I recently replaced the old Raymarine ST-40 instruments with B&G Triton 2 at the helm. This involved removing the Yacht Specialties pedestal guard which required removing everything on the pedestal above sprocket. What I found wasn’t promising. The steering shaft has play that seems to be coming from where the bearing’s seat, there’s some corrosion where the steel bolts attach the guard plate, engine controls, and compass, and the base of the pedestal is crumbling in places. There’s a lot of discussion on the forum about refurbishing the Yacht Specialties pedestal, but I’m wondering if it would be more cost effective to replace the pedestal with an Edson. The advantage would be moving to a pedestal with readily available parts.
I initially thought the Jefa rack and pinion system would be a simpler solution, but PYI quoted $6,200. Edson cable pedestals seem to be more reasonably priced. Has anyone done this swap? What was involved? Could you reuse the YS idler pully assembly? Did you relocate the pedestal guard feet or make a plate to adapt the YS spacing to the Edson pedestal?
I initially thought the Jefa rack and pinion system would be a simpler solution, but PYI quoted $6,200. Edson cable pedestals seem to be more reasonably priced. Has anyone done this swap? What was involved? Could you reuse the YS idler pully assembly? Did you relocate the pedestal guard feet or make a plate to adapt the YS spacing to the Edson pedestal?
