Steering upgrade

[Strange]

My late 2004M NEVER could be steered in a straight line under power or sail. Yeah, the slop. Turn the wheel slowly until you are going straight and then it would all flop the other way. Repeat endlessly. I was also constantly tightening the mount by twisting the hub. Poor design all around.

So I bought the full upgrade kit from BWY. IF I had blindly followed the manufacturers instructions and did it “their way first” before doing it my way, the bolt holes wouldn’t have lined up. You know, standard boat product stuff. Had to turn their hole drilling template just a bit off straight level. Almost didn’t get it far enough over to clear the throttle linkage but all good. You just have to make sure you know where things are going to land BEFORE you start cutting the hole bigger and drilling the holes for the mounting bolts.

But great result! The wheel itself is much more solid. Feels more like a boat wheel and less like the wheel on a pedal car. Haven’t tried it in the water yet but I can tell it is a huge improvement. Can’t wait for the custom steering arm to come in and try it all out!

[Russ]

Thanks for this post. My steering seems to be getting more slop each year. I'm pulling the trigger and ordering a new cable from BWY.

Any suggestions to save me some time/struggles installing it?

[Strange]

In my case, I had to replace both the rack/cable and the pinion/shaft. The only tricky part was expanding the hole such that things ended up where they needed to be. And Generally no cutting or drilling until everything is well understood.

But replacing only the rack/cable was easy. Took it loose inside the boat first. And made sure I had a little slack in all the cables going up the pedestal. I had to take the bolts out of the pedestal head and lift it up less than a foot to get enough clearance to get the old rack out and the new one in.

So, for me, the steering wheel part was a day and a half. The cable part was 20 minutes.

[OverEasy]

We were fortunate that at some point in time that our PO (previous owners) replaced our rack and cable system. This got us off to a good start!

It’s been several years now and several hundreds of operational hours since then and I can feel that the steering is not as firm as it once was. As there does not seem to be any means to actually see or inspect for wear or for adjustment it’s something that kinda needs to be addressed by replacement before it craps out. (Though to be honest I personally don’t know of anyone actually having had a rack and cable system strip out on them…. I don’t want to be the first :/)

With that in mind I guess I ought to at least start considering a replacement system. I’m thinking a call to Todd at BWY is in my future…

Best Regards
Over Easy

[Strange]

Like I said, the hardest part for me was replacing the steering wheel shaft/pinion. The issue is how do you start a hole saw when there is nothing to sink the drill bit into. The old trick of putting a block of wood behind it doesn’t work as there simply isn’t any room.

The new shaft was a little different, so I measured everything to ensure that if I made the existing hole bigger but in the same place that everything would clear. Then I put the hole cutter on the size I wanted to cut, then a washer, then the hole cutter the size the hole already was and used THAT for a guide to get the cut started without skipping around. Once I had the cut well started, I took off the smaller hole cutter and washer.

But the hole still wasn’t quite big enough and yes I used the right one. But between the moulding irregularities and the thickness of the wood, had to do a bit of filing and sanding to get it in.

Once that was done, ALL of the rest of it was a piece of cake.

[Russ]

I bought just the cable so I'm hoping to avoid all that drilling.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!
For what it’s worth:
I was doing a bit of research and I found a good summary on the Hull truth site by a guy named Tom Clark back in 2014

Teleflex offers essentailly four different rotary mechanical steering systems.

Safe-T, 3 turns lock-to-lock

Safe-T-II, 3 turns lock-to-lock, plus a no feedback (NFB) clutch

NFB 4.2, 4.2 turns lock-to-lock, plus NFB clutch

Xtreme, 5 turns lock-to-lock, uses special Xtreme cable with very little slop

Any of the latter three systems can be used with a 115 HP motor, but the NFB 4.2 and Xtreme are probably going to be preferable, depending on the boat

Seems that the “ Safe-T-II, 3 turns lock-to-lock, plus a no feedback (NFB) clutch” has been a popular option with good results for several people on several differing sites.

It would seem that all rotary pinion cable steering eventually wear and get sloppy.
A fair portion is in the interconnecting boat side linkages rather that just in the rotary head… about 50/50.
So there is some measurable benefit to checking out the boat pivoting interface points and getting those tightened up too.
Elsewhere in our forum I mentioned that I need to do this myself as others here have also pointed this out.
It’s a project I’d be best attempting in the off season when Over Easy is back on her trailer on dry land.

For those interested in how the ‘innards’ of a rotary cable steering system works here is a good video opening up a system.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Russ]

I was considering replacing it with hydraulic steering. However, that system won't work with the way the 26M rudders are attached.

New cable should be here today and I'll replace and tighten up all the other bits.

[kurz]

Bay the way...
Iike the Play in the steering of my 2011

of I moove the Motor, there is some play. So I put the Motor in middle Position. The small steering movements do not move the Motor but the rudders. So the boat changes direction. Does Not work for small turns!

[Be Free]

You guys had to bring up steering! I just finished working on my inverter yesterday and sat down in the cockpit. For some reason I was fiddling with the wheel and something didn't feel right. I've eliminated the engine, rudders, and steering linkage so it's something in the rack and pinion or the cable itself.
One project finished.. Another begins.