ScottinAZ
Master Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2009
- Messages
- 831
ok, since I dont see a separate forum for the binnacle controls, its going to go here. If this is the wrong spot, mods, feel free to move it.
Boat is a 1980 Galaxy V-hull, 16 foot with the Mercruiser 120 setup. Binnacle controls are Hi-Lex controls. Originals were shot. Wouldnt move out of gear, and the internals were severely worn. Trying to be "economical" (read cheap...) I got a similar set off of Ebay. Cables fit fine, but the package doesnt really want to mount under the rail as the bolt pattern and standoffs are a bit different. Since the original controls were installed by a 500# gorilla with a sawzall, there is a massively oversized hole where the controls mount. Needless to say the new unit is a bit "sloppy" and I am not really pleased with the appearance, nor the slop. My thoughts are to take the through bolts on the controller that sandwich it together, remove them and install longer bolts to act as mounting studs to the frame of the boat. I really dont see another way to mount this in any form of an aesthetically pleasing manner, and this will solve the issue of a very small bolt circle holding the unit in place. The bolts in question are the three fresh hex head ones in the forward corners, and behind the control shaft. Plan would be to remove these one by one, insert from the back side (where the nuts currently reside), put a nut on the front side where the head currently is (to hold it all together) with the remaining length acting as a stud to go through the mounting area with another nut (and a washer) on the outside to hold it all in place.
Short of binning the damn thing and buying new (not in the budget, but hey, its only beer money, right) does this seem like a reasonable manner of mounting the control?
Boat is a 1980 Galaxy V-hull, 16 foot with the Mercruiser 120 setup. Binnacle controls are Hi-Lex controls. Originals were shot. Wouldnt move out of gear, and the internals were severely worn. Trying to be "economical" (read cheap...) I got a similar set off of Ebay. Cables fit fine, but the package doesnt really want to mount under the rail as the bolt pattern and standoffs are a bit different. Since the original controls were installed by a 500# gorilla with a sawzall, there is a massively oversized hole where the controls mount. Needless to say the new unit is a bit "sloppy" and I am not really pleased with the appearance, nor the slop. My thoughts are to take the through bolts on the controller that sandwich it together, remove them and install longer bolts to act as mounting studs to the frame of the boat. I really dont see another way to mount this in any form of an aesthetically pleasing manner, and this will solve the issue of a very small bolt circle holding the unit in place. The bolts in question are the three fresh hex head ones in the forward corners, and behind the control shaft. Plan would be to remove these one by one, insert from the back side (where the nuts currently reside), put a nut on the front side where the head currently is (to hold it all together) with the remaining length acting as a stud to go through the mounting area with another nut (and a washer) on the outside to hold it all in place.
Short of binning the damn thing and buying new (not in the budget, but hey, its only beer money, right) does this seem like a reasonable manner of mounting the control?