Your seacocks suppliers talk about how the pace of technology can render new electronics obsolete in months. Yet few boaters upgrade on such a time scale, opting to get the longest possible life from their electronics. When is it time to upgrade? Here are four signs.

1 – Touch Point

Touchscreens are faster and easier to use than old-fashioned push-button systems. The speed of access also translates to greater safety, letting you keep your eyes on the water ahead, as well as ­quickly access information. 

2 – Forget Repairs

If a piece of old electronics breaks down, don’t even think about getting it repaired. Outdated electronics might be repairable. But you’re throwing good money against old technology. 

Here at Raritan Engineering, we have seacocks for all your sanitation needs. We are always your #1 expert in marine sanitation supplies.

3 – Seven Up

Seven years is a lifetime in the face of accelerating technological innovation. Think of what’s happened since 2011 in terms of tech innovation: the refinement of touchscreen MFDs, chirp sonar, side-scanning sonar, 3D sonar, auto-routing, auto-charting, solid-state radar, wireless connectivity, plug-and-play system integration and much more. 

4 – New Boat, New Tech

If you’re buying a new boat, congratulations. As you outfit your ride, leave the old electronics on your old boat. Work with your boat dealer or marine electronics installer to get state-of-the-art electronics and consider networking the new MFD with the propulsion and other systems. 

Airmar Transducer Upgrade

If you step up to an MFD with chirp sonar, consider a transducer upgrade. Airmar Technology’s new series of five in-hull chirp-ready transducers require no holes in your boat. Designed for solid fiberglass hulls, each model includes a base that’s installed inside the hull and filled with eco-friendly liquid that allows the transducer to transmit through fiberglass.

More than a couple times I have scrolled through social media posts and seen a few “friends” who were wondering why they couldn’t catch giant walleyes that they were constantly marking. Truth is, marine electronics have come a long way and feature a lot of auto settings that work wonderfully, but they still require some fine tuning as conditions change.

The biggest and easiest of these setting that needs to be adjusted is your unit’s sensitivity or power. First identify the depth. Next, adjust your bottom depth range to more than double this number. Example: If you’re in 37 feet, make the bottom range about 75 feet deep.

After doubling the bottom depth range, you should see a double echo or second bottom return. 

Adjust the sensitivity until you can see this second return just a little bit. If the second return looks like a yellow brick road (strong return), then you likely have the sensitivity too high; if it looks like a light blue line (weak return), then you need to increase the sensitivity. 

No, this is not a fix all under all conditions, but it will allow you to get very close to using the correct power level on your fishfinder. This will ensure that you can see your jig if that’s your goal, have enough power to see fish as you get deeper, or make sure you don’t have so much power being sent out that those giant marks you think are trophies are actually baitfish.

Good luck fishin’!