I have been thinking about makeing an instrument housing, for my st60+ instruments, to my steering pedistal. I know others out there have done this before so Im hoping someone can give me some ideas, designs, materials used, how it has held up, pictures would be great.
home made navpod
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There's some manufactures that make these for the st 60 other than Navpod which are much cheaper. How about a salvage yard for a used one
Some things are easier to make than others. If you were redoing the nav station, I would say go for it. But navpods are one of those things that has to be waterproof and look good. OR the whole time you are sailing you are looking at ugly and maybe having water intrude into your expensive instruments. I want a navpod also, I have tried thiking of ways to do it on the cheap. I also want to relocate the engine controls and I have not thought of a good cheap way to do that either. It's like trying to make a home made dash for your car.
It can be done but it would probably take you 10 practice navpods, and the cost to buy 4 premade, before you really got one you were happy with, but would still probably wish you had one premade.
It can be done but it would probably take you 10 practice navpods, and the cost to buy 4 premade, before you really got one you were happy with, but would still probably wish you had one premade.
I made my own navpod and it was fairly simple. It looks as good as anything out there and everyone thinks I bought it. I used oak that I plained down to 3/8". Once I was done building it I covered everything with epoxy on the inside and epoxy and 6oz cloth on the outside for durability. Finished it of with white paint and viola!
Where the front and back come together I made a 3/4" overlap and used a large o-ring to seal it. after sailing all of last summer it was bone dry inside.
I have maybe $25 dollars into it and total time to build was a few hours not counting drying times. Truthfully the hardest part was cutting the hole for the chartplotter as the tolerance is very close on that. when compared to paying $350 for one I think it was well worth it.
I enclosed a pic of the overlap detail for clarity. If I get to the boat in the next few day I will get a pic of the navpod also.
Where the front and back come together I made a 3/4" overlap and used a large o-ring to seal it. after sailing all of last summer it was bone dry inside.
I have maybe $25 dollars into it and total time to build was a few hours not counting drying times. Truthfully the hardest part was cutting the hole for the chartplotter as the tolerance is very close on that. when compared to paying $350 for one I think it was well worth it.
I enclosed a pic of the overlap detail for clarity. If I get to the boat in the next few day I will get a pic of the navpod also.
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Nav Pod
have been thinking about making a pod just these last few days. No pics, but here's my idea. Round: A 4" or 6" plastic pipe cover. They're durable, white and adaptable. Another thought: Plastic electrical boxes (waterproof/ no holes); square, easy to mount but they may need paint or gel coat.
When I am done I'll post photos.
Peace
Happy Easter
have been thinking about making a pod just these last few days. No pics, but here's my idea. Round: A 4" or 6" plastic pipe cover. They're durable, white and adaptable. Another thought: Plastic electrical boxes (waterproof/ no holes); square, easy to mount but they may need paint or gel coat.
When I am done I'll post photos.
Peace
Happy Easter
I made mine from marine plywood that I then painted with epoxy and porch paint. I had just finished building my stitch and glue dinghy and felt pretty confident. I have to say that I love the look of it. After two seasons it still looks as good as the day I installed it. If you're carefull when you build it, it can be quite waterproof.
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Homemade Navpod.
Mine cost $8.00 at Lowes including end caps. And I still have 6' of material left. Two 2 x 2s fit perfectly in the top and bottom sections for holding the screws. Plenty of room for the wire in the center section. Seven years and still white and shiny.
Mine cost $8.00 at Lowes including end caps. And I still have 6' of material left. Two 2 x 2s fit perfectly in the top and bottom sections for holding the screws. Plenty of room for the wire in the center section. Seven years and still white and shiny.
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Re: Homemade Navpod.
how does the backside look for connections ed?
and danny, that looks really nice.
how does the backside look for connections ed?
and danny, that looks really nice.
I may end up building one because the rail that normally hold them isn't tall enough (story of my life) to hold any instruments. Unless there are some leg extentions or something.
Danny that is a very clever half moon on the back.
Danny that is a very clever half moon on the back.
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I knew someone out there would notice that I impaired my sightline to the compass, but it's not actually as bad as it looks. I do have to croutch a little to get full view but I don't feel that I'm sacrificing too much. Thanks for the compliments all. I have to say that if I were to add up my hours building all of the things I've made for our boat, my hourly rate versus going out and buying a stock item would be pretty poor. I'm not alone here because I've seen many great projects here, but it sure does give our boats character and it makes them feel more "ours".
For Hermit. Having the taller and offset helm guard makes all the difference. TIQ made that one for $100. For AJ. The back is solid, nothing comes out the back. The wiring comes out the bottom near the port side of the helm guard(son at helm).
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Didn't make a box, but when I added an oil pressure gauge and a voltmeter to my helm, I used two PVC end caps for the gauge housing.
Hermit, that half moon on the back allowed me to use the existing pedestal guard which is the same height as yours. I second Ed's comment about the offset and taller guard making it quite a bit easier to mount the electronics, but since I wasn't going to spend the money on the navpod, I certainly wasn't going to get the new pedestal guard, call me cheap.
Speaking of cheap, I bought my C80 display on ebay and after the transaction, I concluded that it was probably stolen. With that in mind, if you look in my photos, I added a theft deterent. It's not Fort Knox, but it may be just enough to make a thief find another, easier target. Something to think about when building your own.
Speaking of cheap, I bought my C80 display on ebay and after the transaction, I concluded that it was probably stolen. With that in mind, if you look in my photos, I added a theft deterent. It's not Fort Knox, but it may be just enough to make a thief find another, easier target. Something to think about when building your own.
Ed, what is this you bought for $8? i cant tell in the photo. I may try to build one, but considering all I have put into the boat i might just buy a navpod and eat ramen noodles for a week.
Stupid me sold the Mac Daddy navpod that came with my boat. along with the c80, 4kw dome, 3 ST instruments, and vhf. $1500 for all of it. sold it to a guy in WA on craigslist. I was in a bind to make the deal work and needed the $$ within 1 week to cover transport. wish i had done something else. its gonna cost me $6-8k to replace it all. at least i kept the
S3G Course Computer & linear drive.
I just built a small pedastal to mount my new plotter on with a clamp for the rail. I like the idea of removing it when I leave the boat. I would like an instrument cluster for the engine and the engine controls mounted there anyway. Maybe I will mount it permenently or not. I would probablu have a little more piece of mind removing it when I leave. I may end up running long rods or cables down the length of the gaurd poles
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