Since it poured today and Im lucky enough to have my boat parked in one side of my garage I decided I would attempt to repair the paddle wheel. After mentioning it to the selling dealer He steered me to a paddlewheel repair kit that I purchased for $23. It came with a new Paddlewheel, Axle, and 5 new O-rings.
The repair manual didn't have much to say on the removal of the unit so I was just winging it. Here's how the repair went.
I removed the panel under the wet storage area to access the paddlewheel assembly which uses and airmar plastic through hull unit.
If I had known that the inner edge of that cut out had so many loose strands of fiberglass I would have worn long sleeves. Also if anyone winds up doing this repair or others in there, wear gloves! I got a fiberglass shard under the fingernail which made me stand up and see stars.
Before the tops off you have to loosen the top clamp on the clean-out port tube, and then gently move the whole unit over if you're not disconnecting the wet storage drain tube.
Once open it was clear I was in the right place. The sensor assembly was right there, secured with safety wire.
Once the safety wire was un-looped, the top of the unit unscrews normally until it touches the round metal loop attached to the top. After that a few turns unscrewed the second retainer ring holding the unit in the Airmar tube. Once they're both unlocked, grab the metal ring and pull the entire unit up out of the tube.
Ha Ha! Uh oh!
I pushed the pin axle out with a punch and out came my broken paddlewheel. Even though the broken paddlewheel still spun by hand, the pin axle was bent upon inspection.
I put the new Wheel in making sure it would face the correct way, and changed all the O-rings with the ones supplied in the package. I noticed that the unit has grooves for 4, although only 2 were used. I decided I'd use all 4 since I had the grooves. I used high vacuum grease on all O-ring replacements, and since this would see constant water infiltration I probably over greased them.
After that it gets pushed back into the Airmar tube facing the right direction, and the two retention caps are tightened and then secured with the safety wire.
I have high hopes that this fixes my problem, I guess I'll have to report back after the rain stops and I get on the lake. I really want a functioning Speedo...
