Alright fellow Vortex fanatics! It’s time to grease your depth finder. So what do you do? Do you just leave it and hope it’s actually working when you need it? Do you pay to have someone take a look at it? I’ll tell you what, the most common issue with the through hull is the grease degrading over time. Simple fix!
So first thing you need to do is get your materials. I used the Quicksilver 2-4-C with PTFE. It’s about $11.00 on Amazon! Yes! You read that right, this is an $11.00 fix! Quicksilver 802859Q1 2-4-C Marine Grease with Teflon – Multi-Purpose Marine Lubricant – 8oz Tube https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i…
So you have your grease, I also used two regular old terry cloth towels. The whole repair took me about 30 minutes. But 10 of that was figuring out what music I wanted, another 10 was texting back and forth with Jason Skinner, then about 2 minutes to put up my Bimini for some shade. So all in all it took about 8 minutes to fix. So once you have your music picked, I went with Randy Rogers Band, you’re going to raise your engine hatch. (See pictures)
Then you’re going to locate the depth finder (also see pictures) in the engine bay. It’s typically a large black plastic square piece. Pay attention to which side the wire is coming out, it’s angled and that’s an easy way to know which way to put it back in. Once you locate it, squeeze the clips (how? You guessed it, see the pictures) on the side and lift straight up to remove. You’ll see the grease has degraded and is making minimal coverage. Use one of the terry cloth rags to wipe off the old grease from the bottom and from inside the bracket. Then smear a small layer on the bottom of the depth finder, you don’t have to but I do to endure there’s good contact and minimize any possibility of air pockets.
Then you’ll go ahead and fill the bracket. I filled mine about 1/4 to 1/2 of the way with grease. Then take your second terry cloth towel and place it around the bracket. There is a weep hole on the side of it so when you push the depth gauge back in it squirts out the excess and purges the air pockets. Press it down firmly until you hear both tabs click.
Wipe up the excess and viola! You’re done! Feel free to reach out with any questions. Happy boating to y’all!
Quicksilver 802859Q1 2-4-C Marine Grease with Teflon – Multi-Purpose Marine Lubricant – 8oz Tube https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i…
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