Have any of you added a console (?) to your helm?

[crybllrd]

Pardon my English, is this (outline with red) called a console? If not, what is it?



I just have the u-shape bar (again, pardon my English vocabulary) and compass mounted on the pedestal.

I am thinking about adding a console. I have layed enough fiberglass for a few lifetimes and was thinking I can customise one for my boat. Mainly I want to get the throttle up high so I can adjust it without squatting. It now is next to my foot, and about 15cm long. It can be very troublesome getting into my slip as it is.

I'd also like to have a spot for my chartplotter, speed, depth and wind indicators. This is why i think to customise. As it is, the indicators are mounted next to the companionway, 2m away and can be very difficult to read.

If I know the term, I can consider purchasing a kit, or at least seeing some guide of what to expect. However I live in SE Asia and I will have to consider shipping.

Any experience with these tasks would be very helpful to me.

[coopec43]

As far as I'm concerned what you have outlined is a pedestal incorporating a console. A console to me is the part that has all the instruments.

If you have done a lot of fiber glassing why not fabricate your own? (One day when your wife is not home grab hold of her baking dish and use that as a mold)

[coopec43]

That is a beautifully finished Roberts Offshore 44. Wow!!

[jimbunyard]

Probably the simplest way to go about making such a complex fitment would be to build it of 1/4" to 3/8" (6-10 mm) thick, glass-reinforced polyurethane foam board, (called Coosaoard in the US) and then glass that. That would eliminate the construction of molds, mold releases, mold design complexities, etc. It might increase your finishing labor, though manufactured mold finishing is at least as time consuming.

For large radius corners, 1/2 - 3/4" (13-19mm) thick board might be more apropos.

Console illustrated below is from 1/2" and 3/4" generic PVC foam with no glass reinforcement. PVC foam has, depending on the density, much the same working characteristics as polyurethane, but, without the glass reinforcement built into the sheets, is much more flexible, which may or may not be useful in your application.

[SteveSadler]

Probably easier to buy a molde one than to make one that looks decent.
My issue with the instruments is you have to stand at the helm to see them.
This is fine for those who do but my auto steers as I lounge elsewhere, so studying the charts isn't easy and some are so high I can't see past them! So my chartplotter, etc is at the nav station, and my Ipad and Iphone are where ever I am, cockpit, bunk, or salon via bluetooth.

[OS2Dude]

The 'U Shaped Bar' is normally called a Pedestal Guard. The Pedestal holds the Wheel. Be careful of adding a big bulky console unless your cockpit is extremely wide.

Edson makes a VISION pedestal that looks very much like the one in your picture.

For a traditional pedestal, lookup NAVPODs on the internet. (Edson makes housings and mounts too.} You can mount your instruments and throttles to the pedestal guard and/or to the pedestal itself.

Shown below is our boat with Wind and Depth MFDs in pods on either side of the pedestal and a chart-plotter on the guard.