Jockey console in a FC470

[Solarguy]

Hello all. I am kinda new to this and am considering putting a jockey center console in my Zodiac FC470. Has anyone done this and if so what advice do you have? FYI I will have an aluminum hard deck in my soon.
Thanks in advance.

[office888]

Originally Posted by Solarguy

Hello all. I am kinda new to this and am considering putting a jockey center console in my Zodiac FC470. Has anyone done this and if so what advice do you have? FYI I will have an aluminum hard deck in my soon.
Thanks in advance.

The mini-console for the Futura fits too.

Make sure your floor grip (basically, how much the floor stretches the boat) is good. Check your thrust board for ungluing. Before installing, put the floor together and measure it. Then measure from the transom batten to the edge of the thrust board. The floor should be about 15-20mm longer. Over 25mm is not okay. Less than about 10mm is not okay.

[Solarguy]

Thanks for the info. How do you adjust the length?

[office888]

Originally Posted by Solarguy

Thanks for the info. How do you adjust the length?

If the grip is insufficient, then either the thrust board is not located in the correct spot or you have the wrong floor.


Too much grip, one of the guys on here figured out you can grind the rivets out and knock one of the rails of aluminum off, then reassemble.


Testing must be conducted with the boat inflated to 240mb.


Did you see my post on baffle testing? Make sure your baffles work before dumping a bunch of money in the boat.

[Squid Boat]

Great advice mate.

Cheers

[Solarguy]

Originally Posted by office888

If the grip is insufficient, then either the thrust board is not located in the correct spot or you have the wrong floor.


Too much grip, one of the guys on here figured out you can grind the rivets out and knock one of the rails of aluminum off, then reassemble.


Testing must be conducted with the boat inflated to 240mb.


Did you see my post on baffle testing? Make sure your baffles work before dumping a bunch of money in the boat.

Thanks again for the info.
Yes I have checked the baffles in my boat. I went through that with the first one I bought.
My new one is a 2009 static display from a zodiac mil pro dealer with a 5 year factory warranty.

[Attack Ducks]

I built a custom jockey seat/console setup for my trailered FC470. I started with an 18 gallon fuel tank, which sits underneath. Used leftover rollup floor aluminum planks for much of the framework which I had TIG welded together, the seat is marine plywood varnished with cushion. The seat hinges up for access to the filler. Had a friend bend up some 1.5" tubing for the control mounting which consists of teleflex seastar helm, custom aluminum dash with gauges, Garmin GPS mount, and Yamaha 703 remote. Under the helm, but still mounted to the framework is a battery box and the Garmin GSD sonar box. The helm mount was powdercoated satin black along with the transom reinforcement (from ACT) and thrustboard reinforcement.

The seat framework spans the two middle hard deck sections and is rigidly bolted to them with 8 stainless carriage bolts (smooth heads on underside). I also run ACT one-piece solid floor stringers. There are pics in my album under "Current Rig." Something like this probably isn't practical unless you plan to keep the boat on a trailer though, but it has worked out very well for me. The boat is a blast to drive "personal watercraft style" with your legs positioned to absorb wave impacts. It's also far less fatiguing to run vs keeping your arm on a tiller all day (esp with a larger outboard).

[cgoing]

That looks like a sweet set up!

[Attack Ducks]

Originally Posted by cgoing

That looks like a sweet set up!

Thanks! I was quite pleased with how it turned out. I took some time planning it out based on my experiences running these boats with smaller, tiller outboards and the roll up floor. I decided I preferred running the aluminum hard deck to the roll up but it was such a PITA to setup/break down that it only made sense when trailering the boat. Once I got a dedicated boat trailer it was "game on." I also added tie down points to the floor fore and aft of the console that I use for a cooler (that doubles as a semi-dry box) and scuba tank rack.

A couple things I didn't count on but are relatively minor (to me, anyway):

1. I originally thought the seat would be long enough to ride 2-up without being "uncomfortably close" but I didn't factor the arm spacing of the driver. Sitting back a comfortable distance basically wastes the forward 12" or so of the cushion. It really doesn't leave enough room for someone to sit behind them. It's not big deal for passengers to ride on the tubes though, even if it's a little wetter most people are having enough fun on the boat they don't complain lol

2. The console does eat up a lot of the floor space in the boat, although at least of half of that would be eaten up by a fuel tank anyway. Carrying tanks and scuba gear (esp with drysuits) it gets pretty crowded even for 2 divers. It's a tradeoff: a little less useful for diving, but more fun for cruising around and towing skiers/tubers.

[Solarguy]

This is the jockey seat I am gonna use.

[Squid Boat]

Nice, I like the mid ship location.

Cheers