Paddle Wheel Replace

Put my boat in (2002 Outback) for the first time this season, and the speedos were not working. I looked underneath and the plastic paddle wheel (Airmar) in the thru-hull unit was gone. Has anyone else had to replace one of these? The Aimar manual says you can order a paddle wheel kit and replace the wheel by removing the unit, holding the new wheel in position and sliding a new shaft through the housing, and then apparently inserting the whole unit back into the hole. Does anyone have any tips/suggestions? The Airmar manual says there is only a 1 year expected life on the paddlewheel bearings on high speed (> 11mph) boats. You've got to be kidding. Is anyone else having to replace this?

Unless your paddlwheel is different than mine (03 Mobius). I'm not sure you even have to remove it. I'll have to crawl under the boat to check. It should be easy enough to fix though. I know many shops and boat owners even recommend removing the wheel while towing for any extended distance to reduce the wear of the wind spinning the wheel. I think the 1 year bearing life expectancy is a pretty short estimate. I've heard of very few people have a problem with this.

Good board! Everytime that I have towed the speedo no longer works. I have an 01 Outback LS that I used to keep dry docked. Now I keep it at the house and tow. The speedo has not worked on over a year. I have my wife pull me at RPM settings now instead of MPHs. How do I fix this? I need specific detail. Thanks

Sloppy

Get a GPS. Much more reliable. I got tired of constantly calibrating my speedos and never being sure they were right.

Hey Inliner,

How do you remove the paddlewheel? Is yours a thru-hull or transom mounted unit? If a thru-hull, do you unscrew the locking nut and pull the entire unit out of the hull and insert the blanking plug for travel, or do you go underneath the boat and just push the shaft out of the wheel and remove it and then re-insert when you launch?

FYI, you can go to www.airmar.com and look in their Marine products section for End Users and click on the Parts and Accessories icon to see replacement parts. For my 2002 Outback, it looks like paddlewheel kit #33-350-01 on page 15 is what I need. Other components (housings, nuts, blanking plugs) for this model are found on pages 10, 12, and 17.

If someone can tell me how to attach a JPEG to one of these postings, I'll try and scan a page from my Airmar owner's guide which contains a diagram of parts and servicing instructions for the S300 unit that is in my boat.

I guess that I have been lucky, I haul mine 5 hours to arkansas every year and to several other lakes in the area and never have had a problem. This is the first that I have heard of the paddlewheel having to be replaced due to towing. I'll keep an eye on it though. What about placing tape over them for the drive and removing it at the ramp? Seems that it would be easier, although you have to crawl under the boat everytime.

Medic

Thanks, I will have to remember that. I looked at it today, and it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal to do what your talking about. I'll have to add that to my pre-flight checklist, wouldn't want to get a view of the bottom of the lake.:)

Ok guys,

First time out this year one of my speedo's was not working. When I blow compressed air on the one speedo wheel the guage registers, the other does not. Is this a guage issue or a paddle wheel pickup?

yellowmobius

Had the same problem with my 04 mobius LSV. Digital perfect speedo worked, analog speedo did not. Dealer changed the paddel wheel. no problems since. Hope this helps.

Replaced just the wheel or the wheel and the wheel bracket (pickup). On my boat they are saying this is an electronic pickup??? I don't know for sure.

Is there any truth to the fact that pulling the boat down the road will mess up a speedo if you don't keep the wheel from spinning? Do the wheels actually spin when you are going down the road? Normally I don't have to go very far to hit water but over the last 3 years I have made trips every summer and I have never done anything to keep the speedo wheel from spinning when traveling.


Any experience out there????

yellow,

Dealer changed the whole paddel wheel and pickup. Hope this helps.