Surface Sonar

Nikezz
If your mysteriously unstated objective is to avoid striking floating logs or debris, a good set of eyes on the bridge and a prudent throttle hand will not be replaced by technology.
If you are looking for something that you put in the water, ie drug smugglers or longliners, their preferred method is a transponder operating on a private frequency.
Commercial tuna harvesters have all but replaced their helicopters with aimable transducer fishfinders, some of which are worth much more than my entire boat!
The transducer is similar to an upside down periscope, gyrostabilized, rotating, and can be withdrawn into the hull for protection/cleaning when not in use.
Keep your eye on Simrad for more affordable versions rumored to be in the works.

 

Any will do the trick just turn the transducer facing the direction you wan't (forward I quess) Needs a bit of imagination how that can be intrepreted on the screen but anyways..
There are of course also forward looking sonars like Interphase and Echopilot thou I don't have any experience of them..

 

this one www.farsounder.com could do the job, but it's big $$$.
I once had an Interphase installed - not very happy with performance, but was an early model.

 

I would think that the big challenge for surface sonar would be interpreting the echo. To much back scatter and to many " hear then gone " targets. Would require some sophisticated software..perhaps multiple echo frequencies and a very powerful output

 

No different from clutter suppression on a radar. A radar is looking at the surface of the water and gets a lot of echo from transient wave faces. What the OP is talking about is exactly the same thing, just from the underside. Would work well for detecting saturated logs or containers or such.

 

Perhaps...I have an aft facing sonar . The vessel has a 3 meter deep rudder and backing into stuff in ports is a concern. The signal from this sonar gets wiped clean with propwash and takes up to 30 seconds to recover. I would think the same wash phenomenon happens on the surface layer of the sea as waves roll and break and the water mixes. Perhaps they have strategies to overcome this ..

 

Or maybe the OP is not making way when using the device. We don't know because his/her intensions are a secret...

-Tom

 

LOL...........

So you professional yacht "Captain" have a device installed which becomes worthless when required. Clever, no doubt.

BTW. sonar it is most likely not. A sounder maybe, but I doubt you have a boat, let alone the equipment.

To the Op´s question:

a radar is what provides your requirement, not a sounder. (a sonar you will most likely not afford)
Both have a very nice restriction, they do not like to operate in the wrong environment. A radar will not let you look into the water, and a sounder not into the air.

Unfortunately, the boundary layer is not as stable as one would like. So, sometimes your "target" is not as detectable as you would like it.
If I were in your shoes, I would not think about drug traffic with our assistance. There is no nautical demand to know targets invisible on surface, but A FEW CENTIMETER BELOW! A hard driven foiler may have a somewhat similar requirement, but you have never heard about a foil.
Go, and find another source of info, Arschloch.

Peers,

I like your professional attempt to assist, but have you thought about the requirement of this "member" ? go figure..

Regards
Richard

 

We are making way, except we might be moving a bit slowly, like less than 5 knots.

 

Hey, if you don't wish to help, there is no need to. If you just want to troll and be a steamer, please find some other thread.
Do you have too much free time and angst in you?

All others, thank you for your helpful and please ignore the rude and non-helpful posts by apex1.

 

Oh boy, here we go again, so much for this thread.

Bye-Bye

-Tom

 

Yeah, pretty much. Should be entertaining though

 

So what did you require?

A non sensible and non available sort of equipment, to fit a non sensible and not required sort of SOR in general yachting, shipping, and naval industry.

If you would have been a bit less "virgin" with your SOR, you might have got more than some broad hints, like CDK´s. But you have choosen to hide your requirement. That makes a sensible contribution impossible. Troll? you are the troll, you have not got my last post!

My rant about the "professional Yacht Captain" is another pot of fish isn´t it?

KMA
Richard

 

End of thread.

 

Ahh,

you mean you did not receive the applause expected, and now you spread a bit hatred and leave the place?

thanks for your comment per feedback:

You should have thought about the sense of such a "gimmick", before you asked here!