Boat steering

[straightshooter]

Was just wondering has anyone here switched over their cable driven steering on their boat to hydraulic? A guy at a local marina showed me a boat with hydraulic steering and man was that sh!t smooth as butter.

[Bmac]

I replaced the cable steering on a 150hp Johnson on my 18' Center Console with a hydraulic system.

It was a relatively easy thing to and I now wonder why I didn't do it years ago. I think it was about $1200 or so. If you have easy access to the route the hoses have to snake through, the whole process is pretty easy. I had to fish the two hoses through the floor channel and then trim them to the proper length, but it was rather simple.

It comes with an adapter plate/bracket that is specific for the motor it is hooking up to so make sure you get the right one.

I was never able to let the steering wheel go without the boat "correcting" itself. With the hydraulic steering I can let the wheel go and the boat stays on the track it is headed.

You will not regret the upgrade and if you are somewhat mechanically inclined it will take you a couple of hours, but it will save you a ton of money on having someone else do it for you.

Hope this helps.

[straightshooter]

Bmac thanks for the reply, what make did you go with?

[Bmac]

The boat is up north right now but I think it was Seastar or something with a similar name.

There are really only 2 major brands of hydraulic steering if I remember correctly and both were similar in price and reviews on them.

I just made a phone call and found out which one it was.

It is the Baystar model manufactured by Seastar.

Hope this helps.

This post has been edited by Bmac on Aug 25, 2019 - 06:39 pm