Matrix 12 Troubles, readings

[hobsy86]

Hey all fellow fishers, got a boggle. I just bought a new boat, 4.1m tinny. It has a Matrix 12 Fish finder in it, went out on the coast last weekend and noticed some interesting readings, it never shows fish, might not have been there lol but when it was bout 4-5ft deep it said .5ft and also when i was on the plane or moving anyway it was all over the shop. from .5ft to 15ft in a sec. also the screen just showed all random stuff and even at a few times when i was on the plane it was jumping from 10ft to 100ft to 800ft then back to nothing again. really big pain so yeah just wondering what the problem could be. i had a guess it was the transducer but thats just a guess, any help would be great. thanks all.

[Angryant]

Check the sensitivity level in your settings - it should be relatively high. There is a sounder sticky in the electronics forum/ have read of that and it should give you some good info.

As for the depth jumping all over the place, I think is because the transducer is not correctly positioned (can't remember if it's too low or high). The bottom of your hull should be about half way depth of the front of your transducer although I found when I had my HB I had to lower the transducer about another 10mm.

Hope this helps a bit.

[bushbeachboy]

Hobsy, I've got a Matrix 27 that had the exact symptoms you describe. I found that the transducer was swivelling up when I got up a bit of speed. The problem was caused by wear in the transducer mounting bracket allowing it to pop up with water pressure over it. I bought and fitted a new bracket and it was fixed. I expect it will occur again in a couple of years. Cost about $30.
Cheers

[hobsy86]

cheers, that may be a drama as i noticed the bloke who mounted this thing didnt mount it straight and also that the bracket is a little loose, will give them a go and see how it works out, thanks again.

[Flex]

I have a matrix 12, I think at speed it just doesn't work correctly at times no matter what you do.

But at slower speeds it will definitely be the angle at which it sits, and water pressure pushing it upwards.
Try angling it a little bit up so the back edge is about 5-10mm higher than the front, I found it helped a bit