Hello Jon
I got my console for my SR4 from Healey Engineering in London.
graham@healeyengineering.co.uk
They delivered when they said they would and made a good job of the console (in Orange). It was a two man and came with a decent flange that I was able to mastik in and then drill and self tap. They cut a hatch access hole if you want as well. The two man version I got was around £280 I recall.
If you cut the Spray Dodger off the front - KEEP it and use it for patches.
Some of it is double thickness Hypalon.
I did the same conversion you are contemplating.
After reading many of the posts on here, I went around with very sharp scissors and left about 2" of the dodger attached which I then glued down to the top of the tubes.
I turfed all the innards - back to back seats dash windscreen etc because mine were in poor nick but you may find someone who is interested in them...particularly the windscreen.
Some peeps maintain that keeping the spray dodger with a jockey console fitted is the way to go, but to be honest I have never found that much water coming into the boat (except when it was my fault
) and it makes the little boat seem bigger and spacier.
Mount the console as far forward as you can. There is a small floor moulded lip on my boat that the front of the console sat against and seemed the natural place to put it.
Anything else you want to ask about feel free.
I also fitted a D section rubbing strake to my tubes, the exisiting SR4 one had virtually fallen off.
One thing I have found... at the stern ... at the last 6 or 7 cm of the tube flange, where the tubes are joined to the hull, is some wear on the Hypalon at that point of contact. Whether my boat has a slightly imperfect hull moulding there, or not, I'm not sure but when I acquired the boat the tubes were reinforced in that area with a couple of layers. After last season, the top layer of Hypalon had worn through in this area on both sides of the boat.
I am going to repatch them shortly. This is underneath the tubes at the join of tubes to hull (hope I'm being clear about where). Its not compromised the air tightness of the tubes, but as I said seems to be top layer only of a two or three layer area. When I get a chance I will try and post a pic. I dont think its serious but something to keep an eye on. Maybe some other SR4 owners will have some input on this.
What sort of valves are fitted? I had the valves replaced on my tubes (the boat is late 70's model). What does the makers plate say? you can spot the age from the serial number if nothing else.
Let us know how you get on and post some pics!
Andy
