The Steamboating Forum

I have am going with hydraulic steering on our Elliot Bay hull and would like any input on installation at the cylinder end of the system for connection to tiller, any ideas on mounting cylinder placement, angle ? any pics would be appreciated.

I have installed hydraulic steering on a larger power boat. It went fairly well. I set it up for 45 degrees each side of center maximum travel. It took me a few tries to get it bled free of air. It helped when I went back and read the installation advice! I've always been nervous about having a system with no backup. On a launch I would think about an emergency tiller and take along some spare fluid.

With a simple rudder arm the steering is almost 40 percent quicker near each end of the travel but that seemed to work well.

With a single steering station you can mark the wheel for rudder center. The setup I worked on had two steering stations so each time you got ready to leave the dock you had to run it from stop to stop to find center. A rudder position indicator would have been a nice addition.

It has given no trouble now for ten years.

If at all possible - arrange the cylinder connections up-wards - in order to get the air out of the system.

Jørgen Hansen

Over the past 40+ years I have installed a number of hydraulic steering systems in my boat(s) and others. I have found Wagner hydraulic systems http://www.wagnerengineering.ca/hydraulic-steering.htm to be the best. If you go to the url, select the "wagner steering" > "hydraulic steering" > "700 series hydraulic steering" from the navigation bar at the top. I've used them for boats from 25' to 65', pleasure and commercial. You can use from one to ??? stations. Easy installation. No motorized pump needed. The system purges easily. It's reliable and durable. They also sell rudder indicators. The system is not cheap, but if your steering gives out in the middle of Puget Sound (or Chesapeake Bay) you're in real trouble - one of those boat "the best is barely good enough" things.

While hydraulics are certainly a nice way to go, I've also seen some nice custom mechanical drives with a car steering gearbox and small universal joints w/ pillow blocks in the drive. In any case, reliable steering gear is pretty important.... my dad and brother once ended up bashing a sailboat up in the Alameda Estuary when running downwind in heavy winds and a following sea; the bronze fitting at the end of the tiller snapped clean off due to fatigue and with that boat's heavy weather helm they ended up on the rocks lining the channel pretty quickly. No permanent damage since the boat was fiberglass, but it wasn't quite the fun sail they expected...

One thing to remember is that forces on the tiller when backing at speed can be very high if the rudder is unbalanced. A balanced rudder is also more effective when maneuvering forward at slow speeds, since it deflects more of the prop's output....