Hard Steering Observations

[Topsportsman]

I see a lot of Threads about hard steering in all sorts of boats, and most of the solutions are something to look at as a cause, but I have not seen the relationship of the amount of turns lock to lock discussed as a possible solution to the problem. Many times the amount of steering effort is a personal preference dictated by each captain. There may be nothing wrong with the steering, it's just to hard to steer for that captain.

I read on the Teleflex site that the amount of turns lock to lock you have on your steering system has a direct effect on how hard the steering is on your boat. I have a 3 turn lock to lock system, I'm going to try the 4.2 turn NFB system on my boat.

The less turns lock to lock the harder the steering the more turns the easier and more comfortable the steering. ( their words not mine ) I have a Pontoon boat and it may just be that adding 1 1/4 extra turns might make the boat a bit more to handle when docking. I'm ready to deal with a little more difficulty in docking in order to get a comfortable drive on the water, but only to a point.

Anyway, I hope this might help someone with the same problem as mine. I'll post a new thread when I get it done, but it might be next season. Ours is about shot here in Illinois.

 

[rndn]

Re: Hard Steering Observations

I would think it would be easier to turn being as that it moves less with each turn. Let me know how it works out for you and being in upstate New York, I know the boating season is way too short.

 

[F_R]

Re: Hard Steering Observations

Well, that is a subject that comes up every day with hydraulic steering because you have such a wide variety of helms and cylinders available.

The fewer the turns, the quicker the rudder moves and the harder it is to move it.

The opposite is more turns, the rudder moves slower and it is easier to move it.

Ever see the old sailing ship movies where they have a 6 foot diameter steering wheel and they twirl it around about 10 times when the captain yells "hard to port"?

Most people won't accept much over 4 or 5 turns on a small boat. They all want 3 turns, one-finger tip steering. Dream on.