Hydraulic steering

[BlueCanoe]

I am wondering if anyone has converted to hydraulic steering, I just dislike the way mechanical steering feels in comparison to hydraulic, and it looks like I need a new quadrant, as there are some stress cracks in the original one.
I did a search but didn’t come up with much.

this is on a 32-200

 

[Bolo]

A few years back I had the opportunity to pilot a 43’ Morgan on a sunset cruise in St Pete Beach, Florida, and it had hydraulic steering. It was a charter boat and the captain after hearing that I sailed the Chesapeake offered me the wheel soon after we left the dock. Later he even let me dock the beast with his supervision of course. The hydraulic steering felt to me in a word, “weird”. There was absolutely no weather helm and so no feed back from the wheel and a times it felt that the wheel wasn’t even connected. I had to turn it much more to go to port or starboard than I would with a cable and quadrant system. I have a E32-3 and would never consider converting to hydraulic steering. On a blue water boat like the Morgan 43 it probably makes sense for long distance sailing. I rely on feeling the weather helm on my E32 which tells me if the boat Isn’t balanced and is in need of some sail trim or it’s time to reef. Also I think a hydraulic steering system would make reversing the boat into or even out of a slip very difficult to control. Maybe your E32-200 just needs the steering system rebuilt to work out the way the steering feels to you.

 

[Loren Beach]

Two cautionary words: Oil and Leaks. And, yes, lack of any feel. I have friends that moved from sailboats to trawlers and (although accepting it) regularly dislike the lack of feel in the hydraulic steering system -- only big advantage for their power boats is that the original install was easier to facilitate dual steering stations on a fly bridge vessel.
Back to sailboats, the Cascade 36 and 42, formerly built in Portland, had a factory conversion scheme for customers wanting to switch from tiller to wheel. Hydraulic, and it was common to see a boat with a some oil seepage from under the steering station in the cockpit. (Ick)
Many owners buying these popular offshore "blue water" cruisers convert back to tillers to reduce complexity and leakage.

I be votin' with Bob.

 

[peaman]

With a positive mechanical linkage like cable and chain drive, we can easily tell when the wheel is centered, and usually that means the rudder is as well. But with hydraulics, that is not generally the case, so a rudder angle indicator would be a great thing to have.

I was crew on a charter boat with hydraulic steering and two wheels: a larger destroyer wheel aft and a smaller wheel farther forward under the hard dodger. A charter guest wanted to participate in the Nantucket Bucket Regatta, but he was an inexperienced sailor and could not steer a straight path. Wanting to not look lubberly, the captain casually took a seat at the forward helm while the charter guest stood proudly at the big aft wheel. What the guest never knew was that, because the two wheels were on one hydraulic circuit, turning the wheels in opposite directions would cancel each other. We didn't win that one, but we did okay, and the guest had a big day steering a big boat in a famous venue.

 

[Christian Williams]

Do you have a photo of your damaged quadrant?

The "feel" of cable steering is exact. Short of a tiller, I think it's the best we can get. Cables should not be too tight--one-inch deflection on the short span between quadrent and sheave. If too loose, there is play in the wheel. In my opinion, a little play is better than rock-tight, which introduces friction and strain upon the system.

YS/Merriman or Edson brand? The forum has many reports of incorrect installation, or re-installation after maintenance, by boatyards and owners., if there are specific issues such as rubbing sounds or insufficient deflection or rudder wobble, let us know. Threads have probably addressed every possible complaint.

 

[Loren Beach]

and it looks like I need a new quadrant, as there are some stress cracks in the original one.

To this point, can you provide some pix of the quadrant? Maybe reach in with your digi-camera (iPhone?) and take some px? I recall that these castings can show an uneven surface from the casting process, and have odd lines on the surface that may look like cracks, but actually are not.

Edit: a picture or two (older, but still the same) in this thread: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/quadrant-stop-on-yacht-specialties-pedestal.3473/#post-19357
Does your quadrant look like this? I know that the stops are likely different on your model.

 

[BlueCanoe]

My motivation for this is 2 fold; my dock gets allot of wave action which puts allot of stress on the steering system though the rudder. I have it docked at a Navy marina at less than half the cost of anything remotely close, so I am not going to move anytime soon, I think I can build a hydraulic steering system to be much more robust than the mechanical steering because the forces are concentrated between the ram and tiller arm that gets clamped / bolted to the shaft and don't get re directed so much.

Hydraulic steering also lends itself much better to an auto helm via a hydraulic pump.

I have the boat docked at a Navy marina at less than half the cost of anything remotely close, so I am not going to more anytime soon.

I will try to get some pics next time I am there. The crack is coming from the twist induced from the steering quadrant stop pin hitting the stop block.

I have adjusted the slack a few times since I have had the boat at this dock. The slack comes back after a few months.

I converted my old outboard power boat from manual to hydraulic steering and it became much easier to drive as a result. There is still steering feedback but its dampened allot. In that case the boat never should have had mechanical steering installed by the previous owner when he replaced the outboard and overpowered the boat significantly.

Incidentally, 10 years in and the powerboat has never leaked hydraulic fluid.

For the sailboat I would try to keep approximately the same number of turns from lock to lock in which case I would expect to still have some amount of steering feel.

 

[BlueCanoe]

To this point, can you provide some pix of the quadrant? Maybe reach in with your digi-camera (iPhone?) and take some px? I recall that these castings can show an uneven surface from the casting process, and have odd lines on the surface that may look like cracks, but actually are not.

Edit: a picture or two (older, but still the same) in this thread: https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/quadrant-stop-on-yacht-specialties-pedestal.3473/#post-19357
Does your quadrant look like this? I know that the stops are likely different on your model.

The quadrant is edson, its identical to this one Also the quadrant is Edson, its identical to this one: https://sailboatrefit.com/quadrant-removal-and-rehab/

 

[Christian Williams]

The crack is coming from the twist induced from the steering quadrant stop pin hitting the stop block.

Edson can probably sell you a new one, not the case with defunct YS/merriman.

The quadrant/radial rarely hits the blocks when sailing. Usually damage occurs when somebody backs up fast and looses control of the wheel, allowing it to slam over. Doubt that would happen again.