Horn does not work.

K

ken35216

New member
I just back from a nice 18 day cruise of SW Florida. I put in in St Petersburg and went down to Ft Myers and back. I really do love it down there.

The first morning as I was leaving St Pete I was boarded by the Coast Guard for an inspection. I had an inspection done at my marina and had a 2019 sticker but the CC guy said does not matter. So I welcomed them aboard and wanted him to know that C-Dory owners are safe boaters.

Everything went well and I had everything, feeling smug, then he asked if I had a horn or whistle. I said "of course" and pushed the horn button....

IMG_2045.sized.jpg

The horn is located above the helm window, under the overhang, above the windshield wiper.

:crook :cry
 
Seadog says:

"MaxBlast Single Mini Compact Horn is constructed of an injection molded housing under a stamped 304 stainless steel cover. Corrosion resistant stainless steel cover protects the internal components. After a 600 hour salt spray test, this electric horn was completely rust-free! Mounting bracket can be used as a wiring template. When installed, horns should point slightly downward to permit water drainage."

I'm calling bs on the corrosion resistant stainless steel part!
 
Here is the horn button:

Just an FYI to Northwest Marine Industry... white lettering with gray background is HARD TO SEE WITH OLD EYES!!!!

IMG_2043.jpg Here is the wiring behind it. Th...he rusted horn? [ATTACH=full]121696[/ATTACH]
 
Ken,
Mine crapped out also. Resons were the same... I was going to focus on a really nice horn, but it would not fit the space, up under the eyebrow.
I ended up buying the one listed below. It fits the space and should last about 10 years, as the previous one did... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019 ... UTF8&psc=1
Lastly, I have an air horn laying near the shifter, in case I have a failure and have a need for an extra horn in the future.
 
srbaum":81uipj1v said:
Ken,
Mine crapped out also. Resons were the same... I was going to focus on a really nice horn, but it would not fit the space, up under the eyebrow.
I ended up buying the one listed below. It fits the space and should last about 10 years, as the previous one did... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019 ... UTF8&psc=1
Lastly, I have an air horn laying near the shifter, in case I have a failure and have a need for an extra horn in the future.
Click to expand...

I bought an extra air horn a couple of days later. I'm going to keep it near the shifter too (good idea) as the horn will go out at the exact moment you really need it! Like an inspection or worse warning another boat.

Will the existing wiring work to add that horn?
 
Ken,
I cut the old wires near the old horn and mounted the new horn and used crimp connectors that are heat sealed. It saved me time and effort, from running new wire back to the switch. I was fortunate that that new horn also had the same screw mount pattern as the old one (no new holes and the job took less than 20 minutes).
Example: https://www.amazon.com/Kuject-Connector ... al&sr=1-13
 
The yellow wire on the left was not plugged in anything and it's the one for the horn... could that be causing the problem or is it the rusted horn?
Click to expand...

The little yellow wire is usually the illumination circuit--goes on when you turn the running lights on. Probably the cheap Chinese SS on the horn...you could take it apart--it is just a coil and a plate which vibrates--very simple... or you could buy a new one...probably 50/50 as far as work.

Or you could get one of those "train horns" which are 135 dB....Wolo makes cheap plastic ones, which don't rust--no tank, and work fairly well--about 10x the sound level of the standard C Dory issue.
 
Good point to note that we should be carrying a backup horn, such as the can air, or there are also manual horns available. Also a good idea to check them (both the electric and the back) up occasionally.

I was at Sucia Island one time when a fellow came in on a TC24, recently purchased, and this was their maiden voyage. I noticed that the VHF antenna looked damaged. When I asked him about it he admitted that the VHF did not work. I asked him about the horn and he said "It's right here", pointing to the switch, but when he pushed the button there was deafening . . . silence.

He came up to Sucia Island from Everett with no signaling device, and was going to go back same way, with wife and kids and a couple of relatives on board.

I recommended that he get a voluntary safety inspection done, and gave him a canned air horn to take with him as a reminder.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

January_2010_344.thumb.jpg
 
When mine quit working, I took it off and dug all of the mud out of it that the Mud dubber Wasps had put inside. :sad

Now it has a piece of window screen over the opening. :wink
 
Hi Bob,
Hey, regarding those Wolo Train Horns you mentioned. My horn works, but I like the idea of something that is much louder! Can you provide a little more information? Like which model horn? Thanks. Colby
 
My horn died last year. Got a replacement online. The original sounded like a horn from a much larger boat. It was kind of funny to have such a deep sounding horn on a relatively small boat. The new horn just sounds like a regular car horn and is not as attention getting.

The form factor of the new horn is the same as the old one. Too bad it doesn't sound the same.
 
colbysmith":17hp069u said:
Hi Bob,
Hey, regarding those Wolo Train Horns you mentioned. My horn works, but I like the idea of something that is much louder! Can you provide a little more information? Like which model horn? Thanks. Colby
Click to expand...

I'd like to know that also.

Loud horns save lives or something like that (Harley Davidson fans).
 
my horn is on the way out too. I'm curious about a good replacement. What the boat came with is so quiet it's useless even when it did work. I just have no idea how i'd mount a horn under the visor.
 
ken35216":81q94926 said:
Loud horns save lives or something like that (Harley Davidson fans).
Click to expand...

