Here's that usefull link to the Alpha II sterndrive manual

Our boat is a 91 and I have never had a problem with the Pitot speedo. Even after it living in the Toledo Maumee River 4 seasons and Indiana lakes for 5 seasons. Granted I never hit a log...Surprising I never had with the Maumee River junk floating around.

Yeah, I already know how fast my boat can go, so I don't "need" the speedometer for anything except it's cool to have. I drive the boat by feel and purpose, so I'm OK even without a tach.

I was in Sonoma Lake down at the end of the Dry Creek branch after Yorty Creek and Cherry Creek. I just missed a 3 inch diameter branch sticking 6 inches out of the water. Thanks to whomever tied the empty water bottle to it.

I was moving at no wake speed after that as I approached the no wake zone when a nest of branches just below the surface got me. Hard to see; I was actively looking for obstacles. I even told a boat later on to watch for it and he ran into it, too.

The darn drought and overpopulation of California have the lake pouring water out to keep the flow up in the creeks and rivers for fish survival. I went out again today and new groves of branches are visible that weren't there yesterday.

I wish they would get some of the trees out of Sonoma when the water is low. That is one of my main pet peeves with the lkae as you see a branch sticking up out of the water 50 feet from shore. I always wonder what is just below the surface which is why I stay in the middle of the lake. I have a friend with a early 70's evinrude boat that goes up in yordy creek. I am too worried about damage to venture out there.

Yes, it is a silly design. In the 4 years that I have owned my current boat, the speedo worked reasonably well only 1 of those years. I end up using the gps instead.

This past weekend, I finally reached down to the front of the outdrive to clear the pitot hole - apparently I painted over it when slobbering the outdrive with anti-fouling paint this Spring. Of course, I then forgot to look at it while underway to see if it was working (too used to looking at the GPS)

I am thinking of a way to improve pick-up tube the design, like adding a second pitot tube to the transom and then connect it to the outdrive tube inside the bilge (somewhere). That way, maybe at least 1 of the 2 pick-up points will be working at any given time. Additionally, I was thinking I could also hook up an auxillary tube to the main tube so that I could blow compressed air into the system in order to clear it if/when it gets clogged.

Regardless, I found the 'hydro' speedometer to be accurate (verus GPS) only in the 30 mph range. Below that, it reads too low and above that it reads too high.

Another thing that I have come across is something called a doppler speedometer, which I may try, so long as it ain't too $$$$. Supposedly accurate from 2 mph - 50 mph, which is quite a range. Maybe, just maybe, VDO will come out with a GPS speedo that matches my current gauges (I like everything to match and look original).

For now, I'll just keep that piece of stainless steel wire handy to routinely pick junk out of the pitot on the outdrive.