Making a helm pod

[lustyd]

Looking for advice on building a helm pod to take a MFD, two instruments, a/p control and possibly remote mic charger. I've researched pretty thoroughly and it looks like making is the only sensible option as those on the market are either completely impossible to buy in the UK, no longer made, or designed by someone who hasn't seen a real yacht. Many of them are also 8" deep so presumably also designed to take a CRT TV set?

Anyway...I feel the only sensible option for materials on a homemade one will be GRP. A helm pod is certainly too large for 3d printing on any normal unit. As such I'm looking for advice on building the moulds mainly or any design tips from those who've done it before.

What material(s) for the plugs? I'm thinking wood, but then what's the best way to make it smooth for taking the mould?
Mould resin - do I really need a second type of resin?
Thickness - how thick should I make the finished product?

Any thoughts greatfully received!

 

[LadyInBed]

Many of them are also 8" deep so presumably also designed to take a CRT TV set?

8" doesn't seem to me to be excessively deep when you take into account the instrument depth and the protruding cables.

 

[coopec]

What do you mean "helm pod"? Is that another name for "instrument binnacle"? An instrument binnacle is not hard to make. I made a mistake with this one as it is too cramped. I made another one about about 1½ times the width. I think the camera was playing up at this stage as it appears to be out-of-focus. (That's a depth sounder which I will mount on top)

 

[lustyd]

8" doesn't seem to me to be excessively deep when you take into account the instrument depth and the protruding cables.

My modern 9" plotter is 90mm deep and the cables connect much shallower than this. I agree 8" would be fine for max depth between the bars, but 8" in front of the bars is way too much and the bottom of the pod would almost touch the wheel, completely covering the compass. Scanstrut helm pods are literally just a box shape and so effectively bolt to the bars rather than around them.

 

[lustyd]

What do you mean "helm pod"?

Helm Pods

 

[prv]

Not quite helm pods, but I made two instrument pods to hold the plotter, AIS display, stereo remote and some switches, under the windscreen at the front of the cockpit.

For the plugs I used school modelling clay, which was easy to sculpt and mould into the curvy shape to match the deck, the space under the windscreen, and the desired aesthetic. To avoid needing too much mass of clay, I roughly screwed together some scraps of wood to take up the core volume in the middle.

I didn’t do anything to harden the clay, but I painted it with a couple of coats of a product sold for sealing dusty concrete floors. This gave it a smooth plastic skin which I could then lay up the mould over. As far as moulding products I was basically following the instructions from East Coast Fibreglass - the blue PVA mould release (not the same PVA as the school adhesive) was essential to getting the parts out of the mould.

One tip I would give is, if you take the part out of the mould while it’s still slightly green (either because it’s easier to remove that way, or because you’re impatient ), there’s a danger of it warping so that the flat face is no longer flat and becomes difficult to flush-mount the instruments. When I re-made my starboard pod to take the new plotter (keep the moulds!), I put the front face-down on a smooth worktop with a weight inside so that it would set perfectly flat, and the new plotter fitted into it far better than the old one had.

Pete

 

[coopec]

Helm Pods

helm pods - Google Search

 

[Neeves]

If you make it from foam you can treat the foam as if its balsa and shape much the same way as balsa, then cover with glass, sand to whatever finish you desire, and finally - spray. Then you don't need a mould. Foam comes in a huge variety of thicknesses and you simply glue it together with filled epoxy. If you want to bolt the instruments into the pod then simply add, bond, stainless or aluminium plate in the appropriate places - and tap.

I'd suggest making a mock up in MDF to start with so that you can play with dimensions and how you want to arrange your devices - nothing grand just a box.

Jonathan

 

[salar]

No need to make a plug, you can make a female mould from melamine-faced MDF, radius the corners with Plasticene and use plenty of gel coat so you can polish up imperfections afterwards. The whole custom interior of my Harley 25 was made this way.

 

[PCUK]

Hats off to you Salar! Lovely work.

 

[Graham_Wright]

In case it is useful, my E series Raymarine plotter fitted nicely into a stainless steel sink I bought from Penguin. It was produced. at my request, without a plughole.
It still looks like a sink which can lead to interesting conversations but powder coated white (or even paint) might make a difference.