Helm Console Mods

[mntnresq58]

So I'm pretty stoked with about 80% of my SX230 that I've had for about a year.

But, after spending a couple months trying to figure out the best storage arrangement, I had come to the conclusion that the stock under helm console access is garbage. I don't know what 11yo kid they got to crawl in there to wire this boat. The stock door opening is roughly 8w x 17h.

I'm not a big dude, but the first time I tried to wedge my 5'9", 185 in through the access hatch, I thought I was dead. I had my head and one shoulder stuck in there for about an hour. Images of firefighters attacking my boat with Sawzalls to rescue me were going through my head. Took some not insignificant amount of skin off trying to escape.

I eventually got out, and started to devise my own plan to attack the helm console myself with a Sawzall or something. I spent a while eyeballing what/where I might want to cut and settled on what I thought would work.

I then removed the stock door, so I could see the structure behind and figure out if I was going to need to change my plan. I drew a few possibile cut lines with a sharpie, and then honed in on my final planned cut.

Having decided on where to cut, I ....decided to wait about a week to get up the nerve to cut a big hole in the boat. In the meantime, I did some reading on the best way to cut the fiberglass without splintering/cracking. Between what I read, and looking at how it appeared to have been cut from the factory, I decided to do most of it with a diamond cut off wheel in my angle grinder.

On the day, I broke out the grinder, drill, files, sandpaper, shop vac, respirator, etc and set to work. I spun up the grinder, braced my support hand, and.... the diamond wheel plowed into the 'glass like butter. It was a bit of a juggling act to hold the end of the vac hose close to the cut with my foot while cutting, but I go it done. I radiused all the corners to prevent cracking, so for those I just did a bunch of perpendicular cuts, staying about .25" off the line. Then I broke out the tabs with pliers, and ground the corners to the line with a drum sander in the dremel.

After getting the hole cut, and all cleaned up, I took several measurements of the new opening, which was roughly 14w X 28H. I took those to Mastercam, and drew up a frame and door. The plan was for a frame/jamb of about .75" all the way around, and with an 1/8" gap around the door. That meant I'd need a piece of material about 18 x 30 to make a new door.

I looked up the cost of a similar sized chunk of .5" Starboard, and.... then went and bought a similar sized cutting board( also white HDPE) for $30. That sounded like a good plan until it took 3 weeks to arrive, and when it did, did not match the photos. It was very opaque, kinda like the color of skim milk. That wasn't going to do. I'm cheap, but not that cheap. I searched around for other alternatives and eventually found some expanded PVC board for ~$50.

The color and such are good. It is very lightweight which is nice, but it's also pretty soft and dents easily. Will try it for now,and see how it holds up.

I drew up a profile, and cut the door and jamb out on one of our CNC mills at work. I glued and screwed the jamb pieces together, and used the hinge from the old door, which I cut in two pieces to spread out the forces. Since the PVC is so light, it handles it fine, but if I ever need to go back to Starboard, or a similar weight material, a new full length hinge would be needed.

I pre-drilled the mounting holes, and screwed it in to place. So far, it works great. There is a very small curvature to the helm console near the bottom, which you kind of can't see just looking at it, but when the door was mounted, the bottom of the door sticks out just slightly. I could probably try to heat and bend the door a touch to fix it, but i'm not really worried about it.

I actually started writing up this post last fall, but realized I forgot to post it, so I've been using the new door for quite a while, and so far, it works well. The access difference is huge. Since I plan to do a fairly substantial re-wire of the console, that will be a big help.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

D

So I'm pretty stoked with about 80% of my SX230 that I've had for about a year.

But, after spending a couple months trying to figure out the best storage arrangement, I had come to the conclusion that the stock under helm console access is garbage. I don't know what 11yo kid they got to crawl in there to wire this boat. The stock door opening is roughly 8w x 17h.

I'm not a big dude, but the first time I tried to wedge my 5'9", 185 in through the access hatch, I thought I was dead. I had my head and one shoulder stuck in there for about an hour. Images of firefighters attacking my boat with Sawzalls to rescue me were going through my head. Took some not insignificant amount of skin off trying to escape.

