Man you waste a lot of energy!!!!!
I don't drill a hole until I know the depth.
Remove snow, place Marcum transducer on the ice, turn on unit, pour water from water bottle on ice to couple theducer to the ice, adjust depth knob if needed, read depth, repeat until you find your spot, drill holes!!!
Very important here when ice is 60" thick!!!
Currently our ice is about 36" thick.