Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Ever since I bought my boat new, I've always been annoyed by the flex in the helm whenever you bear down on the steering wheel. Earlier this season, I decided to do something about it when I was tightening the bolts on the rack where it meets the pinion. I saw that the fiberglass/plywood that the steering column bolt to had developed a crack on the lower side. If you push straight down on the steering wheel, the entire dash flexes with it. Upon removing the steering column completely, I could see why. In manufacturing, they bored a 3 1/2inch hole for the steering column through the face of the helm and another through the top for the compass which compromised the entire structure (see attached pic).

After stufyingI decided a back-plate would definitely solve the problem but when I proceeded to try and make a drawing of what I was thinking of, I soon realized a better approach would be to make a pattern out of hardboard. It worked great, I could slide it in place to check measurements and angles. I used a hot glue gun to join the pieces and making tweaks was easy.

Fortunately, I have a buddy who's got access to a metal shop. Talked to him last evening and he told me they cut some of the pieces out yesterday on their plasma cutter. They're building it out of 1/4" stainless plate. Wow, even though I patterned it with 1/4" hardboard, I figured they'ld use a thinner gauge when they build it. Well, it'll have two purposes, one to reinforce the helm and the other as a heck of an anchor.

Anyways, take a look at some of the picks, I'll post updates as things progress

Re: Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Buddy sent me a pic of the progress on my helm reinforcement plate. All tacked together. I may take a run over to check it out tomorrow!

Re: Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Looks great! You might need an 8 year old to sit on the other side of the boat to keep trimmed. That looks stout.

Re: Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Don't mean to be a wet blanket, esp. this late in your project, but what grade of stainless? Not all stainless is equally non-magnetic. It has to be an austenitic stainless--at least 316. And even then: Any cold-working of it will reduce it's non-magnetic properties significantly. I only mention this because of your compass.

IMO, you'd be much better-off with aircraft-grade aluminum. It would be much lighter, completely non-magnetic, and I would think certainly strong enough for your application.

Jim

Re: Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Discussed the stainless issue with my buddy. Non-issue for me, I carry a GPS in my boat bag. To be honest the existing Richie compass has always been off by 8-10 degrees anyways. Probably due to the steel hardware I found the steering assembly bolted to the helm with. We'll see how it affects the compass but I'm not concerned with it. Appreciate the feedback though!

Re: Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Yeah, I guess I was just being pedantic :). We have a little Richie compass on the right of the helm of our Barchetta and, TBH, it seems to be relatively worthless. On our lake there's usually so much chop/waves that the little thing bounces around like a ping-pong ball :p. I've yet to check it for accuracy, but, yeah, unless Mariah swung the boat to calibrate it (which seems unlikely--it's a painstaking process): With all that other steel close-by, it's probably way off.

Jim

Re: Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Also, the compass is flanked by several switch panels which sit within inches of the compass, that can't help.

Re: Helm/Dash reinforcement
 

Just reading some installation documentation from Richie and the compensators will handle 20 degrees in deviation (see attached). They also provide instructions for adjusting compensation. We'll have to see what effect the plate has on the compass first.