bayliner 285 speedo problem

[neth]

Hi folks
Has anyone had to clean the suction tube on a bayliner speedo i am told that it works by suction of the water going past the end of a tube in the drive wich is by the way a bravo three i understand that you have to disconect the both ends and blow it through but witch bits do you disconnect and where are they & how do you disconnect them.

cheers.
neth.

 

[Nautibusiness]

It's not a Bayliner thing it is a thing with any boat that uses a speedo working off a Pito Tube (the suction thingy). They break for a pastime.

Bearing in mind that your speedo is in MPH which is all but useless if using the boat on the sea and taking into account that they are about as a much use as a chocolate fireguard when they are functioning (working would be a little bit too strong a word) I would simply ignore it and get a GPS for an accurate Speed over Ground reading. Pinpoint accurate and cheap as chips.
1) Navionics UK Ap for Iphone or Android, £18 gives basic UK colour charts and full GPS with speed of ground
2) Cheap black and white handheld GPS from about £70
3) Full on colour GPS chartplotter fixed on the dash from about £275

 

[Spi D]

+1

It's not suction - rather pressure. The pressure made from water into the pickup while underway, makes the gauge show 'something'. Hence if the tube is disconnected at the instrument, you'll get a nice stream of seawater inside the dashboard
Do remember to plug it properly or to disconnect at the sterndrive as well!

These pressure logs are called "wish-o-meters" because they tend to show way to high figures, at least at modest speeds. Useless for navigation or calculating distance.

 

[MapisM]

witch bits do you disconnect and where are they & how do you disconnect them.

On a Bravo outdrive, you should find a small rubber hose attached above the front part of the anticavitation plate.
But before messing with it, I'd just try to blow some air into the other end of the hose, behind the speedo.
This works in most cases, but if it doesn't, just forget it. As already said, it's useless anyway.
Otoh, if the idea of a gauge not working spoils your boating, you could check if there's a GPS speedo wihch matches the design of the existing one and replace it.
It'll be more expensive than just using a GPS which I guess you already have (maybe even in your mobile phone!), but hey, boating isn't for sensible folks, as we all know...!

 

[GrahamHR]

Pitot tube speedometers on boats; useless bits of junk; when they work they only work at speeds above usual harbour limits. Speedometers with paddle wheel sensors are a lot more accurate and work from very low speeds. They of course give the speed in the water, rather than the speed over land GPS indication.