'Restoring' a Glastron V-156 steering

[wp442]

My father recently passed away and I inherited his '73 Glastron V-156 with a 65HP Mercury:



He was a very avid small-reservoir fisherman, and either he (and/or the previous owner) made some modifications to this boat that I'd like to undo, and return the boat to more of a factory setup.

One of the mods is with the steering setup. Although it works just fine, it's not right IMO...and I was hoping someone could give me some pictures of how it's supposed to be. (The following pictures can be clicked on to view a larger version.)

The steering wheel/column/hub is from a Sea Sprite, based on the script on the steering wheel:


The steering cables come off the drum and into small pullies attached to the side:


...and which were mounted by drilling all the way through the hull. (Note the small stress cracks.):


The cables continue to the stern, where another pair of pullies is mounted (right through the Glastron emblem!):...


...through a pair of obviously-added holes...:


(continued next post, due to image-posting limitations)

 

[wp442]

Re: 'Restoring' a Glastron V-156 steering

...and then one cable attaches to the engine...:


...while the other cable extends over to the port side, through another pulley.:


So...the question is: How was the factory steering set up, and how hard would it be to restore it back...assuming I could find the correct parts?

 

[Willyclay]

Re: 'Restoring' a Glastron V-156 steering

Welcome to the iboats forum. Great photos! The experts here, which I am not, can help you solve any problem with your boat. Sorry about your dad. Not sure what was OEM steering for your boat. I saved a 1970 Glastron V-153 from the dump but mine was missing the steering system when I pulled it out of a ditch. However, it did have a couple of pulleys remaining under the cap so I installed a cable/pulley system and it worked well. When I upgraded from a 35HP to a 75HP motor, I installed a Teleflex mechanical steering system that uses a push/pull cable. The link below is to Teleflex's online library where you can read/download the instruction manuals for most of their products:

http://www.teleflexmarine.com/cgi-bin/library.cgi?site=steering&type=us&library=1018

Uflex makes some comparable products at lower prices. You should be able to fix it the way you want it. Good luck!

 

[26aftcab454]

Re: 'Restoring' a Glastron V-156 steering

go with Teleflex

 

[scoutabout]

Re: 'Restoring' a Glastron V-156 steering

Yes -- welcome to iboats -- it's a great community if I do say so myself.

That is quite the enterprising jury rig for steering and someone went to a fair bit of effort to do it. It's too bad about the holes in the outer hull. That shouldn't really be necessary, but I know sometimes you work with what you have.

I agree that you would find a more modern mechanical push/pull type of flex cable steering system probably quite easy to install with a minimum o fuss. I have a setup like that in a little tin boat and there wasn't a need to drill a single mounting hole. Now, that might not be the true OEM setup for a boat of that age, but, again, the simplicity, durability, and strength compared to multi-cable can't be beat.

The single cable runs in a sheath of flexible plactic back to the motor and through that integrated tube on the engine. Actually you can see the threaded ends sticking out on either side just above the transome clamps on your engine. After the cable passes through that tube and is secured via collars over those threaded tube ends, theres a metal arm that attaches to the end of the cable and doubles back to where your current cables attach to the engine.

Here's a simple example for comparison. You can see how the cable actually passes right through the engine mounting bracket. This gives the rod on the end an anchored point to push against, thus moving the engine from side to side. Just make sure that little lock nut attached to the engine is secure...

 

[wp442]

Re: 'Restoring' a Glastron V-156 steering

Thanks guys! That does help a bunch. Looks pretty good, and the price isn't too bad either.

...and thanks for the welcome, too. I've got probably 8-10 hours worth of reading done here on the forums over the past 4 days or so, trying to acquaint myself with everything marine. Although I'm pretty mechanically-inclined (I'm currently in the middle of two automotive frame-off restorations...a '67 Ford F100 pickup and a '67 Olds 442), I'm a complete novice when it comes to boats. However, I've been learning a lot here, and am looking forward to adding another iron in the fire, so to speak. I'm sure I'll be asking all kinds of newbie-ish questions over the next few weeks.