Yacht Specialties Steeing Pedestal

[kha]

I am trying, hard, to buy a 1980 Cal 39 where a de-laminated and partially rotten cockpit sole was discovered in survey. I have decided that I can, with expert help of a friend,effect the fiberglass repair, however the dismantling of the pedestal, which is a Yacht Specialties model, could be difficult to impossible to achieve without breaking it or damaging critical parts of it. It appears there are no parts readily available.
I need to make the buying leap of faith here real soon. My questions therefore are:
-Has anyone out there been through this type of repair?
-Has anyone having gone through this type of repair had problems with taking the steering pedestal apart, etc; or needing to find replacement parts due to breakage; or worse had to replace the pedestal once the project was undertaken and you broke it.
I am trying to negotiate an adjusted price for the boat and am desperately trying to assess the cost range for the repairs in the very near future.
Any help will be really appreciated

[bsfree]

I have a Yacht Specialties steering pedestal, and have overhauled the steering. I can tell you that there's not much to be afraid of, but be aware that if you break something it may be very hard to replace as Yacht Specialties has been out of business for quite some time.
You will need to disconnect the throttle and gear linkages at the engine then remove the compass and the binnacle. You'll see a couple of bolts holding the brackets the support throttle and gear cables, remove those and then pull the cables out from either the pedestal or engine end, whichever is easiest.
No you need to remove the steering cables from the quadrant, being careful of any fish hooks that might nick you, then remove the chain and cables from the top of the pedestal. While you were down beneath the pedestal you will have noticed the base plate that the pedestal is bolted to (4 big nuts). Remove these nuts, carefully as you don't want the plate to fall on you, and you should be able to now lift the pedestal clear of the cockpit floor. There's also a couple of wires you will have disconnected from the binnacle, they light the compass.
If the pedestall and parts are ok, no problem, reassembly is the reverse after you've repaired the floor. But if you have to replace the pedestal then check the price of an Edson and negotiate that into the price.
All the best

[bsfree]

By the way, you will want to remove the wheel before you remove the pedestal, do this by removing the nut, then you'll probably need a pully to pull the wheel off the spindle, I did.