A Winch is a Big Deal

We spent some time the past couple of weeks installing and testing a winch system for our side scan sonar unit. It’s a big deal. A real game changer, in some ways.

What’s the big deal about a winch? Well, our sonar unit consists of three big elements: 1) a sonar towfish, which glides a few feet above the bottom of a lake or bay, sending sound signals to the left and right, 2) a computer/controller, which translates the sonar data into visual information for analysis, and 3) a cable to connect the boat electronics to the underwater electronics. Since we’ve been self funded for years, and cable management equipment is very expensive, we’ve used a variety of “hacks” to manage the cable and towfish, ranging from manually hauling the cable in and out to using a separate line with an anchor winch. These all involve a lot of manual labor and tedious cable management. 300+ feet of cable, with a 50+ pound sonar towfish, pulled by a boat through the water is a lot of force, and hard to handle from a small boat.

Some generous donations this year enabled us to purchase an actual winch, and it’s amazing! Sure, it’s a used unit from a fire department somewhere, but it will make our searches dramatically more efficient. We won’t spend hours of down time with burned up anchor winches, tangled lines, and sore backs. I’m very grateful for our donors’ help, and for our relentless equipment guy, Scott Harrison for putting this all together. It’s a big step forward, and a really big deal.