Transducer problems

[billbobthorpe]

This is the first time I put my boat in the water for the season. Everything has been fine up to last weekend. My fish finder was not getting a depth reading consistently and not showing marks like it has been. The fish hawk was acting up and not getting a consistent connectivity to the probe. My question is... do any of you have issues with alge or growth on the transducers interfering with readings? I can't think of any other things that would cause this. Do you clean them throughout the season? I'm going to jump in and clean them this weekend or maybe pull it up on the ramp and check things out. 

Any thoughts or input would be appreciated. 

[Gator]

The first thing I would do is check the battery connections. Steel wood and dielectric grease. Second would be to look at whether the transducer cracked over the winter - Lowrance stock skimmer transducers are notorious for this. In general, my transducers work as well at the end of the season as at the beginning, but they get scoured during runs too. Hit them with Dawn if you're unsure.