Horn Advice

[Midnightsun]

My dual electric trumpets bit the bullet. This spring they started sounding squeeky so to say and now they quit all together. Is it worth trying to repair them, are they servicable or should I just replace with new. New set is about $100.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07436RR8J/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[bud37]

If you get a lot of fog out your way consider an automatic sounding system with a serious horn attached. It will be more than 100.00... ....but you will be more than obvious if caught out.
If the back will come off they can be messed with, small adjusting screw, or spray contact cleaner with lube in trumpet end. They used to come apart but who knows with the newer stuff.

[Midnightsun]

No fog here, maybe a few times a year at best but it dissipates when the sun comes up. Had triple train horns on my previous boat with seperate compressor and tank. Had to block my ears and warn others on board I was going to let her rip. Was obviously too loud.

[km1125]

They are almost always repairable. Look at the back of the horn and see if there's a single screw in the middle. It's usually covered by a sticker. When you take that screw off, you can remove the "bell" cover on the back. Sometimes that cover is stuck though. Once I got the screw out but couldn't get the cover off. I pried and pried, trying not to damage it. I took a break and went and started doing other things on the boat. At some point I heard a 'ding, ding, ding, splash", which I thought was weird but it ended up being the cap that popped off and bounced on various parts of the boat before it went in the drink.

That exposed the guts though, so all I did was change the adjusting screw and bit and the horn came back to life. There are little contacts you can see in there that can be cleaned, but just judicious periodic use of the horn will keep them clean too. So I make a habit of testing the horn every time we're out cruising around.

Years later I had a diver friend go into the slip to find my dock neighbor's watch that he dropped. The diver actually found the missing horn part as well as a canvas salon window cover that had blown off years prior, as well as many other 'interesting" finds. That was ~15 years ago and I'm still using the same horns.

That said, I'll also say that you should check all the connections too for corrosion. Horns need a burst of current right at the start to work and if they don't see that they won't work. If the switch contacts are corroded (internally) it can do the same thing. If you can get to the wiring right at the horn you can apply voltage right there from a portable power source (like a jump box) to see if that could be the issue.

[denpooch]

Personally I like the idea of your previous boats triple trumpet with compressed air!
I like a loud horn so that when its needed, I will be noticed! Hey...gotta love sounding like the Queen Mary!
I purchased a dual trumpet electric (would have used air but the install would be a pain) with the highest db rating I could find. I think its probably worth purchasing new because you will not be replacing it any time soon.

[g36]

Train horn like at hockey games.

[Midnightsun]

May need to go with one of these. Plenty of room to mount the 37" horn and under the dash is an easy install for the compressor/tank. There is a listen to the horn button on the link.

https://hornblasters.com/products/hornb ... ug-37-127v

[km1125]

Source of the post Personally I like the idea of your previous boats triple trumpet with compressed air!
I like a loud horn so that when its needed, I will be noticed! Hey...gotta love sounding like the Queen Mary!
I purchased a dual trumpet electric (would have used air but the install would be a pain) with the highest db rating I could find. I think its probably worth purchasing new because you will not be replacing it any time soon.

One of the cool features on compressed air horns is that they actually start softer than an electric horn. Takes a few cycles to get up to full volume vs an electric that's immediate. The timing of that ramp-up can also be turned by where you put the air solenoid (farther from the horn = more ramp up time)

A friend of mine had a Sea Ray 48 Sedan Bridge. The PO had upgraded the old electric with an airhorn with 5 horns. It sounded very nice and approached "cruise ship" horn status.

[waybomb]

A pair of Kahlenbergh D2.
Say no more....

[vineyardgray]

My boat came with dual air horns and the only reason they didn't work was because spiders had laid so many nests in them over the years that they were jammed full of spider cotton. A quick rinse out and I was back in business, although it took a few tries to get the horns properly seated against the diaphragm.