The depth sounder on my 470e started showing inaccurate depts, and would sometimes not show the depth at all - now it is not showing anything at all - has any one come across a similar problem or has any idea / hints on how to fix this?

Thank you

We had a similar problem after the boat was about 5 years old. The fix was to replace the transducer which had failed. You could check that there is not a lot of growth that is covering the external face of the transducer which can affect performance. You could also check the connection of the transducer cable to the net work. But if you are getting no depth reading I would suspect the transducer has failed.  

I find sometimes the issue is with the earth, if you remove the log every time you come back, to prevent squatters moving in and stopping it from rotating the next time you board, then there's always water present whilst switching over.  This eventually corrodes the wiring and the earth is are bare wires not protected by a plastic sleeve like the others.

Thanks

Jorgen

I suppose it depends on what layout you have with the front cabin, ours has the double against the forward bulk head with the on-suit heads to port. The transducers both depth and speed are located just in front of the bed, so approximately 600mm forward of the mast about 0.7m below the water line.

To get to ours you need to lift a floor board.

depth sounder now fixed, got a new smart sensor in there, works great.

Now I have lifted my Hanse and there is pitting corrosion in the rudder stock. Its the original, so 13 years old, the pitting is prob less than 5mm in depth at the most. Any experience with this? Also, ever heard of leak from the water tanks? I have water in the bilge, it's not salty, and not coming in from outside. I thought of dumping food colouring into the tank and see if it comes into the bilge to confirm. What do you think?

Jorgen

My original Flexofold prop pitted, bearing in mind that the standard one is undersized as Yanmar/Hanse had a deal to ease stress on the Sail Drive.  This was due to galvanic corrosion from the housing development the other side of the river, being earthed to the metal piles of the marina.  The SD only has two anodes so I ran an earth lead from the block of the engine to the stern and connected another anode that I manually lower over the back when NK is on his home berth, I wonder if it is similar with yours?

No, tanks (fingers crossed) have been fine, what I do have is occasionally rain water seeping down the mast, I leave a cloth round the bottom of the mast in the master cabin and so I can feel if it has leaked.  I also cut a hole in the floor just in front of the mast so I can get my arm in and mop out any water that can collect at the mast base, otherwise it runs back to the battery/pumps/tank area.

I replaced the rubber gaiter when I had the mast out (10yrs ago), there was a split in that and make sure that the two bottle screw type fittings either side of the mast are tight.  The last thing to check is your rigging has it loosened allowing the mast to move slightly, although this would likely allow sea water in when sailing, if water coming over.

I have just one thru-hull fitting for a transducer with 3 features: depth/speed/temperature.

It was replaced once as the depth failed and currently the speed doesn't work but I guess is a growth issue. I'll wait until the next haul out as I don't want salty water coming in.

 Gerard

I've carefully filled down (rather than replace) the top of the housing until the base of the impeller unit sits flush.  Its as if to save money the new units are slightly smaller than the old ones and so if you fit a new speed log into an old housing it's too short!

I have the dummy on the side but never tried to switch them on this boat (still new to me). Read somewhere these thru-hulls fittings has something like a valve which close once we remove the transducer, but not sure if it's my boat case. On my previous boat I clean it regularly and, no matter what, there was always salty water coming in. With a galvanised steel grid I don't want one drip inside :P

There is some kind af a valve inside the Truhull fitting.

Even If you put in the stop fitting very fast there will always a small amount of (salt) water coming in.(1/10 liter or more)

Sorry!!

When removing the log impeller I try to avoid water getting into the bilges by using disposable nappies.

I do not put them on. Instead I cut the wings & elastic off & the absorbent bit can then be laid out flat. By wrapping this around the outlet it does quickly soak up any water. I use them for soaking up fuel, water  etc when changing filters etc as well

The DST device shipped with my boat had a firmware bug where it was getting confused by the torpedo keel.  It would show 120' depths and then 8' depths with an occasional zero in between.    I spoke with AIRMAR and they not only acknowledged the problem but shipped me a new DST800 device which I installed while the boat was in the water.   Not sure if this matches your problem, but FWIW

When on reverse, to dock, I frequently get a 0m depth.