Anyone have advice on search and recovery in dams / lakes using side scan sonar?

[Miksta]

Im diving in South Africa and have requests to recover lost items in local dams. what is the best equipment (economical please!) i should use. I am a DM with search & recovery, but know little about use of electronic equipment (side scan sonar) and whether it is effective. Please help!

 

[snepdiver]

Welcome to Scubaboard. Good to have you with us. Cant help you with your questions. Try the diving epuipment sub-forum.

 

[Miksta]

Thanks Clay, im slowly getting around scubaboard and finding my way... have checked out diving equipment sub forum and getting a better idea.

 

[snepdiver]

Good to hear.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

I recently got a good look at a Hummingbird 997 SI side scan sonar: very impressive and compact unit that has just come out and costs only 2300$ or so. Mount the tranmitter/reciever under your boat and off you go.

We were using it for a week or two to locate car and boat wreaks in a large lake. Works well down to 20 metres depth or so depending on settings (deeper if use a narrower beam). Works well for objects down to half-metre sized and less (depends on depth, settings and the bottom).

Just allow a lot of time and be systematic with your search lines. This unit had a built in gps and chart plotter which made keeping the search on track easier.

How big are the objects and what sort of bottom are the sitting on (quiet: flat sand and mud) or noisy (lots of rocks, topography and such). Are they metal or non-magnetic? There are other methods and tricks depending on what you are after.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

By the way - if this is moved into the equipment or underwater treasures forum you may get more answers...

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I have a lot of experience searching with side scan sonar. There's a lot of variables, including the depth of the water and the size and composition of the object. As far as help with finding a cheap unit, I can't help much with that. I was using a commercial unit. But, how about some more details?

 

[DandyDon]

Wrong forum, but oh well...

If you haven't yet, click Forums above and start going thru the list - looking for those of interest to you, especially your local dive club. Always good to try a Search before starting a new thread, tho - click here for Search help, and be careful about posting Threads & Replies before reading the Sticky threads at the tops of most forums. PM me if I can help you around here..

don

 

[Miksta]

Tks Don,
how do i move this thread to a different forum?

 

[Miksta]

DSE!
working dams / lakes, looking for stuff like outboard motors. bottom topography most likely mud with small amount on rock, max deph estimated at 40m.
Going to move across to the equipment forum now...