Edson Pedestal - refinish and repaint

General Discussion
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My Freedom 32 has an Edson pedestal (original) and it is peeling badly, needs refinished. Seems friction stopper doesnt work so well as well.

Has anyone done this? Tips?

How to strip? What paint to use?

Now that I have new cockpit table the pedestal just has to get dealt with.

Thanks

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One thing I know is that they are powder coated. I’d suggest looking for a local powder coating shop and asking for a price. They would probably be able to chemically strip the remaining paint off for you, which is a lot easier than sanding it off.

While you have it all apart, I’d invest in a brake rebuild kit and a shaft kit. The brake is an easy job (especially if the pedestal is off the boat), but the shaft is more involved. Still, the kit is something you should keep onboard anyway.

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Another option would be to find a used one that’s in good condition. Marine salvage stores have TONS of these, as they’re pretty much always undamaged when a sailboat is being scrapped. Two things to look for:

  1. Make sure the threads for the 4 screws in the top that hold down the compass are in good shape and aren’t stripped. They hold the whole thing together, and it’s stainless in aluminum so they can corrode if not kept coated with tefgel.
  2. After the 1980’s version they didn’t make too many changes on the later Edson pedestals, but one of the nice things they did was switch from using four slot head bolts for attaching the pedestal to the deck to four hex bolts. They’re in the same location, but the later pedestal has a hex countersink for each bolt, which means you don’t need someone in the cockpit holding a big screwdriver while you’re tightening the nut from below.
  3. If you’re lucky, you might find one with the engine controls on a separate leg that connects to the top plate. My 1992 F38 came with this setup, and it’s great. Much better than running the control lines inside the pedestal, where they can interfere with your steering chain. The only thing that runs through my pedestal is my compass light wire.
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They are aluminium so back to bare metal , the areas where the powder oating is loose will need extra cleaning take right back to sound coating or if too bad strip back with sanding pad on an angle grinder 80 grit ,solvent wash then standard aluminium exterior paint spec self etching primer ,undercoat ,gloss

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Thanks to everyone who responded. I am going to our local salvage seller - Sailorman - here in Ft Lauderdale to see if there is a used one in good shape.

Otherwise…it is strip and sand. This sounds neither fun nor quick.

Thanks for all of the support as I restore my Freedom 32 to great shape…a bit of deferred maintenance.

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What country are you in?

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Florida…USA. Ft Lauderdale is the Venice of the US…intercoastal and canals with over 140,000 registered boats - Big boat show this weekend…mega-yachts - Neat to see but not sure the point.