Can fishfinder operation be tested when the boat is out of the water?

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Can fishfinder operation be tested when the boat is out of the water?

It is indeed possible to perform a basic operational test of Raymarine fishfinder while the vessel is out of the water. The transducer may be faced toward the ground or other hard surface located 3' to 6' from the transducer. The fishfinder equipment may be operated for brief periods of time while the vessel is out of the water and would normally expect that conical sonar will plot sonar imagery lines ... however, don't expect any detailed imagery. One should not normally expect a bottom to be plotted and should also not expect depth readings to be reported by the system. If a depth value is reported by the system, one should not expect this value to be equal to the height of the transducer above the ground (i.e. sound propagates differently through air than water). One may however test the that the transducer is pinging by listening for audible ticks or sensing the transducer pings with one's fingertips placed on the bottom of the transducer when the fishfinder is on.

After verifying that MFD's internal fishfinder sounder circuitry or sounder module, and transducer are operational, then the transducer may either be disconnected from the MFD's transducer socket or fishfinder sounder module to permit testing of the rest of the system and/or familiarize yourself with the equipment.

RAYFAQ#