2005 Air Nautique 226 - Does this look right?

[Msajecki]

I was waxing my boat over the weekend and noticed that both of these (not sure if they are the Perfect Pass sensors) appear to not be tightened snug to the hull. Should they be?

They appear to be spaced differently from each other. Should they be snug against the hull?

[NautiqueJeff]

I assume you're talking about the pitot tubes (although I have never seen a paddlewheel mounted like yours). Yes, the pitot tubes could be tightened down a little.

[Msajecki]

I just did a Google search on Nautique Pilot Tubes, looked at other images, actually found one on the forum, and it was also spaced off the hull, similar to the image of mine. So, I just torque those nuts down to snug?

[BigBen_UK]

There's nothing clever about that mounting, it just needs to hold the tube end firmly in the flow of water, I can't think of a reason you'd want to have them loose or spaced from the hull unless they are 3rd party ones that don't fit the hull mounts correctly ? (that starboard one looks like there's something between the plates stopping you from tightening down ?)

[core-rider]

They are mounted correctly... They stand off the base just a bit because there is a small metal ball and a spring in front of it that put tension on the pickup tube. If something hits the pickup it will flip up out of the way to help keep from damaging it. If you tighten down the nuts where there is no gap the spring tension will be more and it may not flip up properly causing the pickup to be broken off. Mine came from the factory like that in 2003.

[markj]

My 2005 210 was just like the one in the pic and I used to wonder the same thing. Mine had a wider gap at the bottom too.

[homer12]

My pitot tube pickups look the same on my 211.