boat speed-o-meter

[hoppy22]

New to boat ownership, can someone tell me how the speedometer world on a boat, I just purchased a 91 2100sc maxim and the speedo doesn't work, where do i start looking
Boat has a 4.3l i/o with an alpha 1 drive

[seapuppy]

welcome to the zoo there hoppy.....well...the first thing I'm going to recommend is for you to take a boating safety class....second....where do you live??..maybe one of our members are close by and can help you out......3rdly ...never approach the dock faster than your willing to crash into it...

finally...there's 2 things that can stop the speedometer from working.....1 is the tube that comes off the transom assembly ..it's black and where the joint from the transom assy to the leg is a connection point ..it's on the fwd side of the top part of the leg.....the other place that can stop the speedo from working is for you to look at the leg...on the fwd leading edge of the outdrive(aka leg) about 3/4's of the way down from the top is a small hole ....looks like somebody filed it out....there is where the water enters the leg to determine relative speed thru the water.....it's not accurate but it will do in a pinch.......
so..how to fix it.....take a 1/4" drill and insert into that hole....do it by hand so you don't accidently drill into something.....usually muck or a piece of wood gets wedged in there and will cause the speedo to stop working......

hope this helps...


SP

[biggerseagar]

Another welcome to the website Hoppy............yeah what SP said about the speedo. Sometimes they just get plugged up with river stuff. I used a coat hanger piece of wire and just keep a piece in my tool box.

As a member of the United States Power Squadrons and a teacher for our ABC safe boating classes, if you and your wife ( and kids) have not taken a safe boating class I do recommend it. Go to www.usps.org to find a class in your area. Beside all the info and boating knowledge that you will learn, you will save money on your insurance premiums.

Then get a Vessel Safety Check by one of our examiners to make sure your fine lookin boat has all the requirements that the Coast Guard and your state wants you to have on your boat. You get a sticker and a copy of the report, turn that into your insurance agent and get another discount. Look at all the money you have saved...........You can find that also on the website.

Hope this helps and congrats of your new boat!!

Roger

[hoppy22]

Thanks for all the good info, although new to boat ownership, I am not entirely new to boating, myself and my two kids have all completed boater safety course. The kids had to have it to operate our pwc and being the good Dad, i took it with them. again thanks for the help, it will be tomorrow before I can look at it but ill let you know what I find.

[shrew]

Welcome to the site. Ditto to what was said above. Here is what I did to fix mine......I stopped looking at it. They aren't very accurate and I was always sketchy about water being pumped up to the dash. The speed by GPS is far more accurate anyway.

[CountryME]

Hoppy,
To add to SP's potential problems, the previous owner of my 2000 1900SR some how managed to get water into the gage internals and when the water froze, it spun the gears inside the gage. If you find the first potential issues are not the problem, look at the gage. Sent mine back to the gage maker Faria in CT and they fixed it for $25.

-JP

[seapuppy]

Originally Posted by hoppy22

Thanks for all the good info, although new to boat ownership, I am not entirely new to boating, myself and my two kids have all completed boater safety course. The kids had to have it to operate our pwc and being the good Dad, i took it with them. again thanks for the help, it will be tomorrow before I can look at it but ill let you know what I find.

awwwww......you nubies are so cute when your young and impressionable.......

you have much to learn young one.....


SP

[hoppy22]

I found the problem, the transom saver with the serial number is in fact a alpha one gen II the outdrive is actually an older "r" drive, since there is no pitot hole in the r drive I am just going to install a transom mounted pitot tube. I found the hose to the speedo and it works with air pressure so the gauge is still good. Thanks for all the input

[seapuppy]

cool....thanks for the report out...



SP