On our boat, we have an old Seafarer D800 echo sounder. The device slowly stopped working two years ago, the depth it was able to measure went smaller and smaller, in the end it couldn’t measure at all, even if the depth was only two meters.
I’ve missed to take pictures, but the repair was very simple. There are to caps inside, at least one of them is 1uf 63v, electrolyte was leaking on one side, so I was pretty sure that it’s not good anymore. I’ve decided to replace it (only had a 1uf 50v available), and this did the trick. While I was at it, I’ve also cleaned the mode button (realized, that it was stuck), and cleaned the two pots (both are working much better now).
It is now working as it should again, I was able to measure up to 80 meters (limited by the depth, not by the sounder)!
Happy boating, the season just started here.
4 replies on “Seafarer D800 Echo Sounder repair”
HI, NICO,
I’ve some depth sounder Seafarer with a few of documentation, but rarely with schematics. About D800, I look in the Web and I downloaded from France one schematics very bad definition because photos (JPG). Can you help me in that if you have readable schematics? I am factory engineer (retired) from Honeywell.
Regards, Mario Minucci-
Hi Mario
I do have the original manual, but it’s in the boat, which will not be accessible until next spring. I don’t know if there are schematics in the documentation, I’m pretty sure that it’s only a user manual.
What I have found however is this: http://www.plaisance-pratique.com/IMG/pdf/mode_d_emploi_Seafarer_D800.pdf
Maybe it’s what you already have…
I hope you can fix it, I for myself think it’s an impressive piece of technology, given the age that it has.
Regards, Nico
Hi -I have a Seafarer D800 on my Buccaneer yacht on Vaal Dam(approx. 100kms south of Johannesburg) in South Africa. it has worked for some 20 years but is now playing up. reading jump from true depth to unrealistic shallow depths.
You seem to be knowledgeable with regards this instrument. I would welcome any suggestions or comments. I believe Seafarer are no longer in business.
Regards
Keith
Hi Keith
It’s indeed difficult to find any information about this nostalgic device. All I’ve done is written in my blog post – replace the caps, thy are cheap, and likely the parts that failed,…
good luck!
cheers, Nico