Securing Edson Pedestal - Sage Advice Needed

[Ron Barrow]

The mounting screws for the Edson Pedestal have lost their grip. My boat is a 1989 Hunter 33.5 and the two forward bolts (really large stainless screws) have stripped the threads in whatever they are connected to below deck. There is no access to these fittings from the cockpit under the pedestal or from below in the aft cabin due to the solid head liner. I presume that these are aluminum nuts glassed into the deck, but there are many other posibilities. I am anxious to begin repair of this condition, but I don't know what parts/materials that I will need unitl I take the pedestal completely off of its mounting. Since this is no small job, I would like to complete repairs while I have the thing apart. I am ready to order parts from Edson to cover the most potential situations, but...Has anyone else run into this problem? Your sage advice is needed and will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, RonCaptainRonB@earthlink.net

 

[Sam Lust]

CUT!

Either find out how to get the head liner out of the way or cut it away for a decent distance underneath where the pedestal comes through. There are ways to cut it so you can piece it back together. First, you MUST be able to make the repair and second, you MUST be able to get underneath for maintenance and emergency repairs.Attaching a high stress piece like a steering pedestal with wood screws is nigh on to criminal! ( How often have you grabbed on to it while under way to maintain your balance? It MUST be through bolted! And seal it well and properly. Water getting in here and rotting the plywood core will destroy the integrity of your cockpit sole.I'll stick with my older Hunter. They were designed by guys who knew how to put together a SAILBOAT!

 

[Bob England]

Don't cut

Well, at least on my '89 30G, it wasn't necessary to cut away the headliner. The design of the '89 33.5 sounds similar. The Edson pedestal, cables, and quadrant are fully servicable from above by removing a panel in the cockpit floor. And there is a workable emergency tiller on the boat. Also, nobody in the posts I've seen mentioned wood screws. The pedestal base is secured with SS machine screws threaded into a thick aluminum plate that is bonded integrally into the cockpit floor. What I originally thought were missing thru-bolted nuts (stripped threads would have shown same symptoms) turned out to be screws (these are massive 1/2" diameter machine screws) that were just too short. Giving Hunter the benefit of the doubt, I can only guess that when the boat was manufactured these screws managed to grab a half thread or so and seemed secure. Replacing the screws with 1/2" longer ones resulted in a very secure connection -- beyond my strength with normal tools to strip. (Actually, I couldn't find the proper Phillips head machine screws -- rare in 1/2" D -- so I used hex head bolts with the same thread.)

 

[Ron Barrow]

Thanks to all! Longer Screws are the answer!

Thanks to Bob, I took a screw out of the backside of the pedestal and after clearing hole of the debris that I had placed there trying to get the screws to bite, installed it in the front hole. It tightened like a champ! Like Bob's Hunter 30, the factory had installed the short (2") screws in the front of the pedestal and the longer screws in the aft mounting bracket where the two-inchers would have worked fine. I've been tending to this problem for years, repeatedly tightening these screws after they worked loose from their 1/2 thread. Thanks Bob and to this board, this pesky problem is finally fixed!Thanks again, Ron