Thanks for the reply's. I think the transducer extension would be cheaper of the two, I really don't have an issue with my hole shot, so it would be easier and probably fix my issue.

Does transducer shield sell the extension, or do you supply them at your place ?

I do carry the extension but I need to make a correction...it lowers the transducer 2 inches not 4 inches as I stated earlier. Give me a call if you would like to order.

Brian

I'm just another sonar user, but am a licensed radar engineer which seems to help interpret my graphs. ....The nagging sonar echos you have do not have a signature indicative of a problem caused by a Skeeter boat hull or "sponsons".... They clearly show reflections though of a hard sided box such as a jackplate. You can actually measure the size of the jackplate by examining the space between the echo lines as sonar repeatedly gets reflected between the hard sides of the jackplate.

Lowering the transducer 2 inches should help a little, but I suspect the jackplate echos will still be prominant. The company's Skeeter excuse to lower and change the mount does not support the data within your graph. A plate, even an inexpensive homemade piece of plywood Or wife's cookie sheet temporarily bungicorded strapped across the bottom of the jackplate should confirm to you if the open jackplate is source of your echos.

The dark images on the left side of the screen are indicative of the beam being partially blocked. On transom mounts where no jackplate is used, you will see this happen when the motor is trimmed too far down.

I'm sure Scap/Transducershield came to the same conclusion when Skeeter customers were complaining of dark images on their Jackplate mounts. That's why they came up with the extender plate which helped resolve the problem.

The hole-shot plate does resolve the echo effect within the jackplate but the dark images aren't necessarily related.

Brian

From all that Ive read, your Xducer is probably not level with the bottom. Is this happening while you are idling along or sitting still? Recheck the level of the Xducer.
Oh, and YES, the 4.0 update is supposed to clean up the sonar in 2d as well.
Sonar Improvements
� Multiple improvements in sonar processing resulting in
better overall sonar performance including:
� Less interference from trolling motors
� Improved noise rejection overall
� Faster high speed run recovery
� Improved depth auto ranging in shallow water
� Improvements are embedded
� No adjustments required by user to gain benefits"

Well, found out it cleaned it up too much.

I did soft reset on my HDS 7 and it took me back to set up wizard. When everything came up the 2D was much closer to what it was before the 4.0 instal. Changed the contrast settings on my downscan and it is much better now as well.

Transducer was level. No need to recheck. While moving at both 3mph and 6mph I made a small mark with a permanent marker at the waterline on the front and back of boat. I made a midpoint between two marks up front (1.5" apart) and a midpoint between back 2 marks (1/4" apart). I popped a chalk line and made it level by adjusting the jack on trailer. Then I installed the StructureScan transducer level with bottom of boat and perfectly level.

I figure that is probably as close as I can get, right?

Ok, Lowered the LSS1 transducer about 2". Went out on local lake and did some testing.
The vertical lines are diffently worse at slower speeds. They will go away at around 4-5 SOG. Still have some prop wash. Now I guess I will have to get a hole shot plate to see if i can record at slower normal speeds without this problem.

Transducer Normal


Transducer with Extension



Transition from 4-5 SOG to 1-2 SOG


Moving at 4-5 SOG



Transition from 1-2 SOG to 4-5 SOG



I think I agree with Lou r Pitcher, that its a jack plate issue.

I've got the same set up as you do, only I'm sticking with the 3.0 "upgrade." I leveled both transducers by eyeballing them, and I've never seen a "baitball" on downscan that I didn't see on 2d, and I'm seeing about 10 times more bait on Canyon than I could see on my old Eagle 480. But that 2d tries to show too much. I have to tone it down by adjusting the sensitivity. You have a range of "minus" and "plus" settings available while keeping it on "auto." Only thing, seems like when you get it right for one depth or speed, it won't seem right for others. I guess you've played around with ping speed and whatnot.

I don't know Cajun, I am using the cheap factory bracket on my jackplate (which is much higher than yours). Heres my pics at ldle speed (3-4)with a Skeeter 12" jackplate.


And a pic at trolling motor speed (2-3)


I'm wondering if maybe you are getting interference?

I had my 2D set perfect before the upgrade. It tries to "filter" your 2D down so much that you have a hard time telling difference between surface clutter and scattered bait. Now it is almost back to the way it was before (both shallow water mode.)
I have sens. at 78, CL at 76, Surface clar LOW, and Noise Reject OFF. Before all was same except sens. was 70 and surface clar was MED

Just updated my hds 10 to 4.0......did I mess up? Should I have left it alone?

It is a good update. PM or call me if you have any problems with your 2D. I was on phone with Lowrance when I fixed mine.

I was trying to fix one problem before attempting to go back to 4.0. When I upgraded to 4.0 I had way too much screen clutter. I went back to 3.5 and that helped 100% with the clutter. Now working on the vertical lines. I hope to go back to the 4.0 once Lowrance works out all the issues. I worked with my surface clarity yesterday and noise reduction. I had to leave my surface clarity off, if i used any other setting my left side of the screen would turn darker with each setting until it went completly dark with high. I could not see any bottom features. Hopefully enough off us will keep testing and figure this out and can share the answers.

Grout Scout - it appears you have some of the same vertical lines on your first picture, it actually looks like you did change speeds because the very beginnig of the first picture there or no lines, then the lines appear as you slow down. Not at noticable as mine. But it looks like your set to scan out 60+ and I was scanning for the part at around 20-25, the lake was only 15', anything over 40' scan and the screen would go dark halfway out. Did i interpert your picture correctly or not!!

4.0 software did not effect the lss-1 sonar. try taking out of auto range on left and right scan and keep down scan in auto..

I like run my left and right scan around 80-100ft and i used 800khz