Palm Beach Style

[Liquid Asset]

I am looking at new Helm Consoles for the boat and a few of them have Palm Beach style Helm Pods on them. I am not sure if we are going to decide to have one of these, but I was woundering how the controls are set up.

Since I have not had ocasion to look closely at a boat that had the side mount single lever controls, what brand/model are they? Can they be used if you have a dual station? I need to continue to be able to use my tower controls. Are they electronic or mechanical? Thanks for the info. We are weighing our options and not sure how we are going to proceed.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Pat, these have been around for a long time. However, they have changed from single-lever mechanical, which were okay on single-station boats but not as good on multi-station boats, to electronic, which are great no matter what number of stations you have, within reason.
I have to say if I were doing this, I would probably go with electronic controls. Mathers has been at it longer than anyone, but now there are several companies making these, and I don't know who's best. As far as mechanical controls go, I replaced my Morse units with Panish a few years back, and I can't say enough good things about Panish. They are a small outfit- when you call them, you get Rob Panish on the phone, and they make a first-calss product backed up by first-class service. Many of the components are powder-coated or anodized. No cast zinc or anything like that. All bronze and stainless. They also make their own cables- and I learned an incredible amount about cable control systems, much of which is not obvious and/or counter-intuitive. My boat has two stations, uses Panish cable controls, and works fine. A good cable control system, set up properly, will work fine as long as it is kept in adjustment and maintained (does this sound familiar?) It won't be as good as an electronic system, but you can't beat the KISS factor of cable controls. Incidentally, the thinner the cables, the better the systems perform. (smaller cross-sectional area equals less friction and easier performance).

 

[jim rosenthal]

As usual, I forgot to mention some things: Panish makes dual and single-lever controls. Their controls and cables are on most of the high-end SF yachts such as Hatteras, Rybovich, Merritt, Davis etc. I think the single-lever controls are more finicky to adjust and perhaps a bit less reliable- this is just a guess.
I think that if I were going to all the trouble to put in a Palm Beach helm I would probably say what the hell and go for electronic controls. It's only $$$$

 

[Fanfare]

I went to Panish in Ft. Lauderdale about 15+ years ago when I replaced my Morse units. They have held up fine. Two station, dual clutch and throttle. I also considered hydraulic. Did not consider electronic because they were too new then. There are so many thunderstorms in the Bahamas, so many near-strikes of lightning, that many of my electronics on board are affected, and I don't think I can manage a boat without gear or throttle control.

As an aside, my Icom VHFs (one is an I-100, forget the other, but it's newer) seem most affected by lightning. They go completely dead--even the reset switch won't help. After about a day they recover on their own, and are good as ever. Good reason to keep a hand-held around (and off!)

Jim Grove, Fanfare, 1966 50MY

 

[OldHatt45]

Regarding the Controls. If you do decide to go with Single Lever Electronic controls PLEASE BE CAREFUL. I have seen a few incidents on Really new boats with ELectronic Controls. In one case there was a New 60 Hatt SF. He missed the detent and ended up really whacking the transom on the bulkhead. Around $20K worth. So just be careful if you go that way. PS, that 60 Hatt looks as good as ever now. Got taken back to the factory as I understand it for repairs. (lol)

OldHatt45

 

[Genesis]

Yeah, when I was shopping was at a yard and a 42 Bert that had been retrofit with the Mathers controls came into the pocket for the lift.

The captain selected reverse; the boat didn't stop. He applied more throttle - and rammed the pocket with a very impressive CRUNCH!

Apparently the controls didn't shift, but the thottle part worked just fine. Oops!

I like my cables......

 

[saltshaker]

When I repowered my new gears came with electronic shift solenoids instead of the mechanical ones that I had ordered. I figured this would be a good time to switch to electronic controls. My engines were set for mechanical controls so they needed to be refit for the electronics. Estimate was 10K for the upgrade! The electronic upgrade for the gears was 3K (which I already had). The 10K was to change the throttles to electronic control and purchase/install Mathers full electronic single lever controls. Needless to say, I stuck with the mechanical controls. Twin Disc sent me the mechanical solenoids so I now have a brand new set of the electronic ones if anyone wants them.

 

[Liquid Asset]

I would prefer to stick with the mechanical controls. I really am old school in a lot of ways, and I have been around many a control cable. I have always been able to get them to work even in a pinch and I would just probably prefer to keep the mechanical ones.

If I am understanding yall correctly, Panish makes a palm beach style control in a mechanical lever? If so, that would be what I would want. I am not definetly going to have a pod put on, but It does look awesome and I do like the single levers at the flybridge helm. If I used the single levers on a helm pod, what would I have to change to in the flybridge? I have split controls right now. One lever for shift and one for throttles, and they are connected to a glendining synchronizer which works well. So, I want to keep that too since the boat is 32vdc. Is it possible to use split controls in the tower if I have single levers in the flybridge?

I want to call Tom Slane back and let him know what we want to do so he can give me a price on a new helm console.

 

[krazy8]

 

[krazy8]

I used The R.G Rollin Co. for my single lever controls , all mechanical operation and I was able to use all existing cables.

 

[Banshee36]

I think the only electronic controls I would buy would be the Glendening. They at least offer a cable back up system.
JW

 

[Eufaula]

I personally like cables lots easier to maintain and replace cable or heads. The only thing I changed was take Hatts ways of placing gear shift in one control head and in another the throttles. I did not like that set up so I shifted the cables around to the order of port throttle and gear shift combine into one head and vis stbd. throttle and gear shift also combine. James.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Yes, Panish make controls of the type you want. They were OEM on a lot of the high-end SF yachts. Also, I think the Panish brothers own Glendinning now, if I have it right. Or something like that. Regardless, they are both excellent companies to deal with. The difference between Panish hardware and everyone else's is dramatic when you see it in person- all the others I have seen use cast zinc, etc. (Morse, Tflex, Kobelt). With cable controls it's all about setup and maintaining alignment, and the better made and more robust ones hold up and work better. I haven't seen Rollins- they may be fine.

 

[rtrafford]

the last zinc plated controls i installed broke off in my hand at the worst possible time. they were the last ones i'll buy.

choose wisely.