Replace old style wiper arms with pantographic?

[Oldersalt]

Dear Trawler Forum,

I have a wonderful 1990 Grand Banks 32. It has the old-style windshield wiper arms that just go back and forth and make a semi-circular clear area on the windshield. Does anybody know if it is possible to simply replace the arms with newer-style pantographic wiper arms that would clear a larger area? I don't want to replace the motors, just the arms.

I have posted this same question on the Grand Banks Owners forum, but I suspect more GB owners follow this forum than that one!

Thanks in advance.
Oldersalt

 

[psneeld]

Can be done.

The first thing you need is the degrees of sweep your motors are.

I found some wiper distributer that had a calculator for figuring out what you needed on the web.

I have no idea what site, but I doubt it hard to find it or anther guide.

Even with that guide, the actual install took hours of tweaking.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr.O. Excellent question. That would be a good upgrade for our boat, even it it's only the port in front of the wheel. Tall port, short arm leaves the bottom 1/2 un-wiped. A pantograph system would be much better than the alternative retrofit...

 

[sdowney717]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AFI-33032A...352599&hash=item2aa273bedb:g:PSQAAOSwS6ZaoBOi

Has some good pictures that show what one looks like. I think this would work also on my boat.

Marinco AFI 33032A Deluxe 12 to 17 Inch Adjustable Black Pantographic Arm. Deluxe arms are used on Standard and Heavy-Duty motors.

Stainless Steel
Arm has “articulating/bend-back” feature
Motor shaft mounting has additional set screw clamping
For use with 2.5, 1.5 and MRV Motors
Dry pantographic wiper style

 

[Comodave]

You need to check the specs on the motor and see if it can drive that big of a blade. Otherwise the pantographic arms are great. Hopefully your motor is able to be set up to park the arm when it is turned off.

 

[FF]

Look at some online catalogs , some motors can be used with a single blade and only require the offset pin to be installed to use the pantograph.


If the wiper motor you have is old , really old , a new wiper unit will be adjustable in terms of degrees of sweep, and parking L or R can be selected.

 

[tiltrider1]

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/afi-marine-deluxe-pantographic-articulating-arm

This is an upgrade kit. Turns a standard wiper into a pantograph. You can actually make it work with out adding any new holes to the boat. Comes in two lengths, you will most likely want the 22” model.

You will still get some sweep motion but your field of vision will be more than doubled.

 

[tiltrider1]

I also have a wiper guy in Oregon who can make true pantograph wipers for any boat for about $400 a window. That does not include installation.

 

[Tom.B]

https://www.amequipment.com/

 

[Khays]

Hey do any of you GB 36 owners know how to remove a wiper arm to replace it? No set screw; need to use a puller or is there a "clip" to release? Help please.

 

[Russell Clifton]

I changed mine on our Defever two years ago. Best upgrade I have done. I found what I needed at Grainger Industrial Supply, and at a much better price than the marine stores. They have dry arms (used without a windshield washer) and wet arms ( used with a windshield washer system). I used a dry arm #2YPZ4 and a wiper blade #2YPY7. You will also need a adapter for each arm #2JZD1. I had to take a Dremel and remove a small amount of material on the inside of the adapter so it would fit over the wiper shaft. No big deal, it is aluminum and easy to do. You may need different arms and blades then these numbers. These are not marine grade parts but after 2 years, still no rust.
https://www.grainger.com/search?searchBar=true&searchQuery=pantograph+wiper+arms

 

[Xsbank]

I did it on my GB 32. Easy.

However, having said that, I used Rain-x not wipers much.

 

[ScottC]

I use Rain-x too. Good stuff!

 

[Khays]

How do you remove the arm; I don’t see anything obvious facilitating removal?

 

[ScottC]

Look for a small set-screw... Most likely requiring an allen wrench.

 

[ScottC]

On mine (Roca), I have to Pull the entire pantograph arm forward (i.e. Away from the window) first. Sorry- just now saw you already checked for a set screw!

 

[C lectric]

Many wiper arms use a small clip at the mounting spline just under the arm hinge. A screwdriver is needed. If the arms are corroded onto the spine then you may have a problem but if not too bad then some penetrating spray should help.

In future use some waterproof grease on the splines to stop the corrosion.

I replaced my arms with Ongaro which use an Allen head screw to tighten the arm onto the spline but even so I greased all including the SS screw as nothing is proof against corrosion under the right circumstances.

 

[alormaria]

It's an easy upgrade.

Even though I almost never use it the new wiper looks salty as hell.
And Trawlers look salty as hell just bobbing there.

 

[Marco Flamingo]

I just did it. A little more fiddly and expensive than I expected, but a nice improvement. I used these wiper arms (same as Fisheries Supply but cheaper and free shipping). At first I tried 22" blades, but it turns out 18 was as big as I could go. The slowest part was finding the right spline adapter for the old AFI (Marinco) motors. Common is a 5 mm shaft, but mine took a 6 mm. Also, the actual spline piece diameter can differ. Thanks to Amazon Prime I just returned stuff that didn't fit. I finally found the correct adapter at a hot rod specialty shop. Frustrating that the little adapters were hard to source and cost almost as much as the wiper blades.

My old wiper arms had been removed and the PO used RainX or something. So I didn't have to deal with tiny corroded allen head set screws. It was all install.

I think that my sweep is 85 degrees. It makes a difference which side the dead arm is on as to how the blade sweeps. With the pantograph arms adjusted and installed right, my blades hit one side of the window frame perfectly flush and then hit the other side. I had to reverse one of mine and they now both run perfectly parallel to the window frames.

I hooked up the auto stop on the helm side, but not on the other. I don't have too much difficulty just turning the motor off when the blade is where I want it to park and on the "passenger side" it doesn't matter that much.

I'm thinking of putting a widow washing tank under the upper helm station that could spray/drip fresh water. It's frustrating to take some salt spray, wipe it off, and have the windshield instantly turn frosted when heading into the sun.