Share Your Innovations

[tagyak]

well i finally got tired with fiddling with my bait tank switch. i was in san diego this past weekend and got a chance to stop by west marine. i picked up a new switch a plasticized on/off toggle switch with a rubber boot. i picked this one since it had a rubber boot and hopefully it will keep the water from seeping into the wiring.

first i removed the old switch. simply turn the knob with adjustable pliers and it will unscrew and come off. do the same with the nut.
i had to make the hole bigger on the bait tank to accomodate the new toggle switch. i ended up using a 31/64 bit. then i adjusted the length of the wires and soldered the ends and also used heat shrink. i am not sure if it is marine grade heat shrink so i also used marine goop.
once the connections were soldered and the goop was dry i installed the toggle switch to the bait tank. after i had tightened it down, i also applied some goop to the outside of the toggle switch before i attached the rubber boot. i ended up placing the toggle switch "on" position facing down and toggle switch "off" facing up. i had noticed that when i had the old switch my elbow would knock into it and turn it off. i am hoping that with the switch "on" position facing down that i won't have this issue any more.

the last pictures shows my intake tube. i heard from others that they had experienced theirs getting clogged. i had placed some wire screen into mine. i used the ones from the 99 cent stores that you would buy to use in your bathroom sinks at home. just worked my fingers to push out and form a nice shape that would just fit into the intake. then used a stick to push it into the bottom of the intake. after each time coming back i rinse water thru the tube and also spray wd-40 onto the screen. it has helped from it rusting out so fast. hope that this makes sense to you guys. if you need more details let me know.

[dsafety]

Nice switch upgrade. I am not sure if it will last any longer than the stock Hobie switch but you have probably solved the problem of turning off the pump with an inadvertent elbow bump.

In my experience, the screens on the intake tube only help a little. Sometimes they make things worse if there is a lot of slime in the water that gets caked on the intake. I got rid of my screen and and installed a bit of flexible tubing to the output end of the pump inside the tank, (see an earlier post in this thread). When my pump gets clogged I insert a small piece of sprinkler riser into the tubing and blow some air into the system. Whatever is clogging the intake gets dislodged and the unit starts working again.

It works great.

Bob