Pantograph wiper conversion on Merry Fisher 695

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wipe_out

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The wipers on the MF are pretty poor and today I was playing with increasing the sweep to try and cover more of the screen rather than the two little areas it was clearing standard.. Even so its still not that great.. So I started look at other options and it seems a pantograph setup would be much better..

I did some googling and it seem Force4 have these http://www.force4.co.uk/exalto-exal...gclid=CN22uKL8vcsCFawp0wodwCQHug#.VuWGdcfPx25

and found these too which seem to be a good price.. http://www.tcschandlery.co.uk/cquip...er-arm/p7754?gclid=COGz5dj8vcsCFTMo0wodi6sGQA

Has anyone done a conversion like this?
Are these wiper arms any good or are there better ones?
Are all the splines usually the same or do I need to hunt around for an arm with the right spline?

Thanks for any ideas or info..
 
I did it on our Antares 9, but just swapping the arms over for a pantograph arm with an idler is probably not the ideal, I considered the (probably identical to the MF) wiper motors not up to the job of swinging the much larger blades that could be fitted using pantographs, the spec certainly indicated not, I replaced the motors with more powerful and robust ones which are also self parking. The work and expense, though greater than I originally anticipated was well worth the final result. Take care when choosing the length of the arms which should reach halfway up the screen to allow the longest blades to be fitted.
 
I did that on a Trophy. Go to the Vetus on-line catalogue and you will find a good choice of pantograph options plus a sizing chart to calculate the size of motor required. Make sure you buy the long shaft version of a motor if you want pantograph. I have gone back and fitted the same to my Harley25 and very pleased with them. Inside the motor you will find setting for sweep angle and park position. Hope that helps.
 
wipe_out said:
Thanks for the info.. I have found the motor online which suggests its able to push a pantograph wiper arm..

http://www.rocaindustry.com/wiper-system/Cat/W12-System/268/

Guess I just need to confirm the spline is compatible on the arms I have found..
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I fitted a pantograph wiper to boat during building. I got all the bits from a local company that supplied parts for busses. I had to modify the sweep to fit my window.

WEB0427_zps8c915248.jpg
 
I have a 755 Marlin and I agree the wipers are rubbish (60 degree sweep). I removed both wiper motors and refitted with Vetus wiper motors and pantograph arms - pretty straight forward job really. IMO the new ones look loads better - will try and get a pic next time I'm up to the boat
 
I have found the correct arms for the motors.. They are sold by ASAP Supplies.. http://www.asap-supplies.com/electr...-arms/roca-marine-windscreen-wiper-arm-717624

There are a few options for different lengths and for black or stainless..

I have decided I am not going to do it right now, too many other things on my plate at the moment and I want to just get out and enjoy the boat as much as I can.. Will see how time goes through the season or put it on the list for things to do next winter..
 
When I changed one of my pantograph wiper arms on my Finnmaster 61CA, I purchased the replacement from www.seascrew.com and their prices were very competitive, and they were very helpful when answering my questions regarding compatibility...so, might be worth contacting them?
 
I have an Beneteau Antares 7 (2007) which I guess is similar . The wipers on mine were too low which meant I was crouched over to see out of
the wiped area on the window. The wiper motors on mine had an adjustable sweep but mine was set to the minimum angle.
The minimum sweep on the wiper motor camplate was 80 degrees which limited the length of wiper to around 16 inch.
What I did with mine was to drill a new locating hole in the camplate to achieve a sweep angle of 60 degrees. This allows a much longer
wiper (22 inch) that gets to the upper parts of the window. You still get the full width of the window wiped but higher up where you need it.
Not a pantograph solution may be of some use to some of you out there.

Paul
 
Paul1962 said:
I have an Beneteau Antares 7 (2007) which I guess is similar . The wipers on mine were too low which meant I was crouched over to see out of
the wiped area on the window. The wiper motors on mine had an adjustable sweep but mine was set to the minimum angle.
The minimum sweep on the wiper motor camplate was 80 degrees which limited the length of wiper to around 16 inch.
What I did with mine was to drill a new locating hole in the camplate to achieve a sweep angle of 60 degrees. This allows a much longer
wiper (22 inch) that gets to the upper parts of the window. You still get the full width of the window wiped but higher up where you need it.
Not a pantograph solution may be of some use to some of you out there.

