WTF! I just bought my boat and.....

Jmass03 · Outlaw Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 239 City: OrLaNdO

the speedometers are already plugged!!! UGH!!!!!! I know I saw a topic about this but I can't find it, and I need more explanations. I've already tried gunning it in reverse, but that only fixes the problem for a little bit. Its a 2000 Mastercraft Xstar. How many people here have that same problem? And what causes it? And lastly how do I get rid of the problem!! I know I've heard you clean something with a needle or a cotton swab or something, but what is it that I clean?? Someone help!

K-dub · Ladies Man Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 14760

Is the water murky or filled with sand or mud where you ride? If so, that is probably the problem. If you twist a needle or a tiny drill bit in the pick-up holes, and blow them out with a compressor, it should fix the problem...

Jmass03 · Outlaw Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 239 City: OrLaNdO

its not really that bad where I ride, for you orlando people who are familiar with it, I ride on the butler chain, on chene, tibet, and pocket. Pretty nice lakes. But anyhow, where exactly is the "pick up hole" on the boat?? My boat is in the water, so if you could give it to me from that perspective? I won't be puttting it up on the trailer for another 2 weeks, since I've been taking the boat out everyday to every other day. Thanks!

gryffin · Criminal Joined: 10 Jun 2003 Posts: 89 City: SoCal

Well, it could be rather hard to get at the pickups if your boat is in the water. They are two tubes coming from the back of your boat usually right near the bottom. They usually are supported by plastic fittings and you just stick a paper clip in them for the easiest cleaning method. Do you have a swimstep on right now? If so you may be looking at an interesting dive, don't get hurt! Or just make things easy and pull your boat out for ten minutes and clean them.

Jmass03 · Outlaw Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 239 City: OrLaNdO

Yeah thats the thing, I can't pull the boat out for at least another week or so, and yeah I do have a swim platform there at the moment. So where exactly are these plastic fittings you say, I've felt with my hand and I have noticed a plastic feeling tubling, but I can't really find a place where I would stick a pin really? If you could, please tell me?? All your help is so greatly appreciated. Thanks!

MrBlean · Posted: Jun 11, 2003 12:53 am Post subject:

If you don't know where the pickups are you'll never find for the first time underwater but this should help. The pickups are two small pipes with tiny holes in the end mounted on sprung-loaded plastic legs (about 3-4 inches long) that are usually mounted on the stern about a foot in from each side and protruding below the bottom of the hull.

The holes get gunked up or get weed wrapped around the suports and often need cleaning. It's the pressure of the water entering these holes and moving a diaphragm in yopur speedos that gives you the reading. Blocked holes equals no water pressure equals no reading.

6more · Newbie Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 26 City: Upstate, SC

The actual holes that get clogged are located on the front of the pitot tubes (those plastic things that everyone has been discribing). The holes are about a finger width up from the bottom on the front side of the tube (the side towards the bow). They do not go all the way through the tube which is why they clog so easily. Finding the holes really shouldn't be that hard. Just feel with your finger. The harder part is getting the paperclip in the hole. It has to go in at exactly the right angle. So don't get discouraged if you have to play with it for a few mintues before it finally fits in. Bepending on how far the pitot tubes are from the edge of the boat (starboard to port) you might be able to reach them while kneeling backwards on the platform by reaching from the side of the platform. If they are towards the middle of the boat, you may not be able to reach them from the platform and you'll have to swim some. Good luck. It is very easy to clean them out, it just takes a little technique to find the right angle to fit the paperclip in.

dizzyj · Soul Rider Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Posts: 485 City: Austin, Tx

also, to test them, simply put your mouth to the front bottom of the pitot and blow. Have someone look at the spedo and it should go up if its unclogged.

DCovington · Newbie Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 48 City: Richmond, VA

Someone should design a small blowout device for these things so it could be done on the fly. Anyone want a patent idea, there you go! Idea

WakeMan · Newbie Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 22

Actually a manufacture already has a system that blows out the Pitots to clear them not sure what the name is though apparently they have not been selling them. The cost was not cheap. With a lot of the boats going to paddle wheels and ditching the pitots. Hey soon will see GPS used

Jmass03 · Outlaw Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 239 City: OrLaNdO

For those of you who have two speedometers, do they vary at times, like the one on the right might say 20 mph while the one on the left might be reading 22 mph?? It seems like this happens quite often. When going straight, I've noticed they read at the same, but when turning left or right, they vary.

jvanick · Posted: Jun 11, 2003 6:26 pm Post subject:

there's 2 possible reasons they could read different.

A. when turning the inside corner of the boat is going at a slower relative speed than the outside corner.

or

B. the boat is at a different angle or is getting wash from the hull picked up in the pitot.

Since the pitot only really measures the vacum of pressure under the boat, varying pressures will produce different results on the speedos.

If you want to see this in action, just suck on the pitot or the end of the tubes. you should see the speedo registering a "speed".

-J

Jmass03 · Outlaw Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 239 City: OrLaNdO

So this is normal then I assume right?

John Jared · Addict Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 726 City: Round Lake, IL

Get PerfectPass and you won't have to worry about it. We ride on a lake that is very clean but has weeds and it was a big problem all last year so we just went by RPM. Figure out what RPM equal your riding speeds under different loads. We found that to be the only way until I got my X-Star and my friend finally put PP in his ProStar.

6more · Newbie Joined: 08 May 2003 Posts: 26 City: Upstate, SC

Jmass - it is normal and jvanick hit the nail right on the head. When you turn, the outer pickup is traveling faster than the inner pickup. The sharper the turn, the more the difference will be. That, and the hull can wash out a speedo and make it inaccurate as he mentioned.

The other thing to remember about these speedos is that they are really meant to be calibrated for a specific speed. They may not be 100% accurate at other speeds. For instance, lets say you set your speedo using a slalom course (most accurate way of doing it - 36 mph = 16.08 seconds from the entrance gates to the exit gates) or GPS. You set the speed at 36mph. At 20 mph, the speedo may not match the GPS unit. It should be close, but it probably won't be perfect. Same thing at 45mph - close but not perfect.

If you find that the speedos get clogged all the time and it is really annoying you, you can always switch the pickups to the Venturi type (instead of the pitot type). They look similar, but the pickup hole goes all the way through so things are much less likely to clog it up. I switched my system over about 1 year ago, and the new Venturi pickups have never clogged once since I switched. They can be bought for about $40 a pair from www.accuski.com