A27 wipers

[Randall]

I have a 1986 Albin 27FC and am looking for a direct replacement for the wiper arm and blade. I bought the boat with operating motors but no wiper assemblies. Florida morning dew is so heavy at this time of year that my Albin feels like a submersible.

Every navy has an Admiral and as the Captain of this ship I report to an Admiral who tells me that she will not wipe another windshield.

Please reach out to this hapless skipper with information if you have. Thanks,

Randall
1986 Albin FC "Meridian"
North Fort Myers, Florida

[Mainer]

Hi Randall,

I replaced both of mine last year and found the exact parts at my local chandlery (Hamilton Marine) in Portland, Maine. Though I have little recollection and am nowhere near the boat, my experience suggests the arm and wiper blade are not unique and should be easy to find. I do recall the arm was very similar to an older auto part and the blade was one of the shortest in the store. BTW, we're headed to our condo next to Jaycee Park in Cape Coral around 1/15.

Dick Jones

[DCatSea]

I replaced mine last year as well (and now I can see again). Blades and arms were easily obtainable at our local marina store, and I believe WM has them as well.

[Randall]

Thanks for the information. My system is AFI and parts are available on Amazon. I'm using the original single blade system vs converting to pantograph. Will pull wiper motor in a few days, verify the correct part numbers to order and if everything works ok will add part numbers to the Albin site. Thanks again.

Randall
Albin 27 FC "Meridian"
North Fort Myers, Fl.

[BarbWithey]

Hello again, Randall. I'll be looking forward to your update. We need wipers and motors, too. One of ours is gone and the other isn't even connected. There's just a dangling bare wire and I'm pretty sure from the looks of what's there that connecting the wire is NOT going to solve the problem.

Barb Williams
Albin 27 FC "Traveler"
Ruskin, FL

[dreisen]

I replaced both of mine this year. WM has the complete kit, motor and arm..

[boater_mike]

My stb side wiper stopped working. It has voltage to the motor - ALL THE TIME no matter if the switch is on or off. I suspect the switch (original) and the motor both are kaput.

Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated before I do more investigating. The wiring under the panel does not look easy to get to or replace.

-Mike

[WillieC]

There are typically three wires to these wiper motors. Ground, run, and hot. The hot wire is used for parking the wiper blade when the 'run' circuit is turned off at the wiper switch at the helm.

Sorry to mansplain this if you are way beyond this. I think I would take a pic, disconnect all three wires, figure out which is the ground, then test the circuit without the wiper motor by using a meter. Your key or main switch may need to be on in order to get any juice there. Apparently not the case as you have a hot wire at the wiper motor. Surely there is a wiring diagram on the forum if you don't have one on the boat. The wiring is very likely still fine, though connections should be checked for corrosion, including fuse panel. I know the switch may be hard to get to, but there is plenty to check before that.

A little practice with a volt/ohm meter goes a long way. You'll find all sorts of stuff that could use attention. There may be a problem with the parking switch internal to the motor, but that's not usually a problem. I ended up replacing my port motor with a manual wiper. Who knew they are still available?

[boater_mike]

Thanks WillieC!

Yes, I am very adept with a volt/ohm meter. I was under the impression it was a simple on/off switch as this motor only has 2 wires connected - It looks like I have a wire missing! my guess now is that is still somewhere behind the "headliner"and it was disconnected for whatever reason by the POs.

A manual wiper...hmmmm.....

-Mike

[boater_mike]

Works now! so no manual wiper. It required a new motor, connections (the switch wire was disconnected and cut off - not sure why) and "exercised" the switch. I have to give the switch a few hard on and offs before it started working again. It's likely to go out. I do have a replacement, but ...well...it works for now

-Mike

[stmbtwle]

In the process of replacing my wipers now. When we got the boat there was one motor which didn't work and the other was missing completely. Finally got the wires traced and it's a different color for each one. One was yellow and the other red, both had a black ground. Two wires from the circuit breaker in the cabin were orange. Neither of them were connected to anything. There was an orange wire coming down from the pilot house but it turned out to be the red wire, with an orange extension (I'm getting used to this). I cut off the orange pigtail and replaced it with the proper color (red). Anyway I connected the orange wire from the breaker to a switch, and connected both the red and yellow wires to the switch. Black wires were grounded. Now by throwing the switch I could energize both circuits (I'll probably put in another switch later).

Now for the motors. I ordered a couple chrome "wiper kits" ($40 each) and installed them. They ran, but they had about a 90 deg sweep which IMO is way too much for the tall windows. If the included wiper was adjusted short enough to not hit the window frame only about the top 12" got "wiped". Not good as we are short people.

I ordered a couple "pantograph" wiper arms figuring they would allow me to sweep the whole window. However the wiper motors didn't have "standard" shafts so I also had to order adapters. Finally got the arms and the adapters in and installed the starboard wiper. It worked but only for a few seconds. The drag of the bigger blade on the pantograph arm was more than the motor could handle and it stopped. By wetting the window I could get it to run a little longer but still not reliably. Back to square one.

I've now ordered another wiper motor ($95) and I'm waiting for it to come in. It's the same make as the inoperative motor I removed and appears more powerful than the little motors I tried first. It also has an adjustable sweep, so I can select the sweep that works best with the window and the pantograph. With the minimum sweep (45 deg) I probably wouldn't need the pantographs but I have them now so I'm going to install them.

Moral to the story: Installing wipers on an A27 is not as simple as it looks. More when the new motor comes in.

[stmbtwle]

Ok I finally got the starboard wiper installed and working.
I used and Ongaro adjustable motor https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Ongaro-Hea ... g30991.htm
and an AFI pantographic arm https://www.wholesalemarine.com/afi-del ... wiper-arm/
with a spare 18" Trico wiper blade I had in the garage for my last car.

It was tricky getting it set up and adjusted properly but it works pretty well.
The Ongaro motor has several sweep settings, 2 speeds, and park. I ended up with 90deg sweep, used only slow speed, and no park, those features would require two more wires and a special switch (maybe later).
The 12"-17" pantograph is fully extended at 17". The blade just touches the top window frame at the sides and sweeps about 2" from the bottom. The longer arm with a shorter blade might be a better choice, your call.

Cost for the motor and the pantograph came to about $150 per window, compared to the el-cheapo setup for about $100 for BOTH windows. But they didn't work, so that's $100 chalked up to experience.