I removed the factory steering wheel and replaced it with a much larger 20" wheel. While it was off, I added a torque brake to the steering shaft--also known as a " poor man's autopilot ". Removing the shaft nut was easy. Getting the wheel off proved difficult. I tried rigging a steering wheel puller and thought I was going to destroy the pedestal! A quick search on the www.macgregorsailors.com site suggested a few sharp raps on the shaft with a hammer.
I ran the nut even with the end of the shaft to protect the threads. I used a hammer and gave a few tentative taps then gave it 3 or 4 more manly hits and the wheel slid right off.
Last year, I ran coated cabled encased in pex flexible pipes from the winch post to each goal/guide post in order to prevent wind and current from pushing the boat off the trailer when loading. Unfortunately, they scuffed Galactica's blue hull so I went back to the drawing board this year.
I began welding up the posts.
I welded up 6 new posts. One will mount a marine roller and goes a third of the way back on each side. Two for traditional bunks over each wheel.
Some of the posts required as many as 17 welds. My welds starting looking better after a while.
It took many test fits to try to make these look semi professional.
This is the port forward roller post.
This pic shows the LED clearance light on a roller post. I used plastic wiring gromets with the hope of protecting the wiring.
I soldered each connection and tried to protect with shrink tube and electrical tape wrap.Here are the posts installed after painting:
I backed the truck up to the boat, hooked up the trailer light cable to test.
The goal\guide posts have light caps I picked up on sale at Bass Pro. They are amber on the front side and red on the aft side.
No comments:
Post a Comment