Steering Wheel

I'm looking for a decent steering wheel for a 63 Correct Craft. Other 60's wheels with a 3/4" taper would probably work.

Thanks

The 78 wheel wheel isn't as appropriate or as original looking as this one:

older wheel on ebay

Damaged wheels can be restored. Fill any cracks with epoxy and then paint.

Ed, The 3/4" taper has been around for lots of years so chances are good that the older wheel has it. If not, why not just machine a taper in the bore of the hub? If the bore is too large, just machine a adapter sleeve. You have 6 days to go on the ebay bidding but I have a feeling it's not going to go much higher than the current $10 bid. What have you got to loose? Do you really want a late 70's wheel on a 63? What's the rest of the boat like?

63 wheel from the diaries:



wheel on ebay:


The center hub insert can be machined from a piece of plastic.

Edit: Steve, what is in your 64 American? Do you have a picture?

Yes, that's the wheel but it looks better in the picture. The plastic has become very brittle over the years because and if you flex the wheel in any way, large chunks of plastic fall off. I think it's a loosing battle right now to salvage the wheel.

Steve, The 2nd wheel looks like the wheel on the 1960 Cutter my family had when I was a kid.

The wheel in my Mustang looks very similar to yours, but has a Merc center.

Marty, I've got too much of my own stuff going on right now and am sorry that I don't have the time. I'm trying to get my house back in shape to sell it in a couple years. Hopefully by then the market will come around!!

Here's a product from Loctite that will bond plastic. Go to the link and enter # 6430a32 in the search feature. You will also need # 74695a71 which is the gun and some mixing nozzles.
mcmaster

Clean up the breaks with a small burr on a Dremel and clamp it back together using the Hysol adhesive. Any missing pieces can be built up with filled (use a high strength filler for epoxy) Hysol. Then the wheel will need to be sanded down and painted. I doubt that you will find another wheel that is in good condition. I suspect that the plastisizers have leached out making it brittle.

There are several guys who do wheel restoration but usually for older and very rare wheels. I don't feel that you would want to pay the price they would charge!!!

Edit: If there is any hollow area on the inside of the hub that you can fill with the epoxy without it interfering with the helm, do it!!

Found it. Sounds good to me.
What would the name of this lake be ?
Looks like an island out back that I skied around on Lake Tillery. But they all look the same from back in the wake.

Holler at me when you are coming down. My email is listed.

Critter, No, its a far cry from Tillery. Its a small (250 acre) manmade lake within the confines of a subdivision. (Seven Lakes, just outside Pinehurst/Southern Pines)



The island is a bonus for us. Fun to swim or kayak out to and play around. It gets minimal picnic traffic on weekends, not enough to be annoying. Cant ski around it. Downside is we cant ski off our dock, no wake zone, upside, it's very quiet, no traffic and skiing is only about 1-200 yards away.

Pete, funny you mention Home Depot. There is a hardware store just up at the corner that I've thought would suit me just fine. There are also two large boat dealers about 30 minutes away. One does ski centurions along with a bunch of other stuff (tooners, runabouts, fishing...) That would work too.

Roger,

Thanks for the offer, thats very thoughtful of you. Unfortunately, it is, for the most part, occupied by tenants. Hey, somebody's gotta pay for it.

Great looking 80, by the way.