Knot meter Not Working

[Kenneth Pfaff]

The Knot meter on my Hunter 290 stop working a couple of weeks ago. I pulled it out, cleaned it, spun the paddle wheel to insure it was working, (had my son check the meter topside to insure it was working). Put it back in, assuming it would work the next time we went out. The next time we went out it didn't work, which I thought was strange since the don't get that dirty that quickly. Pulled it out again and it was fairly clean, spun it, it worked fine. Put it back in and is still doesn't register any speed, but it will still give me the water temp. Any thoughts? Could my hull be that dirty with growth? The boat is a new 2001 and was splashed in April with a brand new bottom paint job. Any Ideas or do I have the dive into the Hudson River and clean my bottom?

 

[Ted]

connection

Ken, It sounds to me like you have a bad connection between the "impeller" and the meter....

 

[scott heller]

knot meter cleaning

Had a very similar situation, even splashed our new for us H376 around the same time. Ended up using a tooth brush to clean it. Even when it looks pretty clean growth can contaminate the pivot points for the wheel. Now we pull it out each time we return to the pier, and make sure it is lined up properly (Triangle on top pointing into the flow.) Found that by turning it slightly while underway with my wife watching the readout that the sweet spot was turned slightly to starboard. Our wheel is right in front of the keel and to port a bit, hence the slightly offcenter water flow.

 

[Tom LaRocco]

It might be...

growth building up on your hull just forward of the paddle wheel which disrupts the water flow over the wheel. This happens to us on the Chesapeake Bay about this time every season. We use a long handle brush and clean forward of the speedo wheel. We need to get wet to do this, so we try to get to it before the water temp drops too much otherwise we use the GPS for speed readout and wait for the powerwash at haulout time.Hope this helpsTom LaRoccoH376 'Follow the Sun"

 

[Bill Ebling]

Mine too

I am also having a problem with my 1985 Corinthian Log for the last year or so on my 1985 31 footer. I believe it’s the original impeller and repeater head. Sometimes the system works.... Sometimes it doesn’t read anything (0.0 knots)..... at times it under reads before failing, sometimes it starts spontaneously from no read(0.0 knots).. under reading... and then reading accurately (within 0.1 knots while motoring, timed distance between two known buoys several miles apart). Starting this year I always pull the transducer after a sail and clean so it can't be critters messing up the works on the impeller. (I have also dived several times to brush off any critters on the hull near the thru-hull, everything looks clean). I take the transducer out of the thru-hull while at dock and then only replace when I go for a sail. I have found that starting the engine can cause the working log to fail or sometimes spontaneously start up when it hasn’t' been working previously. Spinning the impeller by hand does not always result in a reading.What are your thoughts? Is this a bad repeater head, a bad transducer, a bad cable or a combination? I am about to lay down the $350 for a new log and replace the whole system. Last year the 16 year old depth sounder repeater head gave up the ghost so I am suspecting that the log electronics have now reached the end of their life.Your Comments appreciatedYesterday's Dream 1985 H31