bayliner 285 speedo problem

neth

New member
Joined
24 Nov 2008
Messages
72
Location
Brierley Hill West Mid's
Visit site
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.
 
Joined
8 Sep 2005
Messages
1,100
Location
New Forest
Visit site
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

...
Joined
25 Jul 2011
Messages
2,253
Location
Denmark
Visit site
+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 :eek:
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

Well-known member
Joined
11 Mar 2002
Messages
20,484
Visit site
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

Well-known member
Joined
12 Nov 2009
Messages
3,332
Location
Cheshire
Visit site
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.
 
Top