found something i hate about my parker

[tommyr904]

not sure much can be done but where the horn is located is really dumb.with parker's running bow high anyway why could they not find a better horn settup than they have.the horn's fill up with salt water and only last a year.me and both my buddies have had horn's fail.one has put 2 on his boat,as for me a whistle and a broke horn is gonna have to do.

 

[grouperjim]

mine tilt downward a little so that water drains out after rinsing. however, mine did stop working after the mud daubers got to them. took awhile to dig out all the crap and rinse them clean. now after i clean the boat, i stuff a paper towel in each opening and have not had any further issues.

 

[esfishdoc]

The horns are a common problem I haven't fooled with mine. I have whistles.

Someday I might get around to replacing them with something.

 

[Megabyte]

So far, my Ongaro Marine horns are holding up.
I give both of them a shot of CRC down the throat every now and then which seems to help.

 

[jljj]

I have a hard time with someone saying that a design is dumb. I have done alot more dumb things than not look at how I can assume responsibility for something I purcased. Preventive and predictive maintenance is the key here. Do not criticize unless you have a better idea. One thing you can do as and owner is look at what you can do to prevent horn failure, i.e. cover the openings or store your vessel so as not to be conducive to failure. Again to criticize a design is short sighted. The purpose of this board is to be constructive not destructive and negative.

 

[96TL]

I have a hard time with someone saying that a design is dumb. I have done alot more dumb things than not look at how I can assume responsibility for something I purcased. Preventive and predictive maintenance is the key here. Do not criticize unless you have a better idea. One thing you can do as and owner is look at what you can do to prevent horn failure, i.e. cover the openings or store your vessel so as not to be conducive to failure. Again to criticize a design is short sighted. The purpose of this board is to be constructive not destructive and negative.

I agree with you, but it wouldn't have been that much more involved to mount the horns tilted downwards, or even on the side of the pilothouse facing down.

 

[MaxOut]

I have solved the problem with the horns. You need to make an elevated mounting plate and elevate the rear. I agree it is a poor design and Parker should know better after all these years with the same problem. Mine get water in them when washed on the trailer as they are even at a greater tilt rearward. I am careful not to get water in them but I sometimes have my crew helping. Another thing you can do is drill a small hole just forward of the diaphragm for water to drain out. If you do both of these mods you will not continue to have these problems. I had Parker replace the horns shortly after purchase but quickly had the same problem return. There was nothing wrong with the horns it's the installation. Once they dry out they work perfect again.


Also jIjj I think "dumb" is an appropriate description for Parker to continue to install the horns in this manner and then spend big $$$ replacing them when they could spend little or no money to re think the design? :wink: Don't take it personally as far as I know you didn't engineer this design and if you did everybody makes mistakes (even engineers like myself). It is not a maintenance issue it's and design/installation issue. Properly installed horns do not require regular maintenance to function. If the horns were mounted on the side facing forward and tilted down (like AnnaBella said) they would not fail as often and work just as well. I had these same horns on a 1989 vessel and still worked perfect when sold two years ago.

 

[susqking]

I bought the Ongaro's after mine original set died and they lasted about 6 months, what a waste of money that was. I went with a whistle.

 

[Porkchunker]

At Kevin's suggestion, I installed a pair of Ongaro horns. After the second year, one of the two is not working. Now I'm totally bummed. As often as I use them, I think I'm going to go with a disposable can of air and a plastic screw-on horn.

Dave

aka

 

[Megabyte]

Dave, Try shooting some Kroil in the horn that isn't working.
Heck... spray it in both of them. I've never seen it fail to unstick a stuck part.

You can find it in any shooting supply house or farm store.
Next time I'm in Anglers, I'll let you know if they carry it (I think they do).

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... mid=137203
http://www.jdheritage.net/DeerelyDepart ... s/4001.asp

 

[tommyr904]

I have a hard time with someone saying that a design is dumb. I have done alot more dumb things than not look at how I can assume responsibility for something I purcased. Preventive and predictive maintenance is the key here. Do not criticize unless you have a better idea. One thing you can do as and owner is look at what you can do to prevent horn failure, i.e. cover the openings or store your vessel so as not to be conducive to failure. Again to criticize a design is short sighted. The purpose of this board is to be constructive not destructive and negative.

i guess you take comment's a little to serious.the design is still dumb,not to criticize just stating a fact.it is a problem that could easely be solved with a little change.like an internal horn like most use that is not in the element's.i use my boat a ton and spraynig the inside of the horn each time i use it is not up on the list.i do hose it off after each use and store it in a coverd shed.water is gonna get in there no matter what unless you hang a plastic bag over it during use.

 

[pelagic2530]

easy fix would be to simply cut a wedge of starboard or wood with a hole for the wires and a slot to be able to slide them into the hoel without removing the horn. glue/epoxy/screw/thrubolt it to the pilothouse roof, and attach the horns. the wires probably have enough play to be able to do this without extending the wires. voila, problem solved. Half hour fix (at most) :wink: