The guy who sells hydraulic steering feeds you a cable steering nightmare and you believe him?
I have never heard of a steering cable that needs pulled and lubricated every year.[/QUOTE]
The guy I spoke to about the cable steering was the Cable steering customer service rep/guru at Seastar's Illinois office. That is what he told me during our conversation. When I told him that the boat had steering problems very early on in it's life, he asked if the cables had ever been pulled and lubricated and said that was supposed to be done on a regular basis like once per year. Later on in our conversation he admitted that in the majority of cases, the outboard needs to be either moved down the transom or lifted and hung in order to get the cables in and out of the tilt tubes. That last part was confirmed by my nephew who is a very experienced senior marine mechanic at a marina on Canada's west coast. He said that roughly 9 out of 10 times the motor needs to be hung to get the steering cable in or out of the tilt tube. I've looked at my system and it looks to me like one of the two steering cables doesn't line up too well with the tilt tube coming out of the bulkhead into the motor well so I'm fairly sure getting that cable in/out will require hanging the motor which is something I'm not equipped to do at my cabin. And since it's such a hassle and expense to get that boat down to the nearest mechanic, it's not something I want to have to do ever let alone on a regular basis.
When I told the rep that I suspected that system didn't work well on those particular boats because Glastron abandoned installing them after less than 5 months and asked him what single cable system he suggested to replace it with, he said he wouldn't/couldn't recommend a single cable system to replace it with so that;s when I pretty much decided against replacing that crappy steering system with the same thing. For whatever reason that system just hasn't worked well in that boat.so I'm not going to risk having the exact same thing happening.
Did he also tell you about going out to the boat on a cool morning in October to find hydraulic fluid all over the deck? “Cold” leaks are a pretty common occurrence in hydraulic systems.
I've been driving cars for more than 40 years and I'm yet to come out to my car in any type of weather to find the hydraulic brake lines or hydraulic clutches (and I've had at least two cars with hydraulic clutches - in fact I'm driving one now) have suddenly given out leaving a pool of brake fluid under the car. What you say may on ocassion happen with boat hydraulic steering systems but I somehow doubt it happens very often and I'll bet almost anything most hydraulic systems function well for much longer than the dual cable system did in my boat. I don't know if it ever worked well or when exactly it failed and got incredibly stiff but I know for a fact it didn't make it through 5 years of seasonal use before it got to the point where it was too stiff for most people to steer. I have put up with the stiffness for the four summers I've used the boat but no longer. Besides that, I can feel the helm is starting to wear out because of the extreme stress the stiicky cables put it under so I either have to put in some sort of new steering system or risk having a failure in the steering system next year.
I’m a salt guy. Running an OEM installed no-feedback system. The cable was never been lubricated. I pulled the ram when I installed a “Grease Guard” fitting in 2005 and again this Spring when I replaced the o-rings in the Grease Guard. Works as well as the day it was installed.
I'm glad that worked out for you but can't see how it's in any way relevant to me and my situation.
The fact that Glastron doesn't stock the cable is meaningless. Tells you nothing. Why would they keep inventory of a third party manufactured part that is readily available on the net at discounted prices?
That one fact alone doesn;t mean anything but if you look at all the evidence in its entirety, I think it gives good reason to suspect those dual cable systems did not work well for Glastron.Think about it: Glastron lists all of the other single cable Seastar/Teleflex cable steering systems they've used on those boats and all of them were installed over a long run of years and many are still being nstalled to date. It's only this one dual cable system that they installed in my boat that Glastron abandoned after only a few months (5 months 23 days to be exact) and don't stock anymore. All of the other single cable systems they do stock and those are also available direct from Seastar/Dometic and available from many places at discount prices. They stock all those other systems because they want to be able to offer replacement parts to their customers like any car or boat company does. Why then do they not stock this one particular steering system? They obviously sold a bunch. Why don't they make the effort to support those customers? I can't say I know the reason for sure but I submit one plausible explanation is that it's because those systems were a problem for them and they don't want to be installing them in customers' boats anymore and having them fail prematurely like they did when they installed them in the factory.
Obviously something isn’t right with your system. Cheap parts, short cuts in installation? I can’t help you other than give suggestions based upon my personal experience with a large number of boats and steering arrangements
The use of an undersized helm isn’t a good start to finding a viable solution to your problem.
The Baystar system that has been recommended to me is not undersized for the setup I have. It is rated for 150 hp and speeds up to what my boat can do. It was the hydraulic steering specialist rep with Seastar in Richmond, BC that said that while I could go with the Baystar system, it would be near its rated limits with my setup and suggested that the beefier Seastar system (rated up to 300 hp) would be a better way to go and would steer easier owing to the higher pressure and slightly larger diameter (5/16" i.d. vs 1/4" i.d.) hydraulic hoses. He also said that if I did go with the Baystar system, I might want to consider upgrading to the larger Seastar hoses. That has left me wondering what's the best way to go. The Seastar system costs a lot more than the Baystar system and I don't want to spend the extra money unnessesarily so I was hoping to hear from someone who's used the Baystar system on a 150 hp setup what their experience with that system has been.
Being an engineer I know that engineers build a certain "factor of safety" into their specifications and ratings. If they say the Baystar system is good for up to 150 hp and certain speeds, I strongly suspect it could actually handle more than that but to build in that safety factor and protect themselves from liabilities they would set the specified limits lower than that. There's no way they're going to state the upper limit for horsepower on that steering system right at the system's true upper limit. Given the potential harm that could come if the system failed at or just below their specified limits and the liabilities they could incur, it would be crazy to do that. My guess is the Baystar system can probably handle 175 or maybe even 200 hp but they're never going to tell you that. They'll keep themselves safe from any potential liabilities by stating a maximum hp of 150 and steer (pun intended) those with even a little more than 150 hp towards the much more expensive and beefier Seastar system.