I eventually got out, and started to devise my own plan to attack the helm console myself with a Sawzall or something. I spent a while eyeballing what/where I might want to cut and settled on what I thought would work.

I then removed the stock door, so I could see the structure behind and figure out if I was going to need to change my plan. I drew a few possibile cut lines with a sharpie, and then honed in on my final planned cut.

Having decided on where to cut, I ....decided to wait about a week to get up the nerve to cut a big hole in the boat. In the meantime, I did some reading on the best way to cut the fiberglass without splintering/cracking. Between what I read, and looking at how it appeared to have been cut from the factory, I decided to do most of it with a diamond cut off wheel in my angle grinder.

On the day, I broke out the grinder, drill, files, sandpaper, shop vac, respirator, etc and set to work. I spun up the grinder, braced my support hand, and.... the diamond wheel plowed into the 'glass like butter. It was a bit of a juggling act to hold the end of the vac hose close to the cut with my foot while cutting, but I go it done. I radiused all the corners to prevent cracking, so for those I just did a bunch of perpendicular cuts, staying about .25" off the line. Then I broke out the tabs with pliers, and ground the corners to the line with a drum sander in the dremel.

After getting the hole cut, and all cleaned up, I took several measurements of the new opening, which was roughly 14w X 28H. I took those to Mastercam, and drew up a frame and door. The plan was for a frame/jamb of about .75" all the way around, and with an 1/8" gap around the door. That meant I'd need a piece of material about 18 x 30 to make a new door.

I looked up the cost of a similar sized chunk of .5" Starboard, and.... then went and bought a similar sized cutting board( also white HDPE) for $30. That sounded like a good plan until it took 3 weeks to arrive, and when it did, did not match the photos. It was very opaque, kinda like the color of skim milk. That wasn't going to do. I'm cheap, but not that cheap. I searched around for other alternatives and eventually found some expanded PVC board for ~$50.

The color and such are good. It is very lightweight which is nice, but it's also pretty soft and dents easily. Will try it for now,and see how it holds up.

I drew up a profile, and cut the door and jamb out on one of our CNC mills at work. I glued and screwed the jamb pieces together, and used the hinge from the old door, which I cut in two pieces to spread out the forces. Since the PVC is so light, it handles it fine, but if I ever need to go back to Starboard, or a similar weight material, a new full length hinge would be needed.

I pre-drilled the mounting holes, and screwed it in to place. So far, it works great. There is a very small curvature to the helm console near the bottom, which you kind of can't see just looking at it, but when the door was mounted, the bottom of the door sticks out just slightly. I could probably try to heat and bend the door a touch to fix it, but i'm not really worried about it.

I actually started writing up this post last fall, but realized I forgot to post it, so I've been using the new door for quite a while, and so far, it works well. The access difference is huge. Since I plan to do a fairly substantial re-wire of the console, that will be a big help.

Well done!

Do you have a pic of the completed project?

 

[mntnresq58]

D


Well done!

Do you have a pic of the completed project?

I thought I did, but can't find it. I will go take some today and post up.

 

[drewkaree]

This is an awsome project! If I'm understanding you correctly, you made the door and the frame/jamb out of one piece, and used the CNC to cut the door free? It really looks like you accomplished your goal, and far less worries of getting stuck, or the contortions and skin loss if you're able to make it out without the Jaws Of Life having to be used. It feels like mine is larger (newer boat, different model), but the contortions on a hot day really can get to you and have you headed down the path of "I'm stuck" in a heartbeat.

I wish they'd have put the folding door on the port side for my boat, but my setup is flipped in relation to yours. I don't know if it'd be possible to swap them, and do something similar, but I don't have access to a CNC, so I'd have to rig up something, or have a few cocktails to steady my nerves with the door fabrication part.

