Windscreen wipers

[EddieA]

Does anyone on the forum have any experience of fitting a windscreen wiper to a boat..? After coming across the Solent in the wind and spray yesterday afternoon it's something that's become a "must have" rather than a "would like" !

 

[Brayman]

I've got three on my boat, all fitted as standard.

 

[EddieA]

One would do!! It would be nice as one fitted as standard, but my SeaRay 220 was originally designed for the US market. I'd like to retrofit one myself and can't afford the cost of having one professionally fitted

 

[John_d_Smith]

I've just replaced mine which were original to the boat with Vetus. 2 speed and self parking. Seem really well made.

 

[wakeup]

I fitted one to my last boat. It was a maxum, I noticed it had a moulded in hump/bump in the deck foreward of the windscreen which had a flat surface which allowed me to fit the shaft of the windscreen wiper unit to be mounted through the face of the bump. The wiring was easy, one ground supply and two seperately fused +ves to provide power and self park. I wired it up to a spare auxillary switch on the dash. I started the drilling of the deck with a very small pilot hole so I could poke some wire through to the cuddy inside to make sure the position of the motor would work and if it didn't I'd only have a tiny hole to fill, once checked then was ok to proceed. Have a look at your deck and see if there are any strange bumps or shapes in the moulding that may have been put there for a wiper system. I fitted the AFI unit which was single speed. You may have to ajust the sweep angle as these units allow either 90degrees or 110degrees. I found that if set to 110 degrees I could get the arm to park just off the windscreen on the frame. I also purchased a longer wiper arm 14inch and blade as the one supplied with the AFI unit was a little to short in terms of reach and wiped area. AFI unit coped with the change. Total cost was about £90 including the fuse holders, etc etc.

 

[EddieA]

Thanks for the info Wakeup. The deck forward of the screen doesn't have any lumps/bumps in order for the wiper motor to go...thinking that it would have to in the ceiling of the heads. Probably best to get some prof advice before I begin. Thanks again

 

[wakeup]

Here is a picture of a searay 220 with a wiper fitted, might give you an idea, don't know if it is the same model though.

Searay 220

 

[EddieA]

Mine's a weekender, I think that pic is of a cuddy. The only place I can see that the motor can go is in the ceiling of the heads - which isn't great. But then at least I'll be able to see where I'm going when the spray covers the windscreen!

 

[Brayman]

Mine are actually through the windscreen itself!

 

[EddieA]

So the motor itself is on the inside of the windscreen? Do you know if thru windscreen one's are the same as a unit you would mount through the GRP.?

 

[Brayman]

I don't know. There are two holes and bolts to hold the motor on the inside of the screen and a further hole for the spindle. They look pretty standard to me.

 

[Ifraser]

Not sure how effective it is as a long term solution but I know at least one commercial boat that doesn't have windscreen wipers fitted the skipper just regularly applies Rain X or similar water repellant. This would certainly be a good interim solution for you because when its working Rain X completely dispenses with the need for windscreen wipers as the water just runs off the screen...something to think about..cheers Iain