What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

Hello: I have an 85 bayliner and on the back of the boat, to the right of the engine (if you are looking at the back of the boat) there are two hinged pieces of plactic. On is thin, about an inch or two wide, five inches long, and the other is about 3 times larger, both are on hinges. The thin one has a power line coming out of it, and it looks like the same power line as one that is coming out of the outboard (this power line has been cut, before I got the boat)<br /><br />What are these items? Can I just pull them off? Thanks!

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

sounds like the boat had trim tabs and they have broken off yes you can if you are not going to replace them

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

I would love to see a pic of this. I could be wrong, but I think you are describing some kind of speedometer sender. If it were trim tabs they would be over 12 inches wide and there would be one on each side of the drive, with a piston attached. If you can't post a pic here, feel free to email one to me waterone1@aol.com

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

Thanks, I asked the old owner, and he said one was for the speedo, and one for a depth finder, both items I will remove because I do not plan on installing either.

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

Sounds like a simple Transducer mount amd a speedo, and as the DO NOT affect anything, I would leave them there as those are screwed into the transom, and could go all the way through the hull. Ya don't want to sink the boat. If you remove them, get new stainless bolts/screws and some silicon and seal them up.

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

I would leave well enough alone. If you do remove these, make sure that you seal the holes, whether they are deep or not. Even small holes that just go through the gell coat can allow water to get into the fiberglass and start delamination.

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

Thanks, I agree, question: What is a transducer? (same thing as a depth finder?)<br /><br />Also, I have a speedo in the dashboard, (does not work) should I re-hook it up? how difficult is it to do so (and what are the related costs?<br /><br />Thanks all!<br /><br />Max

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

Originally posted by massimofinance:<br /> Thanks, I agree, question: What is a transducer? (same thing as a depth finder?)<br />Max

Click to expand...

Its the thing hanging in the water that does all the work for the depth finder on the dash. On the speedo, never very accurate anyway...leave well enough alone. Won't make the boat go any faster or slower!

Re: What are these two hinged items next to my outboard?

Hell's fire! If you have it then the thing ought to work. One of the things in the water, the pickup for the speedometer, is just a thing that siticks down in the water with a little hole in the front. It picks up water and runs it through a 1/4" tube to the dash where it plugs into the back of the speedometer. What the speedometer actually measures is water pressure.<br /><br />There is another type of speedometer too. With this one the thing on the back would have been a bracket to hold a transducer that had a paddle wheel. As the wheels spins with speed it sends back an electrical pulse that can be read by many machines and displayed as speed. The pulsecount per mile traveled is agreed to by standard, so they are all the same. <br /><br />When the word Transducer is used it is usually in conjunction with a depth finder. Its the part that makes the outgoing "Ping" and listens for the return echo to send a signal to the display unit, up on the dash, which will then interpret the signal and paint a recognizable picture of a screen if that is the sort of machine you have,<br /><br />If I were you I would replace both and do whatever else it took to get them working. I'd do the speedometer just because its sitting right there on the dash staring at you, and it would drive me plum nuts looking at it if it wasn't working, The depth finder just because I think every person operating a boat should know where the bottom is relative to the boat at all times, but particularly when in shallow water and even more so when opperating at speed. It is simply a matter of safety even if you don't fish or have kids who will marvel at the picture of the bottom.<br /><br />Thom