Cobaltchat.com

Hi All,

We bought a used 2002 263 cobalt with cabin. Great boat but no manuals. The standard built in depth finder keeps beeping and flashing. We can NOT figure out how that thing works and can't find a manual on line anywhere. We have seen on this site that others have the same problem but can not access the attached file folks send with the manual. Can anyone help us figure out how to use the depth gauge. It is two windows and two toggle switches.

Hi Mike! Welcome to the site!

There is a thread on that. It probably needs some antifreeze (pink stuff) added to the unit in the bilge.

Please go into new members and introduce yourself and show pictures of your boat. We like pictures a lot. And we have a few other 263 owners here including one in Germany. Ask the same question and you'll get plenty of responses!

that might not be the case YT. My 2002 has the old sealed transducer. and it is no longer made. Why I ended up going with the total scan transducer when I added the Simrad

Go to this thread. Sounds like your alarm depths are set or set wrong. I put mine to zero so I don't hear them all the time.
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1639

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Hey mikedavis, welcome to the CobaltChat forum. So glad you found us!

There are two silver switches on your dash to the right of your steering wheel. The top switch is for the water and air temp gauge. You can toggle back and forth between the two temperature read-outs

The other switch is for the depth finder.
Like BbP mentioned, I posted a link to the manual.

The reason it’s beeping is because of the defaults that are set.
If you push the switch down and hold, you should be able to
set the numbers when you then push down ( or vice versa ).

First you most likely want to have the depth read in Feet (ft) verses Fathoms (F) or meters (M). You can select that under the Units section which reads as Un. Toggle thru to get to that.

Keel (Kl) is the section that allows you to select how far down your keel is below the waterline. I just set 0 as I like to know the depth from the surface.

Alarm is the section that is causing the beeps. Again, just toggle to that section and set 0 for the deep (DP) and shallow (SH). I believe it’s labeled AL? for alarm. Again, I set 0.

It’s confusing at first but you can slowly get the hang of it after 15 years.

Hope this helps.

And from one 263 owner to another, welcome aboard mate!


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wow what great replies. Thanks all. We are putting the boat in the water tomorrow and we will get this figured out! Much thanks. Mike and Lori Davis

MikeDavis wrote: Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:05 pm wow what great replies. Thanks all. We are putting the boat in the water tomorrow and we will get this figured out! Much thanks. Mike and Lori Davis

You can preset everything ahead of time in the driveway. I'm pro. Lol

I finally found a copy of the actual manual on line based on all your great input and the thread that was linked above -- a gentleman took screen shots of the manual. Here is a link to the actual PDF of the manual if anyone in the future needs it. Much thanks all! https://fariabeede.com/site_manuals/IS0141D.pdf

Hi there,

just found this thread.
I have some trouble with the build in depth finder on my 263 as well...

I know about the functions like setting the alarm etc (I wish I would have found this forum earlyer, then I would have found the manual and that would have saved me a lot of time figuring out how the system works )

My trouble is: The depth is not shown correytly, if I´m judiging it right, the system doesnt switch beetween the different "depth zones" correctly ...
If I restart the unit through the toggle switch, it shows the correct depth (for example 6meters (18feet) ) but if I get into "deeper water" (for example 30meters (90feet) it just starts "blinking" and not showing the correct depth any more ...

Has anybody an idea what might cause the problem?
Maybe the transdcuer is not working correctly?
(I read something about adding anti freeze?!)

Thanks for your replies!

Not sure why it isn't reading correctly. Yes check the level in the transducer. Also make sure all of your depth warnings are at zero. Yes Make sure your not on F- fathoms you want ft - feet

Big Block Power wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 1:23 pm Not sure why it isn't reading correctly. Yes check the level in the transducer. Also make sure all of your depth warnings are at zero. Yes Make sure your not on ft - fathoms you want f - feet

Do those early ones go over 99 feet? Our swamp is shallow

Start_Driver wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 1:17 pm Hi there,

just found this thread.
I have some trouble with the build in depth finder on my 263 as well...

I know about the functions like setting the alarm etc (I wish I would have found this forum earlyer, then I would have found the manual and that would have saved me a lot of time figuring out how the system works )

My trouble is: The depth is not shown correytly, if I´m judiging it right, the system doesnt switch beetween the different "depth zones" correctly ...
If I restart the unit through the toggle switch, it shows the correct depth (for example 6meters (18feet) ) but if I get into "deeper water" (for example 30meters (90feet) it just starts "blinking" and not showing the correct depth any more ...

Has anybody an idea what might cause the problem?
Maybe the transdcuer is not working correctly?
(I read something about adding anti freeze?!)

Thanks for your replies!

Hey Peer

If your depth finder is blinking, it may need an antifreeze top off where the transducer is connected to the bottom hull mount just in front of and below the engine on the starboard side. Unscrew it and top it off. Mine was blinking and that was the culprit. The transducer can’t “see” thru air. Only liquid.

Like bbp mentioned, check your fathoms and feet setting. I keep mine on FT-feet which will register up to 199 feet and then it will automatically switch to F -fathoms above that number if you’re in deeper water. When back to water which is 199 feet or below, it will switch back to FT-feet.

cmattj wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 2:51 pm

Big Block Power wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 1:23 pm Not sure why it isn't reading correctly. Yes check the level in the transducer. Also make sure all of your depth warnings are at zero. Yes Make sure your not on ft - fathoms you want f - feet

Do those early ones go over 99 feet? Our swamp is shallow

Not sure. Mine always shows 3 no matter what. Fathoms or feet. Just throttle down Harder don't let up.

AsLan7 wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 3:04 pm

Start_Driver wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 1:17 pm Hi there,

just found this thread.
I have some trouble with the build in depth finder on my 263 as well...

I know about the functions like setting the alarm etc (I wish I would have found this forum earlyer, then I would have found the manual and that would have saved me a lot of time figuring out how the system works )

My trouble is: The depth is not shown correytly, if I´m judiging it right, the system doesnt switch beetween the different "depth zones" correctly ...
If I restart the unit through the toggle switch, it shows the correct depth (for example 6meters (18feet) ) but if I get into "deeper water" (for example 30meters (90feet) it just starts "blinking" and not showing the correct depth any more ...

Has anybody an idea what might cause the problem?
Maybe the transdcuer is not working correctly?
(I read something about adding anti freeze?!)

Thanks for your replies!

Hey Peer

If your depth finder is blinking, it may need an antifreeze top off where the transducer is connected to the bottom hull mount just in front of and below the engine on the starboard side. Unscrew it and top it off. Mine was blinking and that was the culprit. The transducer can’t “see” thru air. Only liquid.

Like bbp mentioned, check your fathoms and feet setting. I keep mine on FT-feet which will register up to 199 feet and then it will automatically switch to F -fathoms above that number if you’re in deeper water. When back to water which is 199 feet or below, it will switch back to FT-feet.

Thanks for the hint and the pictures, I will do that!
(... as soon as I get the boat out of winterstorage .... boating season will not start before April here in Germany )

Looks sexy even under the covers.