Replacement horn 1991 350 Sundancer

[Nauticouple]

I need a new horn. I bought the closest thing I could find to replace the AFI that is on there now. I ended up with a Marinco probably not the best but I didn’t want to drill new holes in the deck and felt I could adopt the existing to the new horn.

I still think this is possible but I cannot determined how to remove the existing horn. From what I can see it’s held down by two bolts that run UP through the deck. Does this mean I have to remove the headliner just to get at these two bolts?

was this the OEM design and if so who the F thought that was a good idea for a part that almost certainly has to be replaced on a recurring basis.

Advice please!

worst case scenario is it possible to rebuilt the intervals to these horns? I would probably rather live with their poor condition than to be ripping down the headliner

thanks

roger

 

[Pirate Lady]

i just went thru this 2 months ago, Marinco is the new AFI. unfortunately, the bracket that attaches to the deck if different between the 2 (even though they look the same, so you cant just bolt the new horn to the existing bracket.
i will have to look at it tonight to refresh my memory and get back to you but i definitely did not have to remove the headliner.

 

[Pirate Lady]

PS. i have a different problem. the wires from the horn get lost somewhere behind the headliner. no wires go to the dash switch. so i have a real nice new $90 horn on the deck that is non-functional. i keep one of those airhorn cans on the boat in case of emergency. 2 years ago before i bought the boat, previous owner had a new headliner put in cabin, so god only knows what they did with the horn wires. and like you, i am not ripping it down. so worse case, get an airhorn can.

 

[Nauticouple]

Yeah stupid design all around. Herr is what I have found. I was able to get the old horn off by unscrewing it from the bracket. Then you can carefully remove the bracket from the bolt by unscrewing it but be careful about the lead wire.

Now I have the horn off and the original pads still on the boat. I looked at reworking the bracket but so far no go but I’ll keep trying. If not I’ll probably just gorilla glue the horn section to the top of the old pad.

taking apart the new Marinco you can find a way to run the original lead wire into the can and then reassemble it so it looks seamless.

It’s gonna take some effort but a lot less then removing the headliner.

your issue sounds a lot tougher!

 

[Pirate Lady]

Wife had a doable idea that i am still pondering. Leave the fancy horn up on deck, get one of those little round horns like you see on bow riders, mount it on the side by the vhf antenna mount and pass the wires thru the side right next to the dash and easy feed to dash switch. prolly fit the horn wires thru the same hole along with the VHF antenna coax wire. prolly not do anything until on blocks for winter when i can make decision and take time to do right.

 

[Mac-Daddy-Minnesota]

I had a set of the trumpets on my deck as well. Mine was full of mud bees and rusted out internally. Found something close. I had to drill new holes for the mount as it was not the same as the OEM. As for the headliner, I did not need to cut it for the horn mount. I did for the new wires as mine were causing too much load loss for the new horn. If you are careful, it can be patched or covered easily. Love the way they run the wires on the ceiling with tape, then cover with carpet.

 

[Nauticouple]

It’s a crappy design considering these exposed horns will be replaced multiple times over the life of the boat.

I got mine done without drilling a hole or removing the headliner, but it meant disassembling the new horn and fabbing some new mounts out of the material from the originals. Can’t say I’m too impressed with the sound, one of them seems to half the volume of the other so I’ll probably dig into them one more time.

 

[John Monte]

My wire broke just inside the deck behind the horn. I’m thinking about using a hole-saw and then using adhesive to secure in back after fixing the wires.

 

[Pirate Lady]

I have a broken/bad horn wire somewhere behind the headliner. Rather than started hacking things apart. I am going to move the horn from the deck to the starboard side wall next to the vhf antenna. Be a straight shot thru to under the dashboard to the button. Then will fill the deck holes with 4200.
Some SeaRays already come with the horn in that location. Not mine....