Steering Delema

[notenoughsickies]

Hey guys.

Just put the boat in the water for the first time since Oct 2011 due to a new arrival in the family an a whole heap of shit weather over Xmas. PFD for the little one motor going and my Steering cable has snapped. Devastated straight back on the trailer. I have a 5.3 freedom escape with a 90 etec. I would love to put a Hydraulic kit on but will struggle with $$ atm due once again to the bub. Am pretty handy and would like to reinstall another cable at least till i can afford the upgrade. can anyone out there offer any advice Re can you just get a new cable or do you need the whole kit. Any particular kitt that are better than others. Please help. I am so desperate to get back out there, get a fishing rod in my daughters hand and catch some fish.

[Giffo65]

I am sure you can just buy the steering cable,pull out the helm and pull out the pin where the cable enters the helm, and the cable should come out.

PS
Like your user name,I called my boat "Chuckasickie"

[notenoughsickies]

Thanks heaps mate. Working for the gov makes them a whole lot easier. Cheers for your advice

[johncar]

You will be replacing them every 3 years or so, so it seems although there may be a way of preserving them. I would save up and get hydraulic if you intend to keep the boat. But I understand if the $$$ are tight. I was in someone elses boat once at sea when the cable let go at cruise speed, engine went instantly to full lock without warning and fortunately no one was badly injured. Skipper was thrown from the helm and fortunately one of the crew managed to get to the kill switch while we were screaming around in circles. I don't believe that hydraulics would ever fail like that, so instantly anyway..

[Axl]

You will be replacing them every 3 years or so, so it seems although there may be a way of preserving them. I would save up and get hydraulic if you intend to keep the boat. But I understand if the $$$ are tight. I was in someone elses boat once at sea when the cable let go at cruise speed, engine went instantly to full lock without warning and fortunately no one was badly injured. Skipper was thrown from the helm and fortunately one of the crew managed to get to the kill switch while we were screaming around in circles. I don't believe that hydraulics would ever fail like that, so instantly anyway..

What makes you say that?

[notenoughsickies]

Wow cheers for that . I'm gonna chuck a cable in and start saving. Was glad that it had gone before we headded out especially with my baby daughter and wife in the boat.

[Giffo65]

I got 8 years out of my cable steering, and my boat gets a lot of use,maybe that is the secret.But I did go Hydraulic this time and what a difference !

[Fed]

My cable is 27 years old and still going strong.

I doubt you broke a cable sickies your helm is probably broken.

I'd go so far as to say it's impossible to break a cable because the helm will always beak first, I've never in my life even seen a broken cable.

If you give us a bit more info we could probably help you more.
What happens when you turn the wheel now?

JC your mates boat was set up badly if it drove around in circles.
I think a badly set up hydraulic steering boat would do exactly the same if a hose blew off and probably more likely to happen with no feed back masking a bad set up.

[WalrusLike]

Yeah I wondered about that... You would think that moving through the water would tend to keep the motor facing straight... So something strongly unbalanced to make it go hard over. But I am just guessing.

[Moonlighter]

Yes, some more checking out required.

And add to the list of things to check:

Whether the motor will pivot freely with the steering cable disconnected. It is not uncommon for motors that sit for long periods without use for the pivot that it turns on to cease up. if that happens without you knowing, turning the wheel with force can result in broken helms - which is a possibility in this case.

So, suggest you disconnect the steering down at the motor end and see if the motor then swings from left to right easily. Takes only a few seconds to do this and will either confirm or rule this out as the cause of the problem.

By the way, keeping the pivot greased is an important maintenance job we should all do. It is not frequent enough to do this only when getting the engine serviced annually - it should be done every 6 months. Most engines have a couple of grease nipples that you have to find, at the top and bottom of the pivot shaft.

Finally, yes, save up and get hydraulic steering, I went thru the same thing on my last boat and eventually installed a Hydrive Sportkit that I picked up on a boat show 15% off special. Never looked back.

Cheers

ML

[Moonlighter]

Yeah I wondered about that... You would think that moving through the water would tend to keep the motor facing straight... So something strongly unbalanced to make it go hard over. But I am just guessing.

Walrus....

If a steering cable breaks or becomes disconnected and the motor is under power, the torque of the prop will result in an instant, strong full-lock turn, there is no other choice. No way will it just keep going straight.

Many years ago a friends boat's steering cable broke when underway, fortunately not at high speed, but had to get home from Cape Moreton to Bribie, had to rig up ropes and a deckie had to physically hold the motor, a 130 Yammy, to stop it pulling to the side due to torque steer. A long slow exhausting trip but made it back.

Cables can and do break, but more frequently they jam or freeze up, or the motor pivot freezes up, and then something else like the helm breaks when the skipper exerts excessive force on the wheel in an effort to free things up.

Cheers

ML

[coucho]

I snapped a cable in my last boat it snapped at the crimp on the motor end. you can replace them its quiet an easy job really from memory (and my memory is poor) you will get change out of $200. I can also confirm that if you do snap a cable at full lock your motor is free to flop to whichever side it likes. Snap it with the helm straight and it will only flop to one side, unitl you turn the wheel to full port lock assuming the cable comes in from the starboard side.
My current boat has hydraulic and it is definetly worth the coin love the way it handles compared the old cable steering. No feedback what so ever!

[Fed]

I must live on a different planet I can let go of my steering wheel at any speed & my boat runs straight.

Funny story, last time out my missus was driving and I was hanging over the back (leaning on the motor) pulling the crap out of my burley bucket.
The missus could feel me leaning on the motor through the steering wheel, she thought I was doing it on purpose so she let go of the wheel and gradually my leaning on the motor pushed it towards port lock and the boat did a slow U turn. When I looked up and saw we were going in the opposite direction I'm yelling at her WTF are you doing!

[marto78]

I bought a steering cable and helm kit for a 5.1m a few weeks ago for $270 but know you can just get the cable for them as well, we were in a hurry so bought the lot. There will be a part number on the outside of the conduit up the helm end that you will need to quote to get the right cable/kit. Once you figure out what you are doing they are really easy to replace. It took us 2hrs to get the thing out and about 30mins to put the new one in and load the boat back up, this was done in the rigging area at the boat ramp.

Just for the record it was my steering cable that had snapped down the motor end, it looked like it had been squashed by the floor in one section.

[johncar]

Yeah look I know the cables can last a long time. I am just saying that it is my experience from knowing plenty of steering ussues over the years with cables, it has all too often been said, it is only 3 or 4 years old and it seized or broke. In fact it is probably more from infrequent use if anything and possibly no maintenance, just like poorly installed wheel bearings and everything else boating.
I am just trying to highlight the fact that you need to keep an eye on these things, service them etc and any hint of a problem with the steering being tight or sticking, check it out.
And yes, when a cable breaks in my friends case near the engine end due to corrosion and or fatigue or whatever there may be little resistance to the engines torque and it can go to full lock under power. I do recall though that his cable setup at the back was not conventional and not connected through the engines tilt bracket but it was over 20 years ago and can't remember the fine details other than it broke and we spun. It was also a fairly old model Evinrude that I am sure had more lock than modern day engines, this thing seemed nearly at 90 degrees

Which way does an engine pull with standard right hand clockwise rotation? Can't besure but I seem to recall it turned severely to starboard and yes in an ideal world I would have thought that if the engines trim tab was set correctly it would have maintained a straight line but in reality the cable I think broke while in a turn to starboard past a beacon and when trying to straighten it let go.

Hydraulics on the other hand are operating on very low pressure so I very much doubt a hose would burst suddenly unless it was cut or something and even then I think that the ram would offer some resistance while the oil leaked out giving a far less severe turning of the engine. But that's all in theory, not about to try it out.
Either system should be fine if looked after but given a choice I would go hydraulic every time, but I understand the sensible economics side, particularly in lighter vessels.