180 Sportsman Horn Assembly

[Parthery]

The horn on my 180 quit working. When I took it apart it was, predictably, a bucket of rust.

The assembly is interesting though...the horn itself is encased in an ABS plastic holder, that, from the outside, almost looks like a cupholder. The bolt holding the horn to the casing is also covered in rust, and despite my best efforts to soak it in PB Blaster, is going to break before I can get the whole assembly apart.

A call to GW Customer Service yielded me the fact that the assembly was designed by a company called ITS, and - of course - hasn't been used in years. Linda in GW's parts division gave me the part number, but it's long since been discontinued. I managed to hunt down ITS on the web and sent an email to them, but haven't heard back.

Has anyone had to replace the assembly? Any suggestions? If I have to I will create a cover out of Starboard, drill a 2.75 hole, and drop in a new flush mount horn. It would be easier though, to replace the assembly if I can find one....

 

[cuttyhunk]

I had the same problem on my 1996 Tournament 192.
Bought a new horn, drilled new holes and put a grill over it with a piece of Tyvek sealed with painters caulk under the grill to prevent water infiltration.
Kind of a hack, but it works and nobody ever noticed but me.
One of these days I will plug the old hole with 3/4" plywood, gelcoat it and drill the right hole for the horn and use the grill that came with the horn.

 

[Parthery]

I wound up doing something similar. Had Fin-Addict make me a 1/4" piece of GW almond colored starboard - 4" x 4". In the middle of the panel, a 2.75 hole was drilled. Dropped in a new AFI flush mount horn and installed the panel where the flush grille was. Good as new....