When you say you found some PVC board, did you glue up a few boards, or did you cut the whole thing from a larger "plywood" sheet of the stuff? Menards, in my area, sells 4x8 sheets, but they're 3/4", although they do have 1/2" in 2x4 sheets for special order (or I'd have to drive a fair distance to a store that has it in stock) I've found, in doing some window trim in PVC, that Titebond sells a bottle of "PVC Trim glue" that's nothing more than cyanoacrylate (super glue) in a larger quantity, for a better price, so if you need to do any assembly, that should be quick and easy. Put it on both pieces you're looking to stick together, and you have about 5-10 seconds to move pieces around as well. If you just do one side with the PVC boards, you've got about 0 seconds and a whole lot of swearing if you get it wrong!?

 

[mntnresq58]

D


Well done!

Do you have a pic of the completed project?

I took a couple quick pics today. Lighting isn't great, as the cover was still on.

This is an awsome project! If I'm understanding you correctly, you made the door and the frame/jamb out of one piece, and used the CNC to cut the door free? It really looks like you accomplished your goal, and far less worries of getting stuck, or the contortions and skin loss if you're able to make it out without the Jaws Of Life having to be used. It feels like mine is larger (newer boat, different model), but the contortions on a hot day really can get to you and have you headed down the path of "I'm stuck" in a heartbeat.

I wish they'd have put the folding door on the port side for my boat, but my setup is flipped in relation to yours. I don't know if it'd be possible to swap them, and do something similar, but I don't have access to a CNC, so I'd have to rig up something, or have a few cocktails to steady my nerves with the door fabrication part.

When you say you found some PVC board, did you glue up a few boards, or did you cut the whole thing from a larger "plywood" sheet of the stuff? Menards, in my area, sells 4x8 sheets, but they're 3/4", although they do have 1/2" in 2x4 sheets for special order (or I'd have to drive a fair distance to a store that has it in stock) I've found, in doing some window trim in PVC, that Titebond sells a bottle of "PVC Trim glue" that's nothing more than cyanoacrylate (super glue) in a larger quantity, for a better price, so if you need to do any assembly, that should be quick and easy. Put it on both pieces you're looking to stick together, and you have about 5-10 seconds to move pieces around as well. If you just do one side with the PVC boards, you've got about 0 seconds and a whole lot of swearing if you get it wrong!?

Yeah, basically.

I had gone back and forth a lot on the layout, the size, etc, and just basically roughing in a design that would maximize the available space, and give me the largest opening I could get. There are some limitations with how big you can go due to the structure of the helm. I took the dimensions down of the max opening I could cut, allowing myself about a 5/8" reveal all the way around, for the mounting flange. I then cut the opening, and went back and measured the hole I had cut. I drew up the outer profile, located the mounting holes, and made sure that the inner relief profile would fit the hole. I could have gone a bit wider if I wanted, but would have had to move the channel for the folding door forward a bit, and didn't want to do that, so I ran the new door so it's right up against the channel.

I found a sheet of 1/2" thick expanded PVC board online (might have been Amazon), which I think was something like 18x36. If you look at the mill picture, I first cut the rabbet, or relief for the mounting flange, which is roughly .3" deep, leaving the mounting flange about .2" thick. Then, drilled all the mounting holes, and used some of those to screw the stock down to a scrificial board underneath. Then cut the latch hole, then cut the door free from the inside. Last, I cut out the outer profile for the frame. Because the material is thin, and lightweight, the frame alone was pretty flimsy, so I ripped several strips from the remnants on the table saw, and mounted those to the inside of the frame with clear PVC cement, and screws. This helped reinforce the frame, and acts as a stop for the door on the inside.

As a minor added bonus, I took the old Starboard door, hit all the edges with an 1/8" roundover bit in the router, and turned it into a cutting board to use on the boat. ?

 

[dgfreeze]

I can sympathize with your frustration with the original door. It's really small, and while I'm able to fit through the rough opening, it's a tight squeeze, and a pain in the butt. I've been thinking about doing a major electrical overhaul on the helm someday, so this project is something I'd have to consider if I decide to proceed. Kicker is, I've got a milling machine, but it's not CNC. I could probably make something work, as I do have a large turntable, and could probably rotate the piece for the two angled edges. I think I'd make the frame and the door, then cut the hole to match the frame, so as to make the fitment side of things safer and easier. Anyway, that's a problem for another day, but props to you, I really like it!