I put air horns on my last Harley.
When I went down to get my MC endorsement on my Hodaka Wombat the horn didn't work and they would not pass me account of that. Fix it, he said.
I went to Coast-To-Coast and bought a bicycle squeeze bulb horn. The examiner didn't like it but it was legal. He rolled his eyes as he gave me the paperwork. Ha!
One other guy was trying to get his endorsement at the same time. He was a county commissioner with an identical Wombat in the back of his pickup.
His looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor and mine looked like it had seen lots of dirt. He looked down his nose at the long haired kid on the dirty dirt bike... and failed the riding test. Ha!
 
ken35216":2jejv2nh said:
colbysmith":2jejv2nh said:
Hi Bob,
Hey, regarding those Wolo Train Horns you mentioned. My horn works, but I like the idea of something that is much louder! Can you provide a little more information? Like which model horn? Thanks. Colby
Click to expand...

I'd like to know that also.

Loud horns save lives or something like that (Harley Davidson fans).
Click to expand...

I would also be interested. I still have the originals, ( a duel sound set, that I thought were fairly loud. Works if you are backing out of a slop in the marina, BUT, last summer up in the Broughtons Andy and I were doing some testing (Fog horns) and were very surprised to see how short a distance any of the horns were audible at. The canned air horn came out the best, but at 1/4 mile even they were only faint.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

January_2010_344.thumb.jpg
 
Conrad,
TomCats usually use a roof mounted trumpet horn with wiring routed through the roof. No way to fit one under the eyebrow, and it sound only to one side.

The AFI XLP premium unit uses more SS parts and has a 5-year warranty, the best you will find.

Water/rain being forced down the trumpet into the diaphram and motor kills them quick, which is why the front mount is slightly lower than the rear for a downhill slant. Plugging the trumpet while trailering through a rainstorm might also keep water being forced in at 70MPH.

Others had a 1-2 year life expectancy, this one still strong at 3 years.

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/afi-mar ... umpet-horn

Happy shopping!
John
 
gulfcoast john":2at1glfk said:
Conrad,
TomCats usually use a roof mounted trumpet horn with wiring routed through the roof. No way to fit one under the eyebrow, and it sound only to one side.

The AFI XLP premium unit uses more SS parts and has a 5-year warranty, the best you will find.

Water/rain being forced down the trumpet into the diaphram and motor kills them quick, which is why the front mount is slightly lower than the rear for a downhill slant. Plugging the trumpet while trailering through a rainstorm might also keep water being forced in at 70MPH.

Others had a 1-2 year life expectancy, this one still strong at 3 years.

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/afi-mar ... umpet-horn

Happy shopping!
John
Click to expand...
 
gulfcoast john":bjt0wvz5 said:
Conrad,
TomCats usually use a roof mounted trumpet horn with wiring routed through the roof. No way to fit one under the eyebrow, and it sound only to one side.

The AFI XLP premium unit uses more SS parts and has a 5-year warranty, the best you will find.

Water/rain being forced down the trumpet into the diaphram and motor kills them quick, which is why the front mount is slightly lower than the rear for a downhill slant. Plugging the trumpet while trailering through a rainstorm might also keep water being forced in at 70MPH.

Others had a 1-2 year life expectancy, this one still strong at 3 years.

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/afi-mar ... umpet-horn

Happy shopping!
John
Click to expand...

I'd have to run it all the way back to the radar arch otherwise it would interfere with kayaks and dingys. I think i'll replace the cheapo original one with some junk from autozone to maintain my legal compliance. I still have a PA that i can scream over...
 
gulfcoast john":2vpzgdko said:
Conrad,
TomCats usually use a roof mounted trumpet horn with wiring routed through the roof. No way to fit one under the eyebrow, and it sound only to one side.
Click to expand...

You might say "some Tom Cats"--Mine, and I don't remember any of the 2006 to 2007 era having a roof mounted trumpet horn--there is more room under the eyebrow of the Tom Cat than under the 22--and the 22's (and 25's) have the horn under the eyebrow.

The first air horn I had was a manually operated "Grover", which used a large tire pump type of device to sound the horn--and it sure beat blowing thru a tin whistle type that was the norm even up to the early 60's. On two of my larger boats I had a dual trumpet air horn, by Grover, which used a compressor right at the base--there was a mournful ramp up before full sound, but it worked pretty well--and was heard at over a mile away. The 65 foot ferrocement boat across the gangway from me in the early 80's had a real train horn. It was at least 3 bells, and was audible for several miles. The owner got a kick of bringing his boat near one of the bridges in Belmont Shore Long Beach and sounding it. Pretty much the response the videos show with the kids of today, and train horns under the mini car...In the Symbol trawler, I had a 12 volt compressor, and 3 gallon tank, with a solenoid valvue--that would rivel the Hadley Dual horn I had on my RV.

John, there are defectors which go in front of the bells of the truck air horns--not much to muffle the sound, but keeps the water out.


Here us a link to Wolo horns. Cheap, plastic and seem to hold up reasonably well.. You probably could mount one plastic chrome plated horn under the eyebrow. It would require the compressor on the inside (probably on the top shelf forward)--with that, it would probably last quite a few years.

Ref the canned air horns. We were picked for a "safety inspection" after we had crossed one of the Oregon bars in our Cal 46. A crusty older bosun's mate was in charge, and a new seawoman was doing the inspection. When the horn issue came up. I noted the air horn on the radar arch, and blew it at request. We were in the main saloon. I also showed the gal the canned air horn. She said "blow it". The Bosun'smate started to grab my hand as I reached for it (and my hearing protection)..."not necessary".. Then he lectured the gal about loud noises in confined spaces.
 
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