Zerolines card + follow the contour + contour offset

[Fred H]

There are no lakemaster hd lakes anywhere near me. So, I have a blank zerolines sd card. No time yet to autochart my local lakes. I tried follow the contour by placing the cursor on the shoreline, pressing goto and using 120 ft contour offset. The map selected was 'contour xd' which I am guessing is the zerolines card. Correct? It was the only map that would offer the ftc option upon pressing the goto button. Regardless, this worked great! We fished the shoreline without touching the motor for an hour. Then, a while later I stopped ftc and motored to the opposite shore. When I attempted the same exact ftc sequence listed above the Terrova tried to pull me into the shore! I retried several times but the same problem. Why did ftc work perfectly, then not at all (on the same lake, on the same day)?

[Diesel Pro]

Sounds like a Crazy Ivan maneuver!

Seriously though I think you'd want the opposite offset so -120

I would highly recommend starting the Auto Chart process it's pretty darn cool!

[Wayne P.]

No, ContourXD is Navionics maps.

[Fred H]

Sounds like a Crazy Ivan maneuver!

Seriously though I think you'd want the opposite offset so -120

I would highly recommend starting the Auto Chart process it's pretty darn cool!

Ha ha! Very good! Yes, I have used autochart, but only on the helix memory. That is what prompted me to get the card. It is a great feature.

I wonder why the +120 contour offset worked on one side of the lake and not on the other.

[Fred H]

No, ContourXD is Navionics maps.

Yes, that is the other card in my helix. What is the name of the Zerolines card as far as the h9elix is concerned? I thought "left fish and chips" or "left card" was the navionics card? Which is the actual name of the zerolines card please?

[Wayne P.]

Yes, that is the other card in my helix. What is the name of the Zerolines card as far as the helix is concerned? I thought "left fish and chips" or "left card" was the navionics card?

ContourXD is not a map card. It is in the unit's memory. It is 3,000 bodies of water from the 2006 Navionics Hotmaps and Gold coverage.

FishNChip is the Sonar Charts maps on Navionics+ and Hotmaps Platinum map cards.

Humminbird is the ZeroLine card.

[Wayne P.]

If your unit is up to date with all software installed, you will have Humminbird Basemap in the unit's memory also. That is Lakemaster non-HD maps from the 2017 Lakemaster coverage.

[Fred H]

If your unit is up to date with all software installed, you will have Humminbird Basemap in the unit's memory also. That is Lakemaster non-HD maps from the 2017 Lakemaster coverage.

Thank you, Wayne. The helix is up to date. The map I used for ftc was VERY crude and pixelated. No contours, just a coarse shoreline. Yet it worked great for one of my two first attempts at ftc from the shoreline.

Again, I am not running any lakemaster hd whatsoever. Nor have I autocharted this lake at any time. Just an empty zerolines card and the current navionics card.

[bobcoy]

Fred you are correct with the plus 120'. +is deeper(away from shore,normally deeper) than the selected contour(in your case 0' for the shoreline). - is shallower(towards shore or onshore if using 0 contour)than the selected contour( not a good idea when using the shoreline). Bob

[Fred H]

Fred you are correct with the plus 120'. +is deeper(away from shore,normally deeper) than the selected contour(in your case 0' for the shoreline). - is shallower(towards shore or onshore if using 0 contour)than the selected contour( not a good idea when using the shoreline). Bob

Thank you, Bob. I will experiment some more then.

[Fred H]

Different lake, tried minus 120 feet offset and it worked well. It shows this terrible pixelated map with no contour data whatsoever. But this only map that allows the ftc option. Can I somehow make that map layer transparent?

[bobcoy]

OK Fred. I am confused now! You selected the contour of the shoreline and set the offset to - 120'? I do not have a ZLC but have selected contours and to offset to deeper water I used a + direction. Maybe I was delusional or something. Did you also try + like the first time you tried? I have been looking in my pdf manuals and the only reference I could find was for adjusting the offset with the remote. It said use the + key for deeper. I have to make time to get out and try this again. Bob

[Fred H]

OK Fred. I am confused now! You selected the contour of the shoreline and set the offset to - 120'? I do not have a ZLC but have selected contours and to offset to deeper water I used a + direction. Maybe I was delusional or something. Did you also try + like the first time you tried? I have been looking in my pdf manuals and the only reference I could find was for adjusting the offset with the remote. It said use the + key for deeper. I have to make time to get out and try this again. Bob

Thank you Bob. Yes, I am confused too! Minus 120ft worked, plus 120ft brought me onto shore. Will try again.

[ezfishn]

Some shoreline contours provided in the existing mapping may not be accurate enough to use FTC safely. Just tried same thing on a small non-surveyed LKM lake and used FTC with a + offset and it worked but really don't recommend using it. On a small lake that you are familiar with bottom contours it might be ok in certain conditions but personally I would rather use manual control or autopilot in most cases.

[Fred H]

Yesterday I carefully checked the ftc as described above. There appears to be a bug in Helix programming. Sometimes +30 feet puts you onshore and sometimes -30 put you onshore! Interesting to note is that graphically the image is correct on the map. In other words when the ftc line is plotted on the chart it shows onshore when it the tm will go onshore and the offshore when the tm will go offshore.

[Diesel Pro]

I was thinking more from a latitude perspective when I suggested the - on the opposite side of the lake.

I've started using AutoChart live to remap my go to areas. I also made my own routes for reliability. Would be nice if a guy could highlight a contour and make it a route rather than adding all the points in, but it does follow nice and I can set my trolling pass to finish and then make the turn to set up to get back on the route and reverse it - I hope.

[Fred H]

The Hb cust service rep states that the contour offset must be zeroed out manually. In other words, the contour offset sticks in memory and must be reset to zero every time ftc is initiated. Can anyone confirm this? It makes no sense to me and when I use ftc to follow a shoreline the contour offset always starts at zero.