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

Looks good. I agree that door is too small to be useful. A simpler solution would be to buy a bigger door like this - https://www.amazon.com/Five-Oceans-...8207&sprefix=boat+access+door,aps,103&sr=8-42. I don't know that that sample is the perfect size because I'm not at the boat but I'm sure something that is bigger but still fits in that space could be found.

 

[mntnresq58]

I can sympathize with your frustration with the original door. It's really small, and while I'm able to fit through the rough opening, it's a tight squeeze, and a pain in the butt. I've been thinking about doing a major electrical overhaul on the helm someday, so this project is something I'd have to consider if I decide to proceed. Kicker is, I've got a milling machine, but it's not CNC. I could probably make something work, as I do have a large turntable, and could probably rotate the piece for the two angled edges. I think I'd make the frame and the door, then cut the hole to match the frame, so as to make the fitment side of things safer and easier. Anyway, that's a problem for another day, but props to you, I really like it!

Yeah, the wiring mods are a big reason I did this. I have added some additional circuits already, and I tend to add several more. To accommodate this, I'm going to replace the switch panel on the Stbd side of the dash, with a 12 circuit remote touch switch panel. So, I will need to gut a lot of the excess wiring under the helm and relocate a lot of stuff.

 

[mntnresq58]

Looks good. I agree that door is too small to be useful. A simpler solution would be to buy a bigger door like this - https://www.amazon.com/Five-Oceans-Marine-Access-FO-2348/dp/B00D282TL0/ref=sr_1_42?crid=17K2IGLQINYYX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.aS48rSIQcWsGhmbqaon8asvE37IbxW1w03Y7lLO6sJJ2EyOqw7ojQA-33clLFNGhVi4Dc-b0UnCsqPt3JYnZqhotEP6kBRARhJeJshSJ3MHpkyrsk6NdhLS75j4IOmj1_A3jY-apAil_631wHWOLBZb-Na1zassZqVhzrtHDOMtYnXXbPe95GYZziHMIB0rnxNJ2ywcWvyDcJKFM18FXVPEWzp71z4DckW4-w3QZcrKzsiqQYKlPiIcxZ0zgKOnVott3JiUnQ5vduq3Ps01RhF9GbmzJAI215FWIEWkHvWY.UcIah6d383hPhWC7TQhYFdZ7jFsv1vOkH6t9MOoEIOs&dib_tag=se&keywords=boat+access+door&qid=1720548207&sprefix=boat+access+door,aps,103&sr=8-42. I don't know that that sample is the perfect size because I'm not at the boat but I'm sure something that is bigger but still fits in that space could be found.

Yeah, something like that is an option, but as I mentioned in my OP, I'm cheap, and really I enjoy doing more custom stuff anyway. Yes, it usually takes me 3x as long to get something done, but it's done the way that I want, and by going custom, I can make it such to maximize the space, etc.

A lot of the point of this was to give me room to crawl around in there, for wiring and other projects. I just finished adding interior LED strip lighting to every compartment on the boat, as well as installing a tower. Once I get all the other wiring additions installed, I'll add a new switch center as well.

 

[drewkaree]

Yeah, something like that is an option, but as I mentioned in my OP, I'm cheap, and really I enjoy doing more custom stuff anyway. Yes, it usually takes me 3x as long to get something done, but it's done the way that I want, and by going custom, I can make it such to maximize the space, etc.

Shut up, I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying! ?

You sound like you could be my twin!

 

[mntnresq58]

Lol. Yeah, it's a blessing and a curse. I'm pretty good at a wide array of stuff, and just prefer to do it, or see if I can.

While I know I could save a lot of time, I just prefer to take the long way around. At least if it doesn't come out, I haven't paid a ton for it, and I have no one else to blame.

So far, this one has worked out. So, on to bigger projects.

Next, is probably going to be a full custom bimini that mounts to the tower. Then some jetwash deflectors, ballast, diy thrust vectors, etc. Over the winter, I'll try my hand at a full reupholster.