Hydraulic Steering

[dabalone]

New Tracker v17 pro guide with 115 Opti. Thing steers like a tank and I have given up on the cable system which dealer has replaced once. Looking at the Teleflex Baystar hydraulic system, seems to be priced right. Can anyone give some feedback on the Baystar?

Thanks

 

[Esox]

Re: Hydraulic Steering

Not sure about the BayStar system but I have a SeaStar system on my 18' aluminum and it works quite well. Not sure what the difference is between the two other that the BayStar is for under 150HP applications.​

 

[studlymandingo]

Go for it.

Go for it.

I recently installed a SeaStar system in my boat and I can't say enough good things about the install. It completely changed my boat for the better! Now instead of fighting the steering in heavy seas, I can feel the boat on the water and really enjoy the surf!

I purchased the system off of eBay and I paid much less than a even a new BayStar system would cost.

Get one and install it!!!​

 

[F_R]

Re: Go for it.

Re: Go for it.

The hydraulic system may or may not make it easier to steer. Sort of depends on why it is hard to steer now. The ol' feller once said there is no such thing as a free lunch. It takes a certain amount of energy to steer the motor. The energy comes from your arms. The only difference is the delivery system.

 

[dabalone]

Re: Go for it.

Re: Go for it.

The hydraulic system may or may not make it easier to steer. Sort of depends on why it is hard to steer now. The ol' feller once said there is no such thing as a free lunch. It takes a certain amount of energy to steer the motor. The energy comes from your arms. The only difference is the delivery system.

Although I do not expect the boat to steer like a car with power steering it is bs when it takes a death grip to turn the thing around. Tracker seems to have upped their quality greatly from what they used to be, its the reason I purchased this boat, was good value for the money. Room, fishability, storage are all great with this boat, steering leaves much to be desired. If I have to invest a few hundred more to solve that problem its still a good deal. I can't believe the whole problem is torgue from motor, like I said earlier the dealer found a problem and replaced the original steering helm and cable. Seems it was replaced with another crappy one.

I will opt to go ahead purchase and install the Baystar hydraulic because it seems to be sized for my boat, let you know how it works out.

Thanks for replys folks.

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: Hydraulic Steering

I'm going to have to disagree with the not making it easier to steer; my boat is so much easier to steer. I can let go of the wheel at any speed and it will not change course. The amount of resistance on the wheel from idle through WOT is minimal, you can steer it with one finger. Very easy to steer!​

 

[F_R]

Re: Hydraulic Steering

That is your boat. You don't have a high steering load. What I am trying to say is that if there is a high steering load the hydraulic won't fix that. One of the chief complaints we got was hard steering when people thought they were buying power steering. Manual hydraulic steering is just that--manual. There is no power assist from any other source. However, by selecting different displacement helm pumps you can get some advantage. That is at the expense of more turns hardover-to-hardover though. I am retired from a company that built marine hydraulic steering. When the regular guy was at a boat show or vacation, I got phone duty and heard those hard steering complaints all day long.

 

[dabalone]

Re: Hydraulic Steering

I understand what you are saying FR, but this thing pulls and is also sticky and hard to turn. Torque tab is already tweaked a bunch to correct prop torgue. Maybe a NFB cable system would get me where I want to be but I like the idea of no cables twisting and turning on there way back to motor. It would make sense that Hydraulic would require the least resistance getting back to stern, fluid running thru a tube has to be a smoother path.

Again I am not expecting to be able and steer this boat with my pinky but what I have is unacceptable. Wish I could get some feedback from someone using the Baystar, I am sure the Seastar works great and believe it comes equiped on many new boats but the Baystar is more affordable and targeted towards boats like my own.

Again, thanks for replys

 

[studlymandingo]

Fluid Dynamics

Fluid Dynamics

Not trying to be difficult but my boat is a heavy center console with a 150 HP V-6; there is a bit of load on the steering, my girlfriend couldn't drive the boat before, she has no trouble now.​

The helm unit is a pump, the motor unit is a cylinder. When lifting a car you do not grab it with your hands and pick it up, you put a cylinder under it and use a pump to compress hydraulic fluid into the cylinder thereby reducing the amount of energy your arms need to pick up the load.​

When you turn the wheel, you are activating a pump that pushes fluid into a hydraulic cylinder which moves the outboard much like that jack under the car bumper. The hydraulic setup greatly reduces the amount of force it takes to move the outboard. Hydraulics in general have been very instrumental in the industrialization of our world. Small motors can be used to move heavy loads by compressing fluids and transferring that energy to the load.​

 

[F_R]

Re: Fluid Dynamics

Re: Fluid Dynamics

Dabalone, it all goes back to what I said in the beginning before we got into an arguement over how hydraulics work. I said it depends on why it is hard to steer now. If there are excessive bends and twists in the cable that is a very valid reason for hydraulics. As said, the fluid doesn't care how many turns it has to go through. Second good reason is steering torque. I am telling you that hydraulic won't eliminate that, but the no feedback feature built into hydraulic steering helms will make it stay where it was when you stopped turning the wheel. That way you don't have to constantly fight it. I am sure you know what I am talking about here.

Sorry, I wasn't going to say any more about this, but can't help myself. Whether jacking a car, using a crowbar or steering a boat, there is a trade-off of some kind. There is a direct relationship between the displacement of the helm pump versus the displacement of the hydraulic cylinder that steers the motor. If the helm and cylinder were the same displacement it would be just as hard to turn the steering wheel as it would be to try to steer the motor by grabbing it by hand. Make the displacement ratios 2 to 1 and it would be half as hard. Make it 3:1 and it would be a third. The bottom line as far as steering goes is the number of turns of the wheel that it takes to steer hardover to hardover. The more turns the easier the steering. People start to complain if it is much over 4 turns because it takes too much wheel spinning to dock the boat. But even 6 or more is often seen on big boats. That same ratio effect is found in cable steering only is is through gears in the helm. Still 3 turns or thereabouts. Try it. The same principle is found in the car jack. You have a small piston in the pump and a much larger one raising the car. You move the little one a whole bunch of strokes in order to move the big one one stroke.