Bigger diameter pedestal guard, possible to fit?

[coopec]

I dont want to hijack the post but you very rarely see those pedestals on cruising boats out here in the Caribbean. If you sail long distance you dont tend to sit behind the wheel for days on end. You sit under the sprayhood out of the sun and wind. If you do that then you need all sailing instrumentation under the sprayhood. The only thing we have at the pedestal are the engine controls and autopilot control head. We also have another autopilot control head under the sprayhood. If I was to sit behind the wheel I wouldnt be able to see past all that stuff on the pedestal!

Thank you for that. I am just about to have my "grab bar" (?) bent up and I will take your advice. You mention engine controls and auto-pilot head at the pedestal. What about compass? As you have an auto-pilot is there any need to spend big on a compass?

 

[Daverw]

I would not bother with compass, auto pilot shows heading and if this failed others available, last resort I would get the hand bearing compass out.

 

[geem]

I would suggest that you both fit your instruments any place that suits you The OP asked for advice on how to modify his pedestal, neither of your posts are useful.

For your information, the OP is based East Coast UK and if he tried to sail his boat Ocean style, he'd spend a lot of time parked o

Thank you for that. I am just about to have my "grab bar" (?) bent up and I will take your advice. You mention engine controls and auto-pilot head at the pedestal. What about compass? As you have an auto-pilot is there any need to spend big on a compass?

we have bulkhead compasses on port and starboard sides of the cockpit. One either side of the companionway. To be honest we rarely use them. We have a digital compass as part of our Raymarine suite of instruments.

 

[Resolution]

Interestingly, I started this thread asking for advice about fitting a wider diameter pedestal guard.... ok .. let's let our old friend Fred Drift out to play!

I / we don't have a whole crew, just the two of us and 2 kids.
So, when helming we want everything in front of us, Radio, Instruments, Plotter, Autopilot. In a MOB situation, one person can hit the Mayday on the RAM, hit the MOB button on the plotter, engage the autopilot and get the sails under control without moving very far.

We are not putting a tower in, just a single bank about this size with a 7" plotter in the middle, multi-function display on one side, and auto-pilot on the other.
View attachment 82493

This gives us what we want, to suit our sailing plans and style. This is not going to block our forward view when standing, and when sitting we sit on the high side.

Your style may be different, this is what we have decided suits us.

OP, the setup you describe is very similar to the one we installed six years ago, since when we have happily cruised the Baltic and the length of the Med. We have the autohelm control down by the engine instruments. Usually four up , quite a lot of hand steering because it is more interesting than sitting as a passenger with the autohelm doing all the work. Almost all my crew have commented on how useful it is having a chartplotter right in front of the standing helm, particularly in tricky navigational circumstances (like the Stockholm archipelago!!).
Go for it and ignore the negative comments.

 

[dolabriform]

I would not bother with compass, auto pilot shows heading and if this failed others available, last resort I would get the hand bearing compass out.

Just to play devil's advocate, but what if your electronics fail and you're in fog?

Are you really going to be able to steer a course using a hand bearing compass?

 

[LadyInBed]

Re enlarging holes, are the hole centers the same distance apart?

 

[dolabriform]

Re enlarging holes, are the hole centers the same distance apart?

If my tape measuring abilities are up to scratch then yes they are

Both are 12" center to center from what I can see.

 

[DavidMcMullan]

When servicing my binnacle (a Lewmar Cobra(?)), the top plate was in fibreglass and the pedestal below cast aluminum. I sheared off one of the stainless steel screws taking the top plate off, which made it a bigger job than planned. If you can get the top plate off easily, which you may need to do in the future to grease the gears inside, it will be a neater job to enlarge the holes in a workshop environment.

 

[Daverw]

Just to play devil's advocate, but what if your electronics fail and you're in fog?

Are you really going to be able to steer a course using a hand bearing compass?

if your in thick fog not sure how much more accurate your pedestal compass would be for course over ground as you would need to sight to get positions. I think the worry about loosing power all the time and all electronics fail is becoming a bit of a bore to me. With all the redundancy a lot of us have on board, probably more than most airline pilots. i always have a fully charged phone with power pod spare which would give me at least 24 hours of powe.

 

[Resolution]

Just to play devil's advocate, but what if your electronics fail and you're in fog?

Are you really going to be able to steer a course using a hand bearing compass?

If the main chartplotter should fail, we usually have between three and five other tablets on board with GPS chart systems which could be used for navigation. Plus two hand held compasses. And the pedestal compass.