water in speedometer tube

skidaddytn · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2010 11:12 am **Posts:** 280

Driving at WOT for the first time in a while this weekend, and my speedometer gauge sticks at 54mph... even after the boat is shut off. I start messing with the tube under the dash, hear sputtering and a few drops of water come out. This makes the speedo go back down. How in the world did water make it all the way up that tube and is it ok to disconnect it at the speedometer and just blow the line with a compressor or can of compressed air? It's an '07 horizon with individual gauges if that helps... I have had the pitot hole get clogged before, but usually when this happens my speedometer is stuck at zero so I don't think this is the problem this time.

kd4pbs · **Joined:** Thu Sep 05, 2013 10:34 am **Posts:** 350

This time it got a clog when you were going 54 MPH.
Water in the tube is normal. Want a cool refreshing spray while you're driving? Hook the tube up to a mister and aim it at your face.

Compressed air, within reason, would be fine. The tube can probably stand 30 PSI or so.

skidaddytn · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2010 11:12 am **Posts:** 280

I hope that's what it is. I've never clogged while underway before. Usually it happens when using reverse in shallow water. Will follow up after I check it.

Graham R · **Posted:** Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:18 pm

skidaddytn wrote:

I hope that's what it is. I've never clogged while underway before. Usually it happens when using reverse in shallow water. Will follow up after I check it.

These piitot type speedos seem a bit of a waste of space really; when you need an accurate speedo such as in harbour 5/ 10 knot speed limits for example where your speed might be monitored , they don't work. Then they tell you what your WOT is. GPS works at low speed as well as do electronic speedos with paddle wheel senders. The pitot ones are cheap I suppose.

LouC · **Posted:** Tue Aug 26, 2014 4:50 pm

IF it got stuck maybe the hole on the pick up on the stern is clogged....
Yes they are kind of pointless with GPS and GPS speedometers.

TimBobCom · **Joined:** Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:23 am **Posts:** 44

My last boat had a pitot speedo with the pickup on the Alpha One leg. Without fail I would hit a small piece of debris a couple times each season which would immediately plug the pitot hole. Unfortunately this happened the last time out before I sold it and I didn't have time to clean it out before the buyer came to look at it. Being a long-time boater though he knew the issue immediately when I explained it to him.

Now I need to find the speedo pickup on my 288 Vista since it is now stuck at 27 MPH after a couple runs this weekend.

skidaddytn · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2010 11:12 am **Posts:** 280

if you have the older plastic ones (before volvo put them in the drive), they never seem to clog... you can hit them on a log and flip the tube up, but that's a lot easier to fix then having to clean out the hole in the drive... this was a bad idea.

skidaddytn · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2010 11:12 am **Posts:** 280

Just following up from last summer, indeed my pitot was clogged again (for the 10th time...) And,instead of dirt, it is packed with wood (again), time to bust out the drill, what fun! This time I must have hit a small log at WOT or something which caused it to freeze at 54mph instead of while at idle speed. Now the challenge will be clearing this while the boat is on the lift and I'm floating on a paddle board with a drill. One of these days I am going to mount the old style plastic flip up pitot and be done with it... I really don't want GPS as it always takes so long to home in on the satellites and clear view of the sky, etc...

ric · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 8:44 am

skidaddytn wrote:

Just following up from last summer, indeed my pitot was clogged again (for the 10th time...) And,instead of dirt, it is packed with wood (again), time to bust out the drill, what fun! This time I must have hit a small log at WOT or something which caused it to freeze at 54mph instead of while at idle speed. Now the challenge will be clearing this while the boat is on the lift and I'm floating on a paddle board with a drill. One of these days I am going to mount the old style plastic flip up pitot and be done with it... I really don't want GPS as it always takes so long to home in on the satellites and clear view of the sky, etc...

http://faria-instruments.com/products.p ... 2_speedGPS

Modern GPSs keep memory of the last satellites they used when "warm". The Faria GPS speedos have a memory wire like your radio, so when you turn your battery switch on at the beginning of the day it takes a maximum of 30 seconds to get a GPS lock. Once it locks and the battery switch stays on throughout the day no matter if you turn the boat ignition on or off, it locks in 1 second when you start the boat (as long as you kept the battery switch on).

I'm not sure about you but my boat has two speeds. No wake zone = 1000rpm and outside of no wake zones = 3100rpm. That's it. Not sure what a speedo is for except to fill the hole.

skidaddytn · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2010 11:12 am **Posts:** 280

I use it quite often when pulling boarders, skiers, tubers, etc. I like to board too, so without it, its hard for me to train whoever is with me to drive.
RPM works for that some too, but I feel like you get into trouble around turns using rpm only. If no one wants ski, then I mostly use the 2 speeds u mentioned unless I need to get home fast!

ric · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2015 9:33 am

skidaddytn wrote:

I use it quite often when pulling boarders, skiers, tubers, etc. I like to board too, so without it, its hard for me to train whoever is with me to drive.
RPM works for that some too, but I feel like you get into trouble around turns using rpm only. If no one wants ski, then I mostly use the 2 speeds u mentioned unless I need to get home fast!

There's a product made for boats that is made for you. I mean, it's a perfect fit for exactly what you do.
http://www.perfectpass.com/?q=systems

Walt · **Posted:** Tue May 12, 2015 6:19 am

ric wrote:

skidaddytn wrote:

I use it quite often when pulling boarders, skiers, tubers, etc. I like to board too, so without it, its hard for me to train whoever is with me to drive.
RPM works for that some too, but I feel like you get into trouble around turns using rpm only. If no one wants ski, then I mostly use the 2 speeds u mentioned unless I need to get home fast!

There's a product made for boats that is made for you. I mean, it's a perfect fit for exactly what you do.
http://www.perfectpass.com/?q=systems

+1 for PP... it saved my relationship! Another guy at the ramp mentioned it saved his marriage, the GF and I knew exactly what he meant.

skidaddytn · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2010 11:12 am **Posts:** 280

I've heard of perfect pass before, but always assumed it was made for Mastercraft boats.
If that's able to work in a Four Winns boat and is DIY, I would consider it.

ric · **Posted:** Tue May 12, 2015 2:38 pm

skidaddytn wrote:

I've heard of perfect pass before, but always assumed it was made for Mastercraft boats.
If that's able to work in a Four Winns boat and is DIY, I would consider it.

Four Winns only makes the fiberglass hull and cosmetics. Mercruiser or Volvo Penta supplies the engine and various controls. Perfect pass works on every Merc or VP engine except the 3.0. It also doesn't work on Mercruiser DTS cause that already has it's own version of Perfect Pass.

So yes, it works on your boat. It's a DIY install.

Walt · **Posted:** Wed May 13, 2015 6:28 am

skidaddytn wrote:

I've heard of perfect pass before, but always assumed it was made for Mastercraft boats.
If that's able to work in a Four Winns boat and is DIY, I would consider it.

It's and easy install. See Walt's Mod's

www.iFourWinns.com

water in speedometer tube

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