Trying to properly outline an object in an image

Hey everyone. I am currently trying to get a clean outline of an image in Matlab https://imgur.com/a/KbptL. Problem is I am getting gaps in my edge call and my the lines from my Hough call is all over the place. https://imgur.com/a/ngbHv

I have been searching the net for answers and playing around with thresholds but nothing really seems to help and 90% of the previously asked questions similar to mine are answered by the same guy saying "look at my thing" that doesn't help at all.

I just want to end up with a clean outline of the object so I can take measurements on it. Could anyone tell me what I could do to get a cleaner image or connect the lines in my edge detection. Or maybe recomend me something new all together to get the measurement data I want.

clear

clc

close all

I = imread('tback.jpg');

G = rgb2gray(I);

G = imcrop(G,[150 1 800 700]);

E = edge(G, 'Roberts'); imshow(E) [H, theta, rho] = hough(E); figure, imshow(H,[]);

peaks = houghpeaks(H,60,'Threshold',40);

figure, imshow(G,[]), hold on

lines = houghlines(E,theta,rho,peaks,'Fillgap',10,'Minlength',5);

for k = 1:length(lines)

xy = [lines(k).point1; lines(k).point2];

line(xy(:,1), xy(:,2),'LineWidth',1,'Color','r');

end

This what I have so far. Roberts gave me my best image so far.

[James ANDREW]

I tried blurring the image which has helped a bit on both the hough and edge, still not exactly what I am looking for. Is there a way to remove the excess edges on the edge image, like the two little lines underneath the base or the little lines inside the object? Also why doesn't the hough see the sides of the base or the tip top as a line? https://imgur.com/a/B3U0O