LEWMAR folding wheel

[ljkaplan]

Has anyone purchased a Folding wheel? I've seen the advertisements in MAINSHEET and also have spoken to the Lewmar rep. at the Miami Boat Show. He informed me that Defender has a supply in both 32" & 36" with the Catalina blue leather wrap with the Catalina stripes. I am also concerned as the specs indicate it is for a 1" tappered shaft. The Edson pedistal and wheel are original equipment (1984).

[TomSoko]

ljkaplan,
I don't know what shaft your '84 has, but the shaft on the pedestal on my '87 is a straight bore. Maybe that's why they are on sale????

[dragonfly]

We bought a 40" lewmar folding wheel on-line Dec 2007 (around $700) and used it last season and it was great. A real space saver and leg, hip or knee saver. We ended up getting the standard grey leather over the one with blue leather and Catalina logo. It came with both a tapered and straight shaft adapter. We used the straight one. The only issue I ran into was the autohelm. I had to sand down the clamps ( folding wheel spokes were thicker than original wheel) and get longer screws. After I finished installing- I found the clamps/ screws in one of the holds that may have worked.

Greg

Dragonfly #1522
Annapolis

[stu jackson c34]

You might be interested in some of the discussion here: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,4784.0.html You've already resolved the issue for you, but others may be interested, too.

[Mark Wey]

Had one for a year now and love it. Can't sell my old wheel though. But it makes a pretty good decoration in my office.

Cheers,

[Satori II]

We installed a folding Lewmar Wheel some 18 months ago and love it. Makes moving around the cockpit much easier. Defintely worth the money.

[tgrover]

We purchased one of the Lewmar 36" folding wheels, with the Catalina blue leather cover, from Defender for $375.00 during their Warehouse Sale in March.The hub adapter fits a 1" tapered shaft but this is not a problem as the hub is a two part assembly that is held together with 6 socket head screws that can easily be removed to change out the hub adapter. I contacted Lewmar and found out that a 1" straight shaft hub adapter is available under Lewmar part number 85004994. I found one at WMJ Marine for $67.32.

The only glitch for some is the wheel is dished and a wheel type autopilot may not fit, not a problem though if you have a below deck autopilot.

[Nimue]

Does anyone know what the largest size standard wheel is you can fit on a 36?

[TomSoko]

Nimue,
The newer C36's came with a 40" wheel. I know you can fit a 44" wheel, but anthing larger and it might rub on the deck. How big were you thinking?? ;-)

[mutualfun]

We traded up to 40 inch wheel few years ago and was glad we did, It was not that much more in cost as we sold our 36" and paid $50 more for the 40" As for storing it what we do is remove it each time were done sailing and it goes on the rail o a stub shaft that secures the wheel. The money we saved for not buying a folding wheel was spent for wine and rum. Either way it is costly

[deising]

I, too, remove the wheel when at anchor if I feel comfortable doing so.

The downside is that middle-of-the-night squall where you might appreciate having your wheel functional in a hurry.

[Nimue]

I was just thinking it would be nice to have a bigger wheel, wondering how big I could go. My '83 boat is 6 hours away so I couldn't measure for another month, when it comes home.

Thanks.