I promised to keep you informed on my control conversion. To re-cap, I have a 1981 Catalina 30 with a 5411 diesel engine. I was tired of the ankle bitter controls in the cockpit well and wanted to move them onto the binnacle. I ordered part number 870ST-45 Edson Dual Control through my local marine store, $455.00 Cdn. (see www.edsonmarine.com - sailboat catolog - dual controls ) You will need new cables, Series 33 Edson #734, throttle is 18 feet, clutch is 20 feet, another $100.00. It took about 3 hours to install and another hour to pull the old stuff out. I covered the hole in the cockpit with a 5 inch diameter piece of teak for the time being. The biggest problem now seems to be that the throttle cable is moving the wrong way. When everything is connected, I have to move the power lever aft to increase the power. I thought of flipping over the control lever on the new control to reverse the direction but there is not enough room to do so. I have employed a local machine shop to make up a bell crank to reverse the direction of the throttle cable. Should be about another 3 hours work or $225.00 Cdn. All in all, I'm pleased with the installation and the fact that the controls are now within easy reach. If anyone has any questions or comments, reply to this article and I will send you my email address. Hope you all have a Happy Easter. Ron S/V Seascape
