Steering: Quite an Important Activity

The title is right you know, though only tenuous academic evidence exists in support of the theory, I have long suspected that boats which are unsteerable are less enjoyable to use and more likely to sink, and I believe my position on the matter is gaining favour in several boating circles. As keen as I am to prove this theory, I am now too attached to this little boat to take it out to sea without steering, even for the benefit of nautical science - thus I decided to install a steering system.

Long time readers of The Adventures of Wee Dave (this blog's stats suggest there may be as many as two of you) will remember that I purchased one with the infamous 'Parts Boat.' Sadly I sold this, believing that I would use the cable-over-pulley system supplied with my boat instead. This turned out to be too much work and associated expense, so I purchased a teleflex system and engine controls, with a few more bits thrown in, from a boat that was being scrapped.

Really the purchase and installation of such a system should've taken place before the engine was in, but funding issues prevented this, so I was forced to work in the cramped space immediately behind the engine as best I could.

Cable Mount 2.0

The teleflex system works by the helm unit pushing or pulling on a very heavy, thick cable, which in turn pushes or pulls on the stern leg, or onto an arm and linkage that takes the actuator just inside the transom, as is the case here. Installation is therefore fairly simple, all the tricky stuff is taken care of by the helm unit. All that needs doing is to mount the helm, fasten the cable sleeve on the other end so it can't move, and affix the end of the cable to the stern leg's steering linkage.

In spite of this, cable mount 1.0 was slightly under-engineered. It was a simple steel bracket that was screwed tightly over the cable's metal end-sleeve, but in the end the cable worked itself loose, and a redesign was required. Hamish suggested a much simpler system, which clamped onto the flexible cable rather than the metal sleeve on it's end, and thus allowed some lateral play as the steering arm moves through its arc. The same kind of bracket was used, but a second was added 100mm or so further down the cable. Whilst this would likely have been strong enough, we decided that putting hose clamps on the inside of these brackets would be good insurance and would keep the whole assembly more rigid.

Hamish quickly whipped up a helm station at the back of the cabin, and it all worked great! One less thing to do before launch day, yes!