View Full Version : Steering question
A friend of mine called and asked me a questioin and I did not know the answer. Here it is ...
He has an inboard ski boat and when he is sitting still in the water he can turn the steering wheel in both directions with one finger. However, when the boat is moving it is very hard to turn. Doesn't make since to me. I've had the problem in the reverse order but not like this . Usually the flow of the water makes the steering easier.
Any advise ??
Thanks.
BOYD
ahhudgins
06-01-2010, 08:10 AM
I have the same issue even after replacing my steering cable. I’m looking at the way my steering cable is routed under the dash board which is putting a lot of bends in it. I hope someone else has a definite answer
Hrkdrivr
06-01-2010, 08:23 AM
Our boat doesn't have hydraulic-assist steering, and ours acts just like your friend's. I thought this was normal. At rest, there's no water flow/pressure resisting rudder movement, but when you're moving, the flow over the rudder tries to center the rudder back to neutral, the position of least resistance, which you feel as pressure-feedback in the steering wheel.
Same idea in airplanes without hydraulic flight controls, i.e. those with simple cable/pulley or pushrod systems. On the ground the flight controls are very easy to move, but as airspeed increases the contol pressures increase proportionally. This is actually a good thing in airplanes since it makes it physically more difficult to over-control (and possibly over-G) the airplane.
Latetowork
06-01-2010, 10:10 AM
Does the rudder port also leak when turning while moving (you'll see water coming right up the top of it if you look)? We just had the same problem fixed on our X30 and it was not the steering cable. The rudder was bent.
Whomever had the boat before us hit something and bent the rudder, causing a gap in the rudder housing. When underway water would get in there under pressure and make it difficult to steer.
This is what the dealership told me when they fixed it. We originally were having them do the steering cable and the rudder housing to fix the leak and the stiff steering, but just ended up with the new cable and a new rudder instead when they diagnosed it. I haven't had a chance to take the boat out to see if it did go away or not.
ahhudgins
06-01-2010, 10:17 AM
Does the rudder port also leak when turning while moving (you'll see water coming right up the top of it if you look)? We just had the same problem fixed on our X30 and it was not the steering cable. The rudder was bent.
Whomever had the boat before us hit something and bent the rudder, causing a gap in the rudder housing. When underway water would get in there under pressure and make it difficult to steer.
This is what the dealership told me when they fixed it. We originally were having them do the steering cable and the rudder housing to fix the leak and the stiff steering, but just ended up with the new cable and a new rudder instead when they diagnosed it. I haven't had a chance to take the boat out to see if it did go away or not.
Let us know if this fixed your problem. My steering gets tighter the further I get the rudder away from center. The water pressure does not try to push my rudder back to center, I have to pull the steering wheel back and it's pretty stiff. I could have a bent rudder because the strut was bent when I bought the boat.
Thanks. I will ask him about that.
I understand the steering will be a little harder. However, this is very abnormally hard to steer.
Boyd
Latetowork
06-01-2010, 06:01 PM
Hopefully we can get out this weekend. Weather in Seattle has been crap.
Our steering was to the point where I would have to jerk the wheel to turn it sometimes, and would get a lovely look out of the mother in law for it. She thought I was just a crappy driver until I made her steer to prove a point.....
Holman J.B.F
06-01-2010, 06:52 PM
most rudder housings have a grease jerk,the rudder needs to be greased every 50 hours or so.
ahhudgins
06-01-2010, 10:14 PM
Hopefully we can get out this weekend. Weather in Seattle has been crap.
Our steering was to the point where I would have to jerk the wheel to turn it sometimes, and would get a lovely look out of the mother in law for it. She thought I was just a crappy driver until I made her steer to prove a point.....
So, did she apologize??? I know mine wouldn't!! Ha Ha.
My steering is OK until I turn it more than 3/4 turn in either direction. It gets a little tight and I really have to pull it back a little harder than I would like, but I don't have to jerk it. Both of my previous Mastercrafts I could steer with two fingers. I had to replace the strut when I bought the boat so I also removed the rudder and cleaned out the old grease and regreased it. Next weekend I'm going to disconnect my cable at the rudder and have my son run the boat while I try to steer it at the rudder (very carefully by hand :)). Then I'm going to see if I can do the same with my buddy's boat. Mine now seems like it has to be something with the rudder.
Latetowork
06-01-2010, 11:27 PM
So, did she apologize??? I know mine wouldn't!! Ha Ha.
My steering is OK until I turn it more than 3/4 turn in either direction. It gets a little tight and I really have to pull it back a little harder than I would like, but I don't have to jerk it. Both of my previous Mastercrafts I could steer with two fingers. I had to replace the strut when I bought the boat so I also removed the rudder and cleaned out the old grease and regreased it. Next weekend I'm going to disconnect my cable at the rudder and have my son run the boat while I try to steer it at the rudder (very carefully by hand :)). Then I'm going to see if I can do the same with my buddy's boat. Mine now seems like it has to be something with the rudder.
She just yelled at me.... figures.
That is exactly what ours was like, just a little tight and when you got through the tight part if felt like you were jerking the wheel. At least that is what the women told me.....
Check and see if it's leaking. That was the sign the dealership took, and they basically did what you are planning on doing when they diagnosed it.
I'll post back when we are able to get the boat out.
He has an inboard ski boat and when he is sitting still in the water he can turn the steering wheel in both directions with one finger. However, when the boat is moving it is very hard to turn.
I had the exact same problem. It slowly got worse to the point of needing two hands to get it to turn while moving. The grease on the rudder shaft had gunked up. The rudder turned fine with no pressure on it. As soon the boat started moving, the rudder was pushed back by the water pressure and the shaft bound up in the housing. There is a grease fitting on the top of my rudder but I couldn't get any grease to go in. I dropped the rudder and found what little grease there was had hardened. It's a tight fit but the shaft has a very small spiral surface groove for the grease to come down from the zerk fitting. If it is not regularly greased, it is easy for it to clog. Dropping the rudder, cleaning the shaft and the housing, and re-greasing solved the problem.
Latetowork
06-13-2010, 12:16 AM
following up on this. We got the boat out today and the steering issue is fixed. However, the leak the dealership said they fixed...isn't fixed and the new drivers side shift panel they put in they forgot to put in the actual switch for my center ballast tank.
Anyway, check the grease Dan posted about. I was told our rudder was bent which was what caused the issue. New steering cable and rudder was supposedly what they did to fix it. But since the leak isn't fixed, I'm starting to wonder if it really wasn't a bent rudder and I was just charged for a parts they never put in....