Rope steering safety

[huckelberry]

I have a 1979 11' whaler with a 25 evinrude that I just did a restoration job on. Almost everything on the boat had to be replaced including the steering cable, so I put new on, and it works great. Some people tell me that I should have gotten rid of the old style rope steering and upgraded to rack and pinion cable steering. I know with the year of the motor that this is mechanically an or economically not feasable, plus I like the vintage whaler stainless steel steering wheel. With all of that being said, is rope steering so unsafe that I should be concerned about it enough to junk the 1978 motor and look for other options. Also, how hard is it to install a kill switch, because it did not come with one.

Thanks

 

[G DANE]

Re: Rope steering safety

Rope or wire steering as it probably is, works fine on thousands of boats, as long as it it proberly installed. It just has more play that rack and pinion.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Rope steering safety

A lot of people freak out about these steering systems and say they should absolutely be gotten rid of. I don't happen to subscribe to that theory and feel that they are perfectly safe, if properly installed and/or maintained. Just as a "fer instance," just about any light aircraft that you see flying over your head on a daily basis, uses control cables for the ailerons, elevators and rudder. These systems are pretty much a fancier version of what is in your boat. I'll also offer the personal experience opinion, based upon growing up with them - I never had a problem with one and never knew anyone else who did.

All of this said, if you want to convert to a teleflex style steering cable, you can still keep your motor. Check out www.ezyglide.com and look for the "Universal Engine Connection Kit." These kits allow this steering system to be used on an older motor that doesn't have a built-in torque tube. The photo below is one that I used on an ERude Bigtwin, which was also mated to another Bigtwin with a separate tie rod. This particular unit is only rated for 40hp, but I steered both motors with it for several years.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rope steering safety

there is nothing wrong with the cable pulley steering you have, as long as you are using cable, rope is subject to too much wear. the # 1 trick to keeping it working properly, is keeping the tention on the cable. periodically adjusting the clamps on the cable,

the ezy glide product is a great product for the older motors, with out a tilt tube. i have used it on several boats, that had no steering.

here is an example of the complete ezy glide system (stik steering)








by the way Jay, i'm stealing you picture for reference.

 

[Ned L]

Re: Rope steering safety

I agree with what the others have said, - completely safe, when maintained. The most important thing is to make sure that all the turning points, and cable end points are through bolted and NOT fastened with screws. The last thing you want is for a something to pull out. If this happens, you will loose all tension on the cable and the outboard will flop over to one side putting the boat into an uncontrolable tight turn, spinning in circles. That being said, I see nothing wrong with traditional cable steering on outboards of about 40hp and less. A 13ft Whaler with 25 hp is fine.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rope steering safety

you also have to remember the fat 50 and the 75 hp OMC's were cable pulley steering, until they invented the the push/pull cable systems. in the late 60's.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Rope steering safety

I had cable/pully steering on my Fat Fifty, as TD points out. If it could handle that monster, you motor will be a piece of cake. Use the vinyl coated 1/8" steel cable, and it should last 20+ years.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rope steering safety

i used 3/16th vinyl cover cable. this also has some hard to get info.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=200994

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Rope steering safety

TD, I'd be pleased to have you use my photo for reference. The iboats forums are a really great place to learn a great deal about this hobby that we all love so much, and I am quite pleased to contribute to that effort.

BTW, one point that may be worth mentioning, is that I bent the control arm on that unit quite a bit. The extreme angle was required for my particular application. Those who purchase stock units will find that the supplied control arm will have a much less severe bend for steering clearance.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Rope steering safety

The only two drawbacks I've seen with cable on pulley steering are that like mentioned above, if it's an old rope style, the rope will wear or rot, and I had one cable derailed over the years when fishing rod dropped out of its holder and got caught on steering cable under the gunwale. It was a pain to fix on the water but not a big deal. I later put a piece of PVC tubing over the cable in that area.

Boats that use rope for the steering need to be redone with cable, which is a simple swap. Years ago I ran several boats with rope steering, none ever gave any problems.

I do install teleflex steering on most of my boats just for the simplicity of it and often to save some space.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rope steering safety

i agree the teleflex is a better method, but on the classics, i love to see cable pulley restored. i have done several.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Rope steering safety

Boats that use rope for the steering need to be redone with cable, which is a simple swap. Years ago I ran several boats with rope steering, none ever gave any problems.

I do install teleflex steering on most of my boats just for the simplicity of it and often to save some space.

Another vote for the viability of cable and pulley steering.
Have run my boat for 45 +years with cable steering, with a 35 gale, 40 johnson, and 55 johnson. Never any issues.
Now has a 2006 Nissan 40 and I replaced with a Teleflex type system only because I had one "in stock", I was going to have to treplace a few pulleys (after 45 years....) and as per the quote it does save a bit of space.

One question for the forum, I always just used high quality clothesline as replacement without problem. Was I just lucky or with the size of motor listed, was that plenty of strength?

 

[Ned L]

Re: Rope steering safety

Please, not clothesline (!) - I'd say you were quite lucky.
All cable for rope steering should have a wire rope core. The nicest stuff I've used was what was popular in the 50's, it looked just like red clothesline (red braided cotton), however that stuff has a braided bronze core. It has a nice vintage look and is quite supple. I'd say from a safety perspective the wire rope that is covered with clear vinyl is probably the best as the core can be visually inspected for wear.

 

[JB]

Re: Rope steering safety

I had the steel cable/pulley system on my 1973 13' Boston Whaler with a Johnny 25. Worked fine and I kept the springs on the pulleys at about 50% stretch.

 

[huckelberry]

Re: Rope steering safety

Thanks for all the info guys, I really appreciate the help that I have gotten from Iboats. I did use coated steel cable to replace the old which was the same. I just used the term "rope" steering because that is what it is called in manuals and in the old omc parts book that I have. Now if I could only get to the bottom of my water in lower unit problem I will be done.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Rope steering safety

Never use fabric rope on these systems! The term rope, when used in the context of a boat steering system, means wire rope and the specific wire rope that has been used since the fifties has a plastic coating on it.

Also, a question for TD - the EzyGlide mounting plate that you have is designed for the motor's transom clamps to fit onto it. The bracket is screwed into the transom, and the the motor is placed on the transom, with the clamps being screwed down onto the identations on the tilt tube bracket. Is there a reason why you mounted yours under the clamps? I'm just curious.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rope steering safety

Jay there was a 1/4 inch step in the transom, when i replace the transom i use a full 2x10, and had to rabit the top so it would go under the top rail. if i had mounted it correctly, it would not have been flat against the transom.

 

[Ned L]

Re: Rope steering safety

Ageed, never use 'fabric rope",..... however,... the cordage I mentioned as being used back in the 50's "it looked just like red clothesline (red braided cotton)" was designed & made specifically for steering systems, and as I said is a bronze wire rope core with a cotton braid covering. I doubt you will see it any more, unless someone has some 'new old stock' (which I do).

 

[BillP]

Re: Rope steering safety

Wire or Rope is safe if maintained but push pull cable is safer. Wire systems don't always show their true condition and if they break it can be sudden and control lost. Most wire systems have a covering where you can only see the terminal ends and corrosion or fatique is unseen until the wire breaks. That's the safety issue with them. Modern push pull systems usually let you know they are going bad and rarely to never suddenly break.

Comparing boat wiire systems to aircraft wire systems is sort of half the story. Aircraft don't use homedepo type wire or terminal ends. They don't use wire with covering and most use galvanized wire to help reduce work hardening issues that can happen with SS wire (1x19, 7x7 or 7x19). Aircraft use aviation (AN) fittings, etc. Planes are also checked annually by FAA inspectors (or exp plane owner/builders) and they know what to look for. So, while aircraft fly with wire (usually 7x19 or higher) it's a high step above in quality and mfg compared to boat systems. Wire definitely gets close attention on preflights.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rope steering safety

boats don't fall out of the air either.