sand probably comes down the from the top of the kayak through the scupper drain. Rolling in the surf is a sure way of achieving this and also taking heavy waves over the bow during launching. Sticking a garden hose in the scupper hole drain could help flushing the sand out. But usually the sand has hardened or cured to the back of the plate an will not be easily removed without some applied pressure from something like a brush.

[Newguyhere]

Originally Posted by jkim0130

Photos attached. The display will show depth once in awhile. Thanks for any help.

Hook2 series sucks. The transducers aren't powerful enough to reach that deep.

[bolocop]

I feared the same issue so I used a dremel to cut a hole the pattern of the transducer out of the plastic plate. Then you just mount the transducer a little higher so it won’t be damaged during landings.

Originally Posted by jkim0130

Discovered sand in the Lowrance cover when I was installing my fish finder today. Does this happen at launch or landing? I'm thinking it's when I land. I've seen photos of people taping mesh around the opening. Any tips on avoiding sand?

[TJones]

Originally Posted by bolocop

I feared the same issue so I used a dremel to cut a hole the pattern of the transducer out of the plastic plate. Then you just mount the transducer a little higher so it won’t be damaged during landings.

be careful with this approach. I would not recommend it. The plate will loose rigidity if too much material is removed. Also, it could add more turbulence which will add surface noise. Thanks for sharing the post and your experience. I would definitely return it if possible and think about upgrading to next model. That transducer looks weak, which would explain why it was having issues. The head unit is not putting out a lot of power. Looks more oriented for fresh water.

[JohnMckroidJr]

I had the same problem with sand and seashells getting jammed between the cover and the transducer. I cut out the cover and have been fine now for 4 years.

[rockoflajolla]

I noticed, early on, that sand was affecting my fish finder readings. It was from landing the previous outing. So, when I wash down my kayak after every outing, I always spray the sand out from the backside of the transducer cover and have never had a problem for years.

[monstahfish]

The original plate worked pretty well if you left a 3/8 gap per the instructions between the bottom of the ducer and the plate. Hobie later added vents in the face of the plate to increase flushing. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAAdAAAAABAD