Hydraulic Steering Advice

[Mindi]

Thinking of fitting Hydrive Sportkit to my Seascape 4.82 Kingfisher CC ..pod mount so unlimited clearance beside motor. Any particular traps to watch out for in the project for the amateur if I follow the instructions ..?

[Noelm]

been looking at hydraulic steering myself recently, the sportkit I think is the one that fits just like the old cable did correct? if so, then it will be a breeze to fit it yourself, not that any of the others are hard, I need to get a good price on a twin bullhorn system for my boat, but I am too tight to make the step.

[Mindi]

yes Noel..know what you mean but my rig is spoiled a little by the crap cable steering which sticks badly at full lock if not careful.. I just figured for $690 it would be a step change. Not so cheap for a twin rig of course.... still not small change exactly. Yes the Sportkit one apparently screws straight into the cable entry thread and cant imagine any rocket science needed to run the lines and bleed the setup..?

[Noelm]

yep, that's all there is to it, as long as the old steering comes apart OK, the only hassle is running the lines and making it all look neat, of course in practice, nothing will go to plan, and a quick job will run into a couple weekends, but we are all used to that now huh!

[Tracker]

check your inbox

[cormorant]

check your engine well clearances exactly as some just don't fit


Edit- sorry just reread post after Noels comment below - didn't see pod mount first off Cheers

[Noelm]

he has a pod mounted motor I do believe from his first post.

[Moonlighter]

Hi Mindi

I fitted the Hydrive sportkit to my boat quite a few years ago now, replacing cable steering. Best thing I ever did, and yes, its definitely do-able yourself.

You'll be able to fit up everything yourself (one person) but you will need a couple of helpers when it comes to filling it with hyd oil and bleeding it.

Do follow the Hydrive instructions exactly - they really stress this, and it's very good advice. If in doubt call them and they are happy to help over the phone in my experience.

A couple of things to watch based on my experience:

- You will most probably need a larger hole in the dash than for the cable steering. Cut carefully!

- keep eveything very clean during installation!

- when connecting up the hoses to the fittings be very careful to ensure the little brass olives are on properly and the hoses are lined up 100% straight with the fittings before and as you tighten up the fittings. Not straight = big leaks = replace olives and hope you have enough slack in the lines to allow that (I did, just!).

- keep everything clean!!!!

- be extra careful when filling/bleeding to keep the oil clean. One spek of dust and the steering will "slip" because the dust gets into the valves and causes leaks which means steering "slips". I filtered the oil (that was caught during the bleeding process) thru 2 coffee filter layers and that seemed to work well.

- where the hyd ram tube fits onto the outboard tilt tube you MUST use the chrome locking washer. A couple of years after I fitted my hydrive I had a new motor fitted and the dealer neglected to re-fit this locking nut and just screwed the ram all the way onto the tilt tube until it was tight. Unfortunately this then means that the end of the tilt tube fouls the seal inside the ram, and eventually I had a major leak problem when I was 15km out to sea. Not happy.

Had to replace the seals in the ram and re-bleed the system a couple of times. Thanked dealer politely, of course!

- keep everthing really clean during install. Did I mention that already?

Otherwise its straightforward. I've had trouble free operation now for about 5 years, apart from the issue with the lock nut when the new outboard was fitted. I do carry a 1 litre bottle of hyd oil on board at all times, just in case. Came in handy that one time!

Cheers

ML