No feed back steering

[Midlandman]

Alo all

Can anybody help with me steering issue

Cable snapped the other day at 25kts, scary

Anyway I'm replacing and deciding between nfb and hydraulic

Im leaning more to nfb

Has anybody ever changed a cable for a zodiac open pro 550 and have the correct size at hand so I can order

I realise I can measure the old one when I strip it, I was hoping somebody may know so I can take the part ready to fit and not have to wait on dilivery

Cheers chaps

[Tim M]

The length is usually stamped somewhere on the plastic outer part of the cable

[Midlandman]

Handy to know. Cheers Tim

Hopefully the parts are readily avaliable with quick dilivery

[tomyoud]

As Tim says it's usually stamped on the cable near the helm unit. On our zodiac open pro 650 is was a 16ft cable

[mickter]

Fit hydraulic.no more cable replacement.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by mickter

Fit hydraulic.no more cable replacement.

At about 3 or 4x the cost & you just have leaky seals,helm shafts or degrading hoses to deal with. Its no lower maintenance than cable but way more expensive. Unless your in +100hp territory I wouldnt bother with it myself

[Poly]

Originally Posted by beamishken

At about 3 or 4x the cost & you just have leaky seals,helm shafts or degrading hoses to deal with. Its no lower maintenance than cable but way more expensive. Unless your in +100hp territory I wouldnt bother with it myself

I'm a convert to hydraulic on a small boat/engine. There were some specific "routing" issues that made cable steering pretty rubbish. I assume Zodiac have designed their cable routing right in the first place so less likely to be an issue. I'd seriously consider hydraulic again for other boats in the future though.

[beamishken]

Originally Posted by Poly

I'm a convert to hydraulic on a small boat/engine. There were some specific "routing" issues that made cable steering pretty rubbish. I assume Zodiac have designed their cable routing right in the first place so less likely to be an issue. I'd seriously consider hydraulic again for other boats in the future though.

I guess if you have a specific need then fine but when folk say hydraulic is simply better than cable then I'd disagree. I always thjnk theres too many turns lock to lock & absolutely no feel to the steering. I had a cable snap on a very old speedboat years ago cable was probably 15 years old we got home slowly with one person sat at the helm & the other pushing the engine to steer. A couple of years ago two pals were fishing on a small creel boat & got a line round a steering hose & burst it. They tried to move the engine but couldnt overcome the resistance of the steering ram & got towed in by the rnli. Our sailing club has hydraulic steering on their boats & seem to be replacing hydraulic systems every 4 or 5 years & these arent particularly heavy hours boats.
My thoughts are stick with cable unless you have to go hydraulic because of other reasons.

[Matt]

I think it's horses for courses. The lock to lock issue - more helm displacement needed maybe?

Certainly anything high performance, especially with props running high, hydraulic.
But sub 100hp - yeah - I think I'd stay cable.

Beamishken's right though - there's more chance to sort something makeshift out to get home if something fails on a mechanical setup.

It's also "odd" driving with a hydraulic setup - you do have to keep turning the wheel to keep going in a straight line..........not much, but enough that you'll notice it.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Matt

I think it's horses for courses. The lock to lock issue - more helm displacement needed maybe?

the lock-to-lock issue is the biggest downside in my view - and that could be especially important for sailing club type use where you do a lot of low speed, close-quarters manoeuvring.

Beamishken's right though - there's more chance to sort something makeshift out to get home if something fails on a mechanical setup.

I can disconnect the entire hydraulic set up from my engine with one bolt - and lash an oar/paddle to side of engine as a tiller - I know because I tried it as an experiment. (biggest issue is I have very little clearance in front of engine to the seat back). Not saying that I'd never need to call RNLI, but then I'm sure plenty of people with steering failure on cable steering would be calling for help too.

It's also "odd" driving with a hydraulic setup - you do have to keep turning the wheel to keep going in a straight line..........not much, but enough that you'll notice it.

Not enough that I've noticed it!

I certainly think spending £400+ on hydraulic is probably a waste of time for most people with small engines. I'd certainly be pissed off if I was replacing that after 4-5 years, but I guess club boats may be kept outside and perhaps suffer from this?

[Matt]

I know on the seastar setup I ran on my old hydrolift catamaran, I didn't notice lock to lock being an issue. And on my current Bravo/ITS setup, lock to lock is fine too. But they are both different beasts where lock to lock isn't my primary criteria. IIRC I'm currently about 2.5 turns lock to lock - will check next time I fire it up.

You're right, for close quarters maneouvering, a nice light mechanical setup is nice.
Certainly in the 50hp, 4-5M RIB, safety boat setup mechanical will be perfectly fine and I don't think I'd consider anything else.

On my very old speedboat with a 150hp V6 on it, the steering did start to get tiresome when we were running quick - the torque load on the wheel was constant.and quite heavy once the power was on.

The slowly turning wheel thing is real though - IIRC it's just a bit of slippage in the helm as the valves open & close as you change direction on the wheel. No big deal, other than preferring a symetrical wheel so the spokes are in the right place.