When our Hunter 41DS was hauled out for the pre-sale survey I was surprised to not see a speed transducer paddle wheel on the underside. The depth transducer and speed transducer are located near each other just forward of the keel and they looked so much alike that I couldn't tell one from the other from the underside. When the boat was back in the water for the test sail, I noticed that the ST60+ Speed meter was reading zero for the first 10 minutes or so and then it started indicating a reasonable speed. I don't know if the displayed speed was due to the transducer commencing to work as it should or if the ST60+ was displaying speed derived from other data (is that even possible?).
I finally got around to pulling the speed transducer yesterday, something about which I was apprehensive due to not knowing how much water would gush in before I could get the blank put in place. It turned out that not much water came in. Anyway, I found that the paddle wheel on the speed transducer was missing one of the four arms (see picture). I ordered a replacement paddle wheel (and a spare for good measure) so I'll reinstall it when the part arrives.
My question is whether the missing arm would explain why the paddle wheel couldn't be seen on the underside as well as the no reading/delayed reading that I observed.
I finally got around to pulling the speed transducer yesterday, something about which I was apprehensive due to not knowing how much water would gush in before I could get the blank put in place. It turned out that not much water came in. Anyway, I found that the paddle wheel on the speed transducer was missing one of the four arms (see picture). I ordered a replacement paddle wheel (and a spare for good measure) so I'll reinstall it when the part arrives.
My question is whether the missing arm would explain why the paddle wheel couldn't be seen on the underside as well as the no reading/delayed reading that I observed.