My Merriman steering pedestal base is severely corroding and i need of replacement. I know I am not alone with this problem, but cannot find any solution-suggestions in the archives which calm my fears.. Any help out there??? Richard
The corrosion you see mat not be as bad as it looks. The Merriman on my 33 looks prety bad too but I know there's still plenty of meat left. Get rid of the bubbled up paint, take a wire brush to it and see how it looks. Surface erosion doesn't matter a lot, but if you can see through the metal you might want to consider a replacement in the next few years. Or months.
Thanks guys, for the sympathy! The base of my pedestal has been partially eaten by the sea monster, one mounting bolt included with 1 or 2 large bites. I'm looking at "seat pedestal bases", but the posts are 3" not my 4" pipes. I may have to get "innovative"! I'll keep y'all up to date with this!
Some boats were equipped with Edson pedestals from new (like my 1983 H37C) so I imagine it would not be all that difficult to swap Merriman for Edson. Might have to look at a new quadrant? ... or maybe not... Check out Edson link below - it pretty much describes what you would need to do.
Jim, Thanks for the Edson material! Their post is a better design than Merriman's.. They seem t be making only a rectangular unit now...(better yet!) My present planning is toward adapting a new base to the 4" pipe column, thus utilizing all the existing internals. Any way you slice it, a pain is still a pain!
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