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mooseorgorilla.
The pitot hole on the skeg was plugged w/ wood, cleaned it out with a drill bit. I took the hose apart at the small coupling and tried to use a air hose to blow it out but no luck. Its plug on the vertical up to the coupling. Using air pressure toward the speedometer shows it works. I have GPS but I would like everything to work as it should. Does anyone have a idea on how to clean the vertical hose going down thru the gearbox? LOVE MY CAT Thanks Ed Oh, Forgot but this is a 2001 Mercury 200 EFI.”Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous main- stream media which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”
If you try to keep your speedo working, you will be frustrated unless you run in super clean water. It takes me a couple of weeks to get mine plugged and Im glad when it happens. They are not accurate in most cases. If it were me since you have gps, I would leave it alone. It is a distraction and GPS makes it useless.
You can clean the pitot tube out, and it is probably not a hose issue. Try again to work on the front hole in the gearcase. Make sure you go full depth to the metal at the 90 degree turn. Otherwise, you can drop the gearcase and remove the hose. It is not a difficult job, though we almost never see that needed to clear a pitot.
As Chuck has stated you are going to become very frustrated with trying to keep that hole clean and the speedo working. I stated this before and think that the speedo on boats is a thing of the past and needs to be removed as it is inaccurate, takes up dash space, and rarely functions properly due to being clogged. Most boats today come with some sort of GPS which is all you should need. Once it is clogged up just leave it and forget about it.
Actually, Chuck H. leaves his plugged up because he is too mechanically challenged to fix it!!! I use a 1/16 in drill bit, turned by hand, and then a short piece of welding wire, with a slight hook in the end to clear it out. If you DO push something up past the 90 degree, then it gets to be a problem. I keep the drill bit in a tray in my console, and clean the pitot when I wipe the boat down. Easier to do when the offending plug is still wet. No reason for stuff NOT to work, if it is an easy fix. Wonder if Chuck will call me, wondering where to get that wire??? Mike Whitten
The front hole is clear, I think probably the small diameter welding wire idea may possibly work. It is definitely up in the hose going thru the gearbox. I run in different kinds of water but am a little facetious about having things work is at all possible even though their not really needed. I trust the GPS a whole lot more than the speedo. Thanks for all your replys. Really enjoy reading all the posts and LOVE MY CAT! Ed”Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by an unscrupulous main- stream media which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”
I tell you it definitely can be frustrating. I use drill bits and wire (black wire). I wish there was a better way for speedo. I do use it for speed since I have it. It is not that far off of the GPS on rig.
Many folks really like a dial speedo. We do as well for a quick read when just out driving. The GPS takes time to lock on and we often just fire up and run em.
Here is another way to clean that last little turn. You can buy a 1/16″ braided steel control cable at a good model airplane store. These things are about 18″ long. Take one and bend it into an L shape. With one side at least 6″ long. Take that end and “fuzz” it up by untwisting about 1/2″. Then twist it back and feed it into the pitot opening. Now, using that L as a handle, turn the thing in the direction opposite to the twist so that it will “untwist” inside the opening. Those tiny steel wires will often “pick” out the little bit of wood that tries to “round the bend. If that fails, you can go in the other way with the cable, going down through the other end of the pitot opening and probably pick out the last bit. Flush with water thru a syringe and you are good to go until the next rain storm that floats trash down the river. The faster you run, the more common this becomes. Best speedo is one driven by the GPS data, rather than water pressure. Leave the pitot opening plugged, remove the water speedo and put something else in the hole (smartcraft, anyone?) and you will be glad to put that behind you. You can even fill it with marine-tex and be done with it forever. BTW, that cable will go down thru the small rubber tube and into the vertical part of the pitot opening with no problems since it is braided and flexible. You can get em up to 36” long (not very expensive either) so you can go in from the splice between the speedo hose and the hose coming out of the gearcase…Last edited by oldtimer57 on August 20th, 2008, 1:21 am, edited 1 time in total.2008 Pantera Classic2014 Mercury Pro XS 200
BCB when you talking about a dial speedo are you talking about the old style with the little plastic arm. I dont think I have ever heard of a dial speedo. The Yamaha package comes with the digital guage for speed. The last boat I had the speedometer wasnt working and I used the GPS all the time. However, unless I am really wanting to know the exact speed I like using the Yamaha for speed and the Lowrance for other info while driving. I may find out that I can use the GPS for speed and the unit for the other info that I use. But I hadnt learn that yet. MooseG
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