Thread: Looking for Assistance with Sonar, Search for Missing Boater in Louisville, KY

Hello everyone!

I am based in Houston, Texas but help out with a non profit in Louisville, KY that runs search dogs for missing individuals. There has been a missing kayaker on the Ohio River for coming up on three weeks. I don't want to share too many details of the search on here out of respect for the missing individual and the family.

This past week, another non-profit traveled to the site of the incident running side imaging sonar, but was unable to 'clear' the area due to the water depth and a considerable amount of debris on the river bottom.

My wife and I are preparing to travel to Louisville in the next week to try to assist in clearing the target area where the dogs have alerted, and we are in need of scanning sonar to conduct a search in the area. We have used Blueview scanning sonars in the past on ROVs, but not the new Garmin or Lowrance units (the Panoptix, etc).

So here is what we are asking:

1 - Ideally, if there is someone in the Louisville area with a Panoptix or similar scanning sonar, we are looking to team up with you or hook you up with the search team to hopefully examine the small search area to see if he is still on the bottom. You would not be expected to assist in the recovery if a 'target' is identified.

2 - If there is someone with a Panoptix or similar unit between Houston and Louisville or within a reasonable radius of either who is willing to Loan, Rent, or Sell for a reasonable price their set-up, we can try to work something out and take the unit with us to KY to conduct the search. We are hoping to be there next weekend (the 6th of February) or sooner if we can find equipment. We can not afford new equipment as this is a volunteer group.

Thank you for taking the time to read thru this, and thank you all in advance for your consideration and assistance!

If you are in a position to help with equipment, feel free to send me a direct message or post back here.

-Nolan

Still not found. 16yo boy. Hope everything turns out alright...