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Changing location of speedo pickup


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Still issues with stock location of speedo pickup. My hydraulic lift bunks(fixed-can't adjust them), hit the speedo pickup if the boat is centered perfectly on the lift. I need to have the boat off center by a few inches to have the tabs not hit the bunks and bend and make the paddle wheel stick.

Here's the quesiton:

Would I be better off putting a second pickup closer to center of my boat and disabling the stock one, or just moving the stock location and repairing the current hole this winter? The dealer/mfg lives on my lake and just got an X2- they have they pickups 4 inches off center of beam , so it's no issue on the MC. For some reason, Malibu picked the exact wrong spot.

Pros and Cons are welcomed.

Thanks.

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If you decide to move it, your biggest issue by far & away is to get clean water to the paddlewheel. If you don't achieve that, the speed control will never work right. This means that you can't have anything ahead of it - no plugs, contour in the hull, anything at all. It has to have consistent, clean water moving over it to function properly. I don't know what moving it toward the center of the boat would do to that, but I do know that the bottom of my boat has so many plugs & holes in it that I'd hate to have to try to accomplish that.

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Hey 'top, was wondering the other day what you ended up doing. To answer your question, putting a second paddle wheel shouldn't be too tough at all. You'd want to pull the existing one and installing the 'plug' into the hole to lessen the chances of breaking what's there and having a leak.

I just had a thought on another option to fix the lift. What material are the bunks made of? My lift has plastic / composite 2x6's. If yours is the same, any reason you couldn't take the bunk off and make a few passes on a table saw with a stacked dado cutter set 1/2" deep and remove 10-12" of the bunk material in the area of the paddlewheel? As long as the boat sits in the a similar front to back position while on the lift, you're in good shape. I use ropes on mine to hold the boat and it stays within a few inches front to rear position on the lift. Thinking a side view of the bunk would look something like this:

---------------------__________----------------------- and the paddlewheel would fit in recessed section. Just a thought....

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Didn't do anything yet, but that a decent idea for sure. I've got treated 2/6 wrapped in carpet, so some sort of mod to the board is a cheap attempt at least. Even with that my side to side is a little risky. Right now, the speedo pickup is 2 inches inside the bunk if I center the boat perfect on the lift. The speedo pickup itself is about 20" off center. I'll mess with the lift this summer, and pickup locale once the ice comes.

Thanks for the suggestions.

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If you dado all the way through the board (side to side), I can't see how it would be an issue at all...kind of like it's missing the bunk for that section but would allow you to move the boat sideways as far as req'd

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I'm not sure how your lift is constructed, but if you call a welder, I'm sure they could modify your lift frame to move your bunks a little wider. It may be a fairly easy fix for a good welder.

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If you dado all the way through the board (side to side), I can't see how it would be an issue at all...kind of like it's missing the bunk for that section but would allow you to move the boat sideways as far as req'd

Just cut the carpet and leave the recessed part exposed then? That is a great idea. I was thinking originally that I was going to jigsaw a chunk out of the inside and still have issue with exact placement on lift or still issue, but the recessed large area should get me enough room to be a little sloppy when I pull it in.

Thanks! Biggrin.gif

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