Paul
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Interesting thought.. I have adjustable sweep on the motors so maybe longer wiper blades would be good enough.. Might look at that as an option for this season.. Still like the idea of pantograph but the longer wiper blade is certainly quicker and cheaper..
 
wipe_out said:
Interesting thought.. I have adjustable sweep on the motors so maybe longer wiper blades would be good enough.. Might look at that as an option for this season.. Still like the idea of pantograph but the longer wiper blade is certainly quicker and cheaper..
Click to expand...

I already tried a longer blade on my 645 (same screen) and I find that it can't keep to the curvature of the screen and sweeps even less than the standard size.
 
rwoofer said:
I already tried a longer blade on my 645 (same screen) and I find that it can't keep to the curvature of the screen and sweeps even less than the standard size.
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Really!! Well that I wouldn't have guessed..

Where does it loose contact with the screen?
Did you also increase the sweep?

I didn't think there was much curvature vertically but obviously there is quite a lot horizontally..
 
For anyone interested I ended up "fixing" the existing setup to clear more of the screen..

I increased the wiper arm length on the starboard (helm) by about 3"-4" so the blade clears the top of the screen by about 1.5".. I then increased the sweep so it wipes from the starboard mullion all the way over to about a 30-45 degree angle on the port side of it's sweep, obviously this passes the center of the screen by a fair amount..

On the port side I increased the arm length the same as I did on the starboard side and I adjusted the sweep to cover from the port mullion to about 1.5" from the arc created by the starboard wiper.

The effect is that from the helm seat I have a completely clear screen apart from the 1.5" gap between the wiper arcs.. Compared to the two tiny triangles I was having to look through previously, it's a massive improvement and best of all it cost nothing.. :)
 
Sounds like you cracked it! I will look into doing this on my MF645. I'm interested to know how you changed the sweep if you don't mind?
 
sprocker said:
Sounds like you cracked it! I will look into doing this on my MF645. I'm interested to know how you changed the sweep if you don't mind?
Click to expand...

It's very simple actually..

This is the instruction manual for my wiper motors.. http://www.rocaindustry.com/wiper-system/shared/UL/archive/files/ROCA-Inst_W12.pdf

Hopefully you have the same motors..

The quick version is find the middle point of the sweep you are after on the screen (I marked it with a dry wipe marker).. Reset the sweep adjustment to the minimum (45deg).. Use the template in the bottom of page 2 to position the wiper 22.5deg off that middle point.. With the adjustment still loose pull the wiper to the required starting point of the sweep and then tighten the adjustment screws.. That's it.. Might need a little fine tuning but that will get you most of the way..
 
wipe_out said:
For anyone interested I ended up "fixing" the existing setup to clear more of the screen..

I increased the wiper arm length on the starboard (helm) by about 3"-4" so the blade clears the top of the screen by about 1.5".. I then increased the sweep so it wipes from the starboard mullion all the way over to about a 30-45 degree angle on the port side of it's sweep, obviously this passes the center of the screen by a fair amount..

On the port side I increased the arm length the same as I did on the starboard side and I adjusted the sweep to cover from the port mullion to about 1.5" from the arc created by the starboard wiper.

The effect is that from the helm seat I have a completely clear screen apart from the 1.5" gap between the wiper arcs.. Compared to the two tiny triangles I was having to look through previously, it's a massive improvement and best of all it cost nothing.. :)
Click to expand...

I would be interested in what blade you used, because as I mentioned earlier the longer blade couldn't maintain contact with the screen. Maybe I just picked the wrong blade (Volex or something like that).
 
rwoofer said:
I would be interested in what blade you used, because as I mentioned earlier the longer blade couldn't maintain contact with the screen. Maybe I just picked the wrong blade (Volex or something like that).
Click to expand...

I am using the original blades.. That's why is didn't increase the sweep on the helm side to go all the way to the bottom of the screen and stopped at about 30-45 deg angle from horizontal.. Plan is to switch to a pair of the blade type wipers you see on newer cars and see if they hold the curve better which will mean I can increase the sweep a little more but for now it's like night and day to how it came from the factory..
 
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