pilothouse trumpet horns

[Anonymous]

As anyone who has owned a Parker pilothouse for any length of time and taken her out in heavy seas knows, the horns have a problem with failure due to salt water intrusion. This season I want to put a wedge of starboard or something under the horn to tilt it down in an effort to make it more difficult for the salt water to enter. Anyone try a similar project and did it work? I'm determined to solve this problem.

 

[WhalinDave]

I've replaced 2 sets of horns so far. The last set were made by Ongaro and are supposed to be all stainless internally. We'll see. I thought about tilting them down as far as possible, but figured they would still get lots of salt spray exposure due to their location. I've seen guys mount them facing the stern although that seems to somewhat defeat their purpose. I've also thought about covering the trumpets with cheap latex gloves before leaving for any extended trip. I keep a handfull in my tacklebox. That will probably be my next solution depending on how the Ongaros hold up.

 

[jpg1969]

Not a solution but some good info:

I had the 15 1/2" "Signaltones" made by FIAMM installed on my 2002, which started sounding like a wounded duck at the end of last season due to corrosion. They are guaranteed by FIAMM for the life of the boat/vehicle they are installed on. I sent it back and they made good on the warranty.

 

[Porkchunker]

Megabyte is the king of horns. I followed his guidance and after replacing my horns every year for three years, I finally installed a set of Ongaro. So far so good.

I was thinking of placing a condom over each horn to keep the water out. But latex gloves would be cheaper, and not draw so much attention. :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[Megabyte]

I was thinking of placing a condom over each horn to keep the water out.

If you do it, I will too. :mrgreen:

Ongaro is what I put on mine. So far, no issues.

 

[Ranger Tim]

Finally, a topic on which I might actually have some type of beneficial input! Did I say I love this board? Anyway...

My horns are Ongaro from the factory ('04) and I started having trouble within six months. One horn would sound the "wounded duck" call , then barely vibrated and I guess it was from the saltwater. My attempts to invade the horn itself did not bear fruit and, in a moment of frustration, I pumped a healthy dose of Boeshield T-9 into it (it just happened to be sitting nearby). Well, that killed it. Nothing, no sound or anything. I figured I would live off one horn for as long as it lasted, then do the replacement.

About three weeks later I was on the water and was goofing around with my guests when to my amazement both horns were working. Not only that, the formerly inoperable horn was as good as new! I immediately sprayed the other horn and the same phenomenon was experienced. First, no sound at all, then, like a firebird rising from the ashes, full bodied sonorous trumpeting a week later!

So, if your horn is not working, try the Boeshield spray cure. What have you got to lose? I merely spray them out with fresh water after every trip now and they are still blasting. That Boeshield stuff works great under the engine cowling too.

 

[tara11]

I have no idea what horns I got, but my boat is a 2006, and the horns are not loud at all, the sound like a low fog horn, I will have to test again, but the condom got me thinking :lol: 8)

 

[DaleH]

That Boeshield stuff works great under the engine cowling too.

FWIW I have had issues with Boeshield T9 when used on "dynamic" parts, i.e., that need to be free to move. Boeshield stuck up my shift-interrupt switch so bad that I had to remove the starboard lower cowling and clean off the switch with WD40. Over the years, the T9 gooped up into an unmovable mass of gunk, causing the switch to fail.

It's great for static or non-moving parts, but if it needs to move, IMHO a combo lubricatant/anti-corrosion lube would be better, like BreakFree.

 

[Anonymous]

Dave, My Ongaros did not last very long, maybe six months. Probably not a bad idea to cover them for long trips in rough weather if we can't come up with another solution. I'm trying hard to not to make a joke about the condom solution. :lol: I'm thinking about even drilling a hole on either side of the trumpet and making a flap that could fit on the front of the trumpet that could shut the water out. Maybe even a little hinge on the top of the trumpet to let the flap swing on? We're going to lick this thing.

 

[susqking]

I hope these Ongaros work, I ordered a set last week and expect them to arrive any day and they aren't cheap. Don'y they have a 5 year warranty.

 

[Megabyte]

I'm thinking about even drilling a hole on either side of the trumpet and making a flap that could fit on the front of the trumpet that could shut the water out. Maybe even a little hinge on the top of the trumpet to let the flap swing on?

Grover, the big-truck air horn company used to offer chrome 'covers' that went over the front of the horn bell, but had standoffs so that the sound still came out loud and true. We had them on our fire apparatus for years and they kept water out of those horns. If we could find a set of them...

 

[Porkchunker]

Dave, My Ongaros did not last very long, ... Probably not a bad idea to cover them for long trips in rough weather if we can't come up with another solution. I'm trying hard to not to make a joke about the condom solution. :lol: ...

I fought in the 1st Gulf War with the Big Red One--they perfected the use of condoms to protect the muzzle of their individual weapons. So...I have a link to the past, and not bashful. Maybe I need to put a Big Red One patch on the side of the boat whenever I fly a pair of condoms.

 

[cbigma]

How about true "Air" horns driven by a little compressor? Is it the electrical components that get trashed in our current horns up on top of the PH, or is it just -any- moving parts up there?

We could mount the bottle-sized electrical compressor inside,(maybe under the dash) and just run the plastic tubing up and out where the electrical feed goes through the roof now.

Would a simple brass diaphragm that would be the (non-electrical) sound producing part of an air horn also get trashed? hmmm...

Anyone try this yet?

I had a set of compressor-driven air horns on an old Ford Pickup once.....Very, very effective. :shock: :shock:

 

[Megabyte]

I researched the 12v air pump powered horns last winter when I was looking for a replacement solution.

Bottom line was that they were expensive, and the sound output was in the 120db range. The Ongaro horns put out 122db.

For me, the choice was easy.
Of course... if something new has come out in the past year, that could change things.

 

[ewaterma]

I just replaced the Signaltone on my 2000 2110 with an Ongaro single Mini. Thought the round shape might be less susceptible getting salt water inside. So far, so good.

Only 108 decibles though.

Ed

 

[cbigma]

I don't get it...don't they used compressed-air powered foghorns on unmanned buoys and platforms all up and down the coast? How come they aren't trash after a single season? What's the secret? :?:

Are they protected or mounted in a special way?

Any ex-Coasties out there?

 

[dcunniff]

I replaced an AFI horn and put a wedge block below it to aim it downward somewhat. It is 1 1/2" in the back and 1" in the front so the horn flare is just off the cabin top.

I didn't go with the bigger dual trumpet original though I may whenever this one dies. It has been on since 2001 and still going. Would not get two years out of one before. The one on now is an AFI 23 dual compact horn.

Have heard of people putting the deflectors on the horn faces as others have mentioned.

 

[dry doc]

all,

get rid of `em....they are just maintenence problems.....nobody
uses horn signals....carry a hand held horn for uscg regs ( i can refer
you to a good one)......the noise level of smaller boats precludes them
hearing you, and the cozy cabin of larger boats ditto.....nobody will
ever hear them...they are just goo-gaws......dan

 

[DaleH]

Best trick for horns (against saltwater intrusion) I've ever seen has been to mount them down the side of the outboard window frame like shown below ...

 

[Megabyte]

When I was in the market to upgrade my VHF, I very nearly bought the Icom 602 (rather than the 502) because it had an integrated electronic hailer, horn, and automated fog signals.

If you went that route, you'd be heard... but would still need to mount the marine speaker in place of the electric horn.

It's an option...