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Yacht Specialties Pedestal Problems

mizunoman101

mizunoman101

Member I
We own a 1984 E-35 Mark 3. The base of the pedestal has developed a crack in a small section of the base and the Aluminum is flaking away in that area. This problem was evident when we purchased the boat, but at that time it did not appear to be in need of replacement. We cleaned out as much of the flaking aluminum as possible, ground it out and filled it with an aluminum based epoxy and painted it with Edson White. The base is still very sturdy, and there is no movement at all in the Pedestal, but it is probably only a matter of time before replacement is required. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem, and if so..... have you noticed any other parts of the Pedestal Steering suffering from age related problems..? We have found a number of Used Rebuilt Edson Pedestals on Ebay, but trying to figure out if anything or any parts are compatible between the two manufacturers is not easy... Thanks in advance for your input... :cool:
 
Christian Williams

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Sounds good for a while to me, unless you're going offshore.

Aluminum pedestal welding doesn't work very well, but a radical base corrosion can be sleeved. Used pedestals are hard to find and YS/Merriman made several with very subtle differences making on-line ordering and shipping risky for a very bulky object.

ericsonyachts.org

E32-3 - Pedestal Rebuild

Photo guide to step-by-step disassembly of pedestal steering: http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?14133-Yacht-Specialties-Pedestal-Disassembly-with-Photos This took longer than expected, often felt like the...
ericsonyachts.org ericsonyachts.org
 
Cory B

Cory B

Sustaining Member
If you get serious about replacement, you can check out second-hand marine stores. You can contact a lot of them online. Just make sure the hole pattern in the bottom is exactly the same. That is how we found a replacement Y/S pedestal 10+ years ago. The rest of the pedestal seems pretty solid, and we have had no issues. Common wear parts like chains and bushings can be sourced if needed.

And I think Christian is right that it is nothing urgent unless you are planning on doing serious offshore work.

mizunoman101 said:
We own a 1984 E-35 Mark 3. The base of the pedestal has developed a crack in a small section of the base and the Aluminum is flaking away in that area. This problem was evident when we purchased the boat, but at that time it did not appear to be in need of replacement. We cleaned out as much of the flaking aluminum as possible, ground it out and filled it with an aluminum based epoxy and painted it with Edson White. The base is still very sturdy, and there is no movement at all in the Pedestal, but it is probably only a matter of time before replacement is required. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem, and if so..... have you noticed any other parts of the Pedestal Steering suffering from age related problems..? We have found a number of Used Rebuilt Edson Pedestals on Ebay, but trying to figure out if anything or any parts are compatible between the two manufacturers is not easy... Thanks in advance for your input... :cool:
Click to expand...
 
Christian Williams

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Just make sure the hole pattern in the bottom is exactly the same.

And that the holes on top are the same, and the overall height, and the exact diameter of both tube and brake housing. Photos are not enough, don't ask me how I know.
 
mizunoman101

mizunoman101

Member I
Thank you for the insight. Yes, we have thought the same thing about replacement. The repair looks OK, and the Pedestal Guard is rock solid... .. Since it would be an expensive replacement (especially if we cannot find an exact used replacement)... we are probably going to just keep an eye on it , and all associated parts... OH, and Christian, we have enjoyed your video travels...
 
D

debonAir

Member III
I had the same problem on the pedestal base when I got my E35-3. It looked like a bit of surface corrosion, and some flaking paint. Nothing to worry about. After a few years, a bump of me against the wheel cracked the base on the fwd end, opposite side of the corroded/flaking area. The aluminum under the crack was like a wet sponge and crumbled under my fingers. The areas under the bolts appeared solid though so I didnt worry too much. The next year, hitting the base with a hose broke up another area of crumbled aluminum. It didn't feel safe anymore to me, and luckily I found an old Y/S pedestal at Capt. Jim's marine salvage in Maine sitting right at the front door looking brand new. I just installed it a few weeks ago and its nice knowing I have a solid base. The old pedestal base was a mess and way more corroded than I thought. The paint and caulk was basically holding some of it together. One of the bolts even remained in the boat with a little chunk of aluminum after rocking the pedestal off the cockpit floor.pedbase.jpg

Another option is to have a new base cast and weld it back on to the existing pedestal There is a poster here, David Aynardi, that made a mold for the casting and would rent it out to you. I asked some local shops and it would cost under $200 to cast a single part. I would have gone that route but then found that used pedestal, which also seems to have fixed my hard-to-shift issues which turned out to be the shift lever bearing in the pedestal, not the cable which was what I (and the surveryor) had thought. Good luck.
 
Last edited:
mizunoman101

mizunoman101

Member I
debonAir said:
I had the same problem on the pedestal base when I got my E35-3. It looked like a bit of surface corrosion, and some flaking paint. Nothing to worry about. After a few years, a bump of me against the wheel cracked the base on the fwd end, opposite side of the corroded/flaking area. The aluminum under the crack was like a wet sponge and crumbled under my fingers. The areas under the bolts appeared solid though so I didnt worry too much. The next year, hitting the base with a hose broke up another area of crumbled aluminum. It didn't feel safe anymore to me, and luckily I found an old Y/S pedestal at Capt. Jim's marine salvage in Maine sitting right at the front door looking brand new. I just installed it a few weeks ago and its nice knowing I have a solid base. The old pedestal base was a mess and way more corroded than I thought. The paint and caulk was basically holding some of it together. One of the bolts even remained in the boat with a little chunk of aluminum after rocking the pedestal off the cockpit floor.View attachment 34357

Another option is to have a new base cast and weld it back on to the existing pedestal There is a poster here, David Aynardi, that made a mold for the casting and would rent it out to you. I asked some local shops and it would cost under $200 to cast a single part. I would have gone that route but then found that used pedestal, which also seems to have fixed my hard-to-shift issues which turned out to be the shift lever bearing in the pedestal, not the cable which was what I (and the surveryor) had thought. Good luck.
Click to expand...
I am afraid, that your pic is exactly what is going on , under our pedestal base... But we keep applying Aluminum based epoxy to the crack, hoping for another year...
 
G

garryh

Member III
"That is some extensive corrosion that has been hiding down there!"
looks like a lot of that would buff right out.
ok seriously... that pic scares me... on my list to check for the Spring : |
 
racushman

racushman

O34 - Los Angeles
Maybe a silly question, but has anyone ever considered building a new pedestal base out of fiberglass? With all the corrosion issues I have wondered about the possibility of eliminating the metal part entirely.
 
D

debonAir

Member III
Not silly at all. That was my first plan. Then I found I could have one cast for less than $200, but then got lucky and found that whole new (used salvage) pedestal for about that price and I wanted the new chain and shifter hardware that came with it too. At the time my base was so disintegrated it wouldn't be useful for a template in any form so making one of glass would have meant making a mold etc. but still I thought I could do it for about $150, the biggest cost being G10 plates for base and gussets. I was going to make a mold using poly-urethane spray foam around a tube of same diameter as pedestal, spin it up on the drill press to shape it and wrap it all in glass. The big issue is that there is a huge amount of leverage the pedestal gives on the base so it has to be really solid. By the time you got enough glass in the right shape to gusset the tube, etc. you might be in the same ballpark as having one cast of Aluminum which would be a lot quicker overall.

Newer pedestals are mostly wider tapered square boxes which deal with the leverage issue much better, are easier and cheaper to make out of plastic, and have more room inside for wiring, etc. and don't corrode. Depending on how long you keep your boat (and against your reluctance to drill new holes on the cockpit floor) you might consider a newer design, even if sourcing the used/salvage market.

Overall, I found the replacing the pedestal job not all that difficult and even with the same model as a replacement I still had to redrill and seal some of the bolt holes since the factory installation was apparently botched and the original bolts must have went in angled a bit.
 
C

Cheers

New Member
Cory B said:
If you get serious about replacement, you can check out second-hand marine stores. You can contact a lot of them online. Just make sure the hole pattern in the bottom is exactly the same. That is how we found a replacement Y/S pedestal 10+ years ago. The rest of the pedestal seems pretty solid, and we have had no issues. Common wear parts like chains and bushings can be sourced if needed.

And I think Christian is right that it is nothing urgent unless you are planning on doing serious offshore work.
Click to expand...
Cory, do you know of a source for the YS/Merriman pedestal needle bearings? Or where I can get the actual bearing specs?
 
Kenneth K

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Type "steering pedestal" into ebay's search tool. Sometimes 6 or 7 various offerings show up.
 
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