Aftermarket Horn?

[tdonoughue]

The second horn has died on my 2 year old boat. I am sure I can replace with another idiotic duck quacker that will last 1 season. But this seems time for an upgrade.

Anyone replaced the horn? With what? Any direct drop in replacements available?

Thanks in advance.

 

[itsdgm]

Been wondering myself too. It seems like the horn in our 07 ar210 is an odd size. No matter what replacement I looked at it would require cutting or patching.

I'll be watching this one.

 

[Bruce]

My SX230 has a black Aqua Signal 84422 with a stainless or chrome cover http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001B059T0?pc_redir=1402150813&robot_redir=1

Do your boats have the same?

The screw holes are 5" on center and the hole in the center is 2.5".

 

[Bruce]

This may be the best deal on Amazon at $35 with prime shipping. I just ordered one. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004G...qid=1402372336&sr=8-76&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70

 

[tdonoughue]

Looks a lot like it from the outside. But boat is stored by the lake so I can't measure right now. I guess I have to pull it and see.

If it is, I am pretty sure I don't want to replace with the same quacker. I am thinking real horn. That goes toot or beep.

Maybe I can find one to make a roadrunner sound...

 

[Bruce]

The newer 844017 model is supposed to have a Gore-tex seal to keep it dry. I believe water exposure is the big issue with the Yamaha factory version.

If you want a different sound I would buy another horn and mount it in a new location. I have not found any other brands that fit the factory hole.

@Ronnie, it is rumored that you may know of a better product.

 

[tdonoughue]

Maybe I will just do this:

http://www.amazon.com/AFI-10106-Mar...02373820&sr=8-3&keywords=12+v+marine+air+horn

 

[0627Devildog]

Maybe I will just do this:

http://www.amazon.com/AFI-10106-Marine-Trumpet-12-Volt/dp/B000NHZWKI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1402373820&sr=8-3&keywords=12 v marine air horn

LMFAO

 

[itsdgm]

Yep @Bruce that's like the one in my boat too. Mine still works but it's embarrassing. I was hoping to find something else that would fit in the original hole that didn't require too much modification and sounds much better. Thanks for the research though. I probably will just replace it with another stock one if mine does quit before I can find an alternative.

 

[Ronnie]

A

The newer 844017 model is supposed to have a Gore-tex seal to keep it dry. I believe water exposure is the big issue with the Yamaha factory version.

If you want a different sound I would buy another horn and mount it in a new location. I have not found any other brands that fit the factory hole.

@Ronnie, it is rumored that you may know of a better product.

I don't know about better but lots of different models can be found a your local auto parts store. I got a dual tone horn for $30ish at pep boys, some have stainless parts I think most are a plastic metal combo. It's not hard to rig a mount for any of them to be placed in the stock location. Here are some pics.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

I have a Stebel Nautilus sitting in my garage that I had bought for a now long-gone motorcycle. I've been tempted to put that wicked thing in there.

 

[tdonoughue]

I pulled mine tonight. Same as the photos above. Same brand and all.

The hunt is on.

 

[itsdgm]

Bumping this tread to see if anybody has come up with a better horn that is a direct bolt on replacement. My horn is suffering a slow painful death.

Thanks in advance.

 

[itsdgm]

Ok, so here's my update. I finally couldn't take the lame sound of my horn any longer. It sounded like a failing recording of a ship horn in a squeeze toy. Here's a write up of what and how I replaced it with. I wanted a real horn sound that would require the least amount of modification to the boat. The hull has a recessed spot where the horn sits and a 2.5" hole drilled in it with mounting holes at 5" apart. So the new horn needs to at least fit in the recess and hide the previously drilled holes.

Here's the original horn which was made by Aqua Signal (model 84401-01). It measures 6 1/8" x 3 1/8" and has mounting screws 5" apart.




Here's the horn that I decided to install. I bought it on eBay for about $46 with the Stainless Steel cover, mounting bolts and a protective seal. It's made by Signaltone and measures 5 5/8" x 3 3/16". It's advertised as a replacement horn for Sea Ray boats. If you order one, be careful because there are two sizes of this horn available and there are a few different types of wiring options. I believe this is the larger of the two horns available and it uses standard male/female wire connectors (not a special factory plug of any type). It fits in the recessed part of the boat designed for the horn, will cover the 2.5" hole and mounting screw holes of the original horn.




Here are a few pics of the removal and replacement of the new horn.




Measuring where to drill the new holes.





Here's a picture from inside of my 07 AR210. This becomes a two person job at this point since this horn is too big to fit into the 2.5" hole and be mounted from only the outside. It was necessary to remove the front seat on the drivers side and lay down in there to gain access to inside the hull so that one person can connect the wiring and hold it in place while the second person turns the bolts on the outside. So some of you bigger guys might need to find a kid to help finish this job.



Here's the finished look from outside.



The new horn has a more traditional horn sound. I took a recording of it and will try to find a way to post it here. But I'm very happy with it so far.

 

[tdonoughue]

Nice job and writeup, Dennis. I put my result around here on a different thread. Certainly less subtle than yours; I think I would have preferred yours... But, what is done is done. And mine do sound awesome.

Wolo Horn

• tdonoughue
• Jul 22, 2015

 

[MrMoose]

Nice job and writeup, Dennis. I put my result around here on a different thread. Certainly less subtle than yours; I think I would have preferred yours... But, what is done is done. And mine do sound awesome.

Wolo Horn

• tdonoughue
• Jul 22, 2015

Hands-down! @tdonoughue has the horniest boat on lake Conroe TX!

 

[rkluck]

I got a aqua signal horn from West Marine around three years ago (I think it was around $40). Similar to Dennis above I had to cut a little space out and drill new screw holes. The job is pretty easy and now I have horn that can be heard and always works.

 

[Scottintexas]

thanks for the update, posted to the FAQ

 

[itsdgm]

Nice job and writeup, Dennis. I put my result around here on a different thread. Certainly less subtle than yours; I think I would have preferred yours... But, what is done is done. And mine do sound awesome.

Wolo Horn

• tdonoughue
• Jul 22, 2015

That's a lot of horn!!! How loud is it?

 

[tdonoughue]

Loud enough to make the guy sitting in front of the helm jump...

Something like 132 db. Insanely loud. You can hear it all the way across the lake.

One additional consideration: I have this nice new Yamaha premium deluxe cover I got. It was not made for the horn to be there. Made it work, but it was tight...