Hydraulic steering components

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by charliehows

oh - and "takes the feel out of sailing" - really? I get so much feedback through my hydraulic steering system the bloody nut holding the steering wheel on occasionally undoes itself - usually when the boat wants to power onto some nearby rocks...whats so good about 'feel' ?

My HR has hydraulic. I have plenty of feel through feedback.

Originally Posted by ryon

Yes, really.

I just put a few thousand miles on this sweetie. She had a hydraulic steering system that was as limp and lifeless as the power steering on a 1972 Oldsmobile. The pump was right below the helm, and made more noise than the engine. I have sailed quite a few different ships, and the thing that disappointed me most about this one, even worse than the nose-level black water vent next to the helm, was the hydraulic steering.
What's so good about feel??? It's the ship talking to you at the helm. And I like that!

I would say the hydraulic system you are referring to is a live system. One that has an electric or auxiliary motor spinning a hydraulic pump with a 2 way modulator valve. What everyone else is referring to is a pump at the helm where, when you crank on the wheel, it turns a pump filling a hydraulic ram. Therefore when the rudder receives pressure from sea conditions, it pushes or pulls on the ram and in turn, pushes positively or negatively the hydraulic pump at the helm.
If the pump in your engine room made more noise than the ships engine, you have a bad pump. For that matter. if you're using the ships engine all the time, is your :sweetie" really a sailing vessel,or a cattle ship?

All that said, I find it silly to put hydraulics on a boat that already has a tiller. There is no "real" advantage in having it. On my HR the original helm pump had way too much play. If it hadn't been for the electric Autohelm system mounted on the pedestal, I would have just used the auxiliary tiller and saved the $600 for a new pump.

[ryon]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

... I would say the hydraulic system you are referring to is a live system. One that has an electric or auxiliary motor spinning a hydraulic pump with a 2 way modulator valve. What everyone else is referring to is a pump at the helm where, when you crank on the wheel, it turns a pump filling a hydraulic ram. Therefore when the rudder receives pressure from sea conditions, it pushes or pulls on the ram and in turn, pushes positively or negatively the hydraulic pump at the helm.
If the pump in your engine room made more noise than the ships engine, you have a bad pump. For that matter. if you're using the ships engine all the time, is your :sweetie" really a sailing vessel,or a cattle ship?

Ah ha! So I misunderstood the question. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want "power steering" on a boat of that size.

BTW, my "antediluvian monster" Mystic was built in 2007, and did not lack for admirers at any of the ports we visited.

[Celestialsailor]

She looks beautiful

[belizesailor]

I used to crew on this "antediluvian monster". She was built in 1877 and still had traditional mechanical steering gear housed in the "captain's coffin"....installed aft of the "captain's balls" (big iron ones at that). ;-)

[MVDarlin]

Buy an auto pilot system with pump, control head, ect.

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