Rotary helm upgrade

[18WCmerc]

Hey everyone, Long time reader, first time poster...

first things first, 1975 18' Webbcraft w/ 188hp mercruiser.


Labor day weekend outing doing some high speed manuavers and really fighting some prop torque my steering popped and lost it. I removed the helm cover plate, pulled out the cable,guide, etc. What i had broke was what i would call an Annulus gear (for those familiar with transmissions) or the ring gear. Regardless, aparently while engaged in a feirce hand to steering wheel combat the pinion gear broke a section out of the Annulus/ring gear. Probably an inch and a half and 4-5 teeth. it was pretty cool actualy. however to not spoil the weekend i reinstalled the Annulus/ring gear with the gap on the opposite side of the pinion gear and reinstalled, ensuring that the sterndrive was straight. i put a piece of tape on the steering wheel to reference how much im turning. I made it all weekend without that pinion gear finding its way out again which was awesome. Now im back home im looking to upgrade my steering. I like the primitive ways of rotary helms, but do they make one with a little more strength to them? Should i look into a non-reversable helm or something to help keep prop torque at bay?

anyones two cents would be greatly appreciated. As of now i have engineered a gear patch and welded new teeth into the annulus/ring gear in case a spare of the moment boat trip emerges. but will upgrade during winter.

thanks for listening/reading my rants...

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Rotary helm upgrade

If that gear broke like that I bet its just from a defect in the casting orginally and it became the weakest point over time. You know the manufacture of the steering? A lot of the times if you show that you have been a long time customer they may be able to send you a new gear if thay haven't changed the design over time.

Spoiling the weekend is never fun. Hopefully we can hit 45 mph next time. I say we take the seat and everything else out and rock two buckets.

 

[18WCmerc]

Re: Rotary helm upgrade

in case anyone else ventures this road....

you cannot buy replacment internal parts for helms, at least rotary.

I have a morris steering system, which is high quality but discontinued.

they do not manufacture morris style helms and the cables are not compatable with other helms.

so im definitly upgrading to a complete no feedback system and new cables...and the canadians is custom building a steering wheel...sweet.

hope this might help someone

 

[18WCmerc]

Re: Rotary helm upgrade

To conclude this post for those it might concern...

the helm i was looking for was a Morse rotary helm, usually spotted by the red feed cable and white spent tube.

Morse seems to be made by uflex or teleflex, i forget.

However once i found out it was a morse, you can find a few on ebay. i got really lucky and found just the helm for 30 bucks...

this is the second post that iboats couldnt figure out lol....wow...high and mighty my astrik****