how much "feel" do you have when steering the boat models equipped
with hydraulic steering?
I was on a friend's boat recently to help deliver it south a couple
of hundred miles and it's hydraulic steering was terrible. there was
no feel or effort what so ever at the helm. it was also really easy
to over steer and then chase yourself all over the bay trying to get
it back on course. the auto pilot also seemed to have similar
problems unless the gain was turned up quite high.
I was told that the oil level had been checked before launch and it
was ok, the boat had just passed a marine survey with flying colors
and I have to assume the surveyor checked all of the steering
components involved and I was told that the boat has been like this
since new by the seller who was onboard for an afternoon with us. if
I were the new owner, I would pursued this much more because I have a
real problem with that answer, but I needed to stay out of it due to
lack of experience with hydraulic steering. no sense sticking my foot
in my mouth if you know what I mean.
I have no experience with this arrangement for steering but was not
impressed by it at all.
anyone care to comment??
Rick Donovan
Biddeford, Maine
I do not want to steal Denny's time on his question about a loss of oil, but his question prompted me to ask the following similar question. how much "feel" do you have when steering the boat models equipped with hydraulic steering? I was on a friend's boat recently to help deliver it south a couple of hundred miles and it's hydraulic steering was terrible. there was no feel or effort what so ever at the helm. it was also really easy to over steer and then chase yourself all over the bay trying to get it back on course. the auto pilot also seemