Raymarine E80-GPS

[one4water]

Hi Guys,

I have a Ray E80 that came with the boat when I got it. I assume it was installed when new in 2006. First off, I am not even close to proficiant with this type of thing so post your answers based on someone who knows very little about it. After going through the instructions, I am more confused than ever.

I use it mainly for fish finding and loaded in my home inlet just in case i get caught in low visibility and need to find my way home. That was done by being at the inlet and punching in the coordinates that showed up on the VHF. Same goes with a couple of places I have found fish. Now that I am wanting to venture further out and try new places, I have been using charts and books to find different spots. I have been entering them in the waypoint lists. That, so far seems easy enough. They look correct and come up when I call them up. No problem there.

When I call them up and start the "go to waypoint" feature the little dotted line shows up and everything seems good to go. That is where the problem begins. I get to said coordinates and nothing is there. I have tried 3 or 4 wrecks so far and the bottom is flat. No signs of anything at all, not even a bump. I know I should be able to see something there. I run over the Sea Isle Lump and can see the bottom contours and rise of the lump fine so I know(think) the sounder is reading the bottom properly.

I have yet to be able to see anything on the bottom that looks like any kind of structure no matter where I have been. Bottom contour seems OK but nothing else.

Does anyone in the Avalon, Sea Isle, Ocean city NJ area know of a confirmed location of an actual wreck that I can run to so I can see the thing on my screen?

Example: I ran out yesterday to fish the EB Cole. I used longs and lats from the charts I have which is supposedly only a year or so old. I made a beeline for it once I cleared the inlet. About a mile short of it I came across 7 or 8 boats fishing in one concentrated area. Was that it and my GPS is wrong? I saw nothing on the bottom at all and we made the same drift as everyone else did a few times in that spot. I then proceeded to the indicated spot and still saw ntohing. I ran around the area a bit to see if it had moved over time but nuthin.

So, am I doing it wrong or what? Is there a way to recalibrate the system easily? How bout new up to date software? It was new in 06 but not since.

any help would be great. I hate running ten miles out to find flat bottom and no fish.

Thanks in advance.

[hugo]

It may not be your plotter it may be your fishfinder. Do you know how to use A scope? The fishfinder when it is in regular mode gives you only historical data, A scope give you real time.

There is a therory about fisherman too. Head out and you see a guy fishing. So you figure he must be there for a reason and run over to his location. Then the next guy comes out and thinks WOW must be something because two boats are fishing there.And on and on.

I fish in the GOM and alot of are spots are very small. People are always coming close to us to "steal"our cordinates by using the MOB when they get close. If I see this in time, I will leave the spot and fake drift someways away.

Good luck, once you get dialed in you will feel it was worth the effort.

[Max]

I have a c 120. Been extremely happy with the performnce. Are you entering the coordinates correctly?? Try this if you have not. Mark a location from your MOB button making sure you are on top of some structure, reef, wreck etc.... and push the at vessel position button, then travel away at least a mile and then return to that location via the go to waypoint. It should put you back on the spot within 10 feet or so. If not you may have to contact Raymarine.

[pmagrady]

It's not your machine, it's the conversion from Loran to GPS coordinates. Many of the wrecks were logged in using Loran coordinates. When GPS became the standard they converted those Loran numbers to Lat Lon for use on GPS machines. You could be a 1/4 mile off using the chart numbers. We have to either find a buddy with the actual Lat and Lon numbers, or go and search. Do some research about the wrecks n you area and pick the biggest, newest one in your area. Older wrecks can have nothing but the boiler left standing, so they can be difficult to find. Smaller wrecks in shallow water can get covered by sand due to storms. So find a big newer wreck to hunt. Go to the chart numbers and then do a search using a grid approach. Have your track on so you can see where you have looked.