Need to find Raymarine tech in PNW

This is silly on many levels but I need to find someone to pay to troubleshoot and fix my depth sounder.


I have a RM electronics package that came with the boat when it was built in 2012. The Depth Sounder has been intermittent for a while and now is mostly non-functional. Usually it isn't a bit deal but it was a bit of a pucker a couple weeks ago with minus tides. Very tight water getting in to Oro Bay on Anderson Island, anchoring at McMicken Island, and just getting back into Gig Harbor over the 4th. One sailboat ran aground in the middle of the harbor entrance as we were coming in....


So a working depth sounder would be nice but I have tried repeatedly and failed to find and fix the problem. I'm ready to spend $$$ and have a professional deal with it.


So the problem is finding someone with the knowledge and expertise to do it rather than some guy at a yard who would start where I started a couple years ago.


Any suggestions?

Coleman Marine Systems
Brian Coleman
206 755-3566
brian@colemanmarinesystems.com

w8n4sun said:

Coleman Marine Systems
Brian Coleman
206 755-3566
brian@colemanmarinesystems.com

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Thanks!

Dave. Radar Marine in Bell, handle Raymarine, but a little far away for you. I had to replace a transducer, after replacing DSM which did not fix problem. The DSM was free at the time, not so with transducer. I put a second ducer in when I replaced the original so now have two. One craps out at 600 ft the other reads past 1000. Dan

Rebel112r said:

Dave. Radar Marine in Bell, handle Raymarine, but a little far away for you. I had to replace a transducer, after replacing DSM which did not fix problem. The DSM was free at the time, not so with transducer. I put a second ducer in when I replaced the original so now have two. One craps out at 600 ft the other reads past 1000. Dan

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I've considered just replacing the transducer, but rather than throw parts at something that I've decided I don't really understand, I'd rather pay someone who knows what they are doing.

Do you have a DSM 30 or 300 as part of the system?

tiltrider1 said:

Do you have a DSM 30 or 300 as part of the system?

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To be honest, I need to get out to the boat to check again... I don't recall.


Dave

Dave,
Ive had an excellent experience with Sure Marine in Ballard. I kinda recall they may also have a Tacoma location also. You probably wanted to go up to Captain's Book and Fisherman's anyway.

Dont forget lunch at Voula's.��

OOPS: My mistake, Lunde in Ballard and Tacoma. Good guys.

J & G Marine in Tacoma

Lunde Marine Electronics in Tacoma

I've done business with the above two vendors and they are well regarded. They both have been in business for at least 30 years and have actual retail stores. I've seen their work and they are competent.

The two vendors below are in Gig Harbor, probably work from home, no retail store. I've heard of them but can not offer any actual experience.

Flecks Marine in Gig Harbor

Reps Marine Electronics in Gig Harbor

There has been issues with the Raymarine depth sounder module. Raymarine was offering exchanges for a new module when the DS module quits. Maybe warranty? You might research the model number if you have one of those.

I may have a used module in my inventory, will search tomorrow.

Raymarine replaced my DSM300 about 8 years after I bought it. It would lock up at random times. I would power it down and then back up and it would work for a while. First check to see what module you have and then call Raymarine and see if they are still replacing them free. They gave me the new CPxx and a year later I was talking to them and mentioned the replacement. He said send that one back and they gave me a newer model, don’t remember which model now and I have sold that boat. You should start there and see if yours is eligible for replacement. It is easy to do, just unplug and unscrew the old one and UPS it to them. It is easy if you can physically get to it...

Puget Sound Instruments in Fife is another marine electronics dealer. They have been around since 1965. They have a retail store and are very competent.

Puget Sound, Lunde and J & G all work on commercial and pleasure vessels.

A second vote for Brian Coleman, Coleman Marine Systems. Knowledgeable, fair pricing, excellent customer service and a wicked sense of humor.

Raymarine integrated systems

I have a Raymarine system. Its old, E80s with a depthsounder with a DSM 30 and the Radar system. But, I installed it myself so I could fix it my self. It really isn't that difficult. The Raymarine auto pilot I had installed by technician, it had a flux gate compass and a G2 computer. I am glad he installed it because it had some manufacturing defects. His one day install took a week. I felt sorry for him.

The rest of the system I managed to install it my self. The system is old, 2009 circa but I understand it and can fix it myself.

But more importantly is the independendt depthsounder I installed myself. It happens to be a lowrance.

They are cheap. Easily installed and if your whole Raymarine system craps out on you then you can dig out the charts and get yourself home the old fashioned way. Charts, compass and a depthsounder is all you need.

My advice is to use a shoot through the hull transducer to get around mussel problems on a hang on the transom transducer.

I had a couple good experiences with Wave Point Marine in Anacortes

Great suggestions all. I'll dig into the system again this weekend to find out exactly what DSM I have.

dhays said:

Great suggestions all. I'll dig into the system again this weekend to find out exactly what DSM I have.

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Found two Raymarine DSM's but both are shot.

tiltrider1 said:

Do you have a DSM 30 or 300 as part of the system?

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I finally got down to the boat, got through some headliner and was able to check on the DSM. It is a DSM 30.

That make any difference? Is the DSM 300 a replacement for the DMS 30?

dhays said:

I finally got down to the boat, got through some headliner and was able to check on the DSM. It is a DSM 30.

That make any difference? Is the DSM 300 a replacement for the DMS 30?

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Dave, the DSM300 will handle a 1k transducer, while the DSM30 is for a 600w transducer.

Both are legacy products that are available on the used market. Depending on your MFD head unit, you may be able to use a CP-370 as a plug and play replacement. (not compatible with a C-70, C-80, or C-120 head units).

I don’t know if Raymarine was replacing the DSM30s for free of just the DSM300s. But I would give them a call and see. The units in question were assembled in Mexico instead of Hungary. Some soldering issue if I remember correctly. They sent me a CP300 first time. I was talking to them the next year and referred to it and they said send the CP300 back and they sent a CP370 to me for the cost of me shipping it to them. I had E120s though. But Imwould certainly call them and see. The place of assembly was on a sticker on the outside of the unit. I was super happy with their support.

OK, I bought a used DCM30 and installed it. Immediately the DSM error warnings went away. Testing in Gig Harbor showed that it was working. This was on Friday.

Saturday, we took off for the weekend. The depth sounder only worked sporadically and only in shallow water. This made it a pain when we reached our location, the anchorage was a bit crowed, and we were going to have a 14’ tide change. Fortunate smiled on me as “Mahalo” was anchored there. I did a close pass and asked Bob what his depth was. He was very helpful.

About that time the depth sounder started to work again intermittently and we anchored with about 12’ under the keel. At low low tide we had about 8’ under the keel. Good think I’m pretty familiar with this anchorage.

Anyway, no DSM error warnings, so that part is good. However, still no depth reading except sometimes when in shallow water. That isn’t good. So I’m kind of back to square one unless anyone has some ideas.

I’ve already checked the voltage at the DSM a number of times and that seems fine. That is usually Raymarine’s answer for everything “your voltage is likely not steady....”.

Brian Coleman, Coleman Marine Systems Seattle.

I am making a guess that you have a b744 Airmar. Pretty common. Not too expensive, $200-300. Buy one, plug it in to your plotter, dunk the other end out the pilothouse door into water and see if it works. If does the same, maybe try and return, I didn’t say that, did I. If it does work, either haul and install or try to get by till next haul out. It’s made for all manufacturers, so if you order be sure to get cable with proper end. Running cable is pretty easy. Mine was bad, went thru same steps as you have. Good luck Dave. Thinking of putting Rogue on market, tough decision.

The B744 is made for a bunch of manufacturers, but they aren't necessarily the same, even excluding the cable. The Raymarine and Simrad versions, for example, use incompatible encodings for the water speed.

Transducers are manufactured by Airmar. Go to their web site for info.

Gemeco is the distributor for Airmar and they have an extensive online catalog, transducer wiring diagrams etc. They have support staff that will answer consumer questions and assist you with transducer selection. If Gemeco will not sell to you PM me.
airmar.com gemeco.com

Thanks all. I’ll do some checking.