My Rebuilt Helm Box

[Neo]

My Helm box was in a sorro state and needed a lot of mods to make it accomodate the dual cable rack-n-pinion and the new SeaStar CH1700 engine controls (I'd purchased on an impulse buy without considering how hard it would be to fit). A shipwright told be the box was beyond modification and wanted to build me new one for big dollars lol!
Anyway after many many (and I mean Many!!) hours of design and fabrication time I think I nailed it lol! ....


2 Pac White ... inside and Out .... The ledge is to deflect any water (that passes under the bezel) around and away from that big hole!


My tricky "Frankenstein Bracket" ... Looks like crap but boy does it work well ... It's plain steel but painted in a marine resilient "Clear Coat" which is made by an Anti-Rust company over here in Australia.... time will tell but the anti-corrosion properties do look promising.


The Bezel/Cover started life as an thick ABS Plastic flower pot lol!! .. Cutting that angle was a job and a half but the Frankenstein Bracket allowed me to easily construct a Steering Lock with a half moon metal plate stainless steel pipe clamp.

[Neo]

It's crowded in there ... but so much easier to see painted white!


The finished job .... well almost

[jstyers]

Beautiful Work

[tehtairing]

Nice work, you made it looks so essy

[Neo]

I could never claim it was easy but the end result is rewarding
BTW I love the box being white on the inside now. I didn't intend to spray it originally but had paint left over in the gun so I couldn't resist .... It used to be so dark and dingy in there

[Seapup]

Looks great! Would never know it was not OEM.

How did the dual cable work out? As far as I know you re the only one who has actually tried it. You have one cable to the rudders and the other to the motor, correct?

[Neo]

There's one other ... Octaman http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/index.php?view=662
The OB linkage (Stainless Hook-tube) always looked flimsy and awkward to me. There's less slack with dual cable but it does take a lot of work to install and align. The installation by Octaman must have used softer (more pliable) steering cables than I have because there's no way my cables would bend like that as they come out of the box. Octaman's installation would also require the Bezel to be sealed somehow as rain water will make it down that top hole, through the leg and onto the rear berths.
All in all I do like my setup it but I'd only recommend it to someone thats happy to spend two days installing it.

Yes sorry "one cable to the rudders and the other to the motor"