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Hey Guys, new Mobius owner here. Just got a 2014 Mobius LSV. Haven't had it on the water yet. Quick question. What are you guys setting your depth finders to?
Basically, I'm trying to determine how shallow you can take the boat without worrying about the prop hitting anything. Simple math would tell me based on out of water measurements but not sure how much of the hull is submerged when just cruising at low speeds. Any input would be awesome!
At an idle, when we know what the surface of the bottom is, we'll putt putt along in waste deep to get to a beach or island. If you can see you're churning up a big cloud behind you then you're pushing your luck. Around here it's all sandy bottoms though so if anything you may just polish up the tips of your prop.
At any speed over idle I wouldn't run in anything less than 5ft. And even then I'd want to know exactly what the channel looks like under me - no logs, rocks, depth changes, etc. Serious pucker factor either even if you do know what's there.
My depth alarm used to be set at 5 so I could have a little time to react if at speed. Got kind of annoying so I don't use it anymore but watch the gauge religiously in unfamiliar water. Bottom strikes are something I always worry about - especially after your first one.
Is this your first inboard boat?
Yea, first inboard...
Thanks for the tips though. There's some good lakes around here and the ones I've been too so far, before I bought my Moomba, seem to have a bunch of weeds underwater closer to shore in most areas. There's a few good spots that are soft. My last ride was a Sea Doo Jet Ski...lol. I have a good bit of experience driving boats though. A few friends of mine have boats and I always tow them. I was on a boat with a buddy of mine when he hit something and we were just cruising in open water. It got shallow out of nowhere. Ever since then, I realized that would be worrisome for a boat owner. Now I'm one!
I'm going to go with 5 feet as a general rule. Thanks man!
If you ever find yourself in a jam, one trick we've used is to load the front ballast and as many people as we can into the bow. Have raised the rear a good 4-6 inches and kept the prop off the bottom while we pilot our way in somewhere.
I'll keep that in mind!
Check the manual, I thought it said something about having to reset the alarm everytime the engine was turned off, but I am not sure. There is also an offset adjustment. The depth it measures is from the bottom of the boat unless you change the offset. Check to see if that also resets when the engine is turned off.
Will do. thanks!
Because the transducer is in the back of the boat, at speed by the time it shows to shallow its to late. The transducer is about where the prop is so even at slow speeds by the time you see its to shallow, chances are the prop knows too!! Its good to know the lakes. Get the maps and figure out where the shallow stuff it. You can run under 5, but be careful and make sure that 5 doesn't quickly turn into 2.
Yea that's what I pretty much figured. Thanks.
Just to throw a wrench into all this ..... The transducer is on the bottom of the hull, a 16" prop (which I run) plus 3" hull clearance gives 19" I run ( idle ) in 3 ft water around my dock and never hit anything. I also do full on starts in 5 ft water depth......I have never hit anything in 25 yrs of boating.......never had a prop repaired and never had the slightest nick...... 5 ft --- 60" -20" = 40" of clear water.......that's my transducer reading from the bottom of the hull..... But I am on a muddy sand bottom some old tree branches but that's it. We also do flying boat house starts in 3 ft of water from 10ft up ....yes my ass hits the bottom and the boat is out 60 ft but in no more then 5 ft of water and we make it happen.......just saying...
Lets see some pics of that!!Quote:
Originally Posted by DOCDRS
Noted. Guess I shouldn't worry too much about then. Basically...don't be stupid. got it.
there are some horror stories on here about running a ground. if your in unknown waters to yourself, like stated before watch your depth gauge. i have lakes, so if im near shore i keep the speeds low unless i know the area. unlike I/O's if you hit something hard enough, that prop will jump up and eat at your fiberglass. i hit a submerged tree once, luckily i was able to see an arm sticking out and hit the side of it. the only damage i had was a bent strut and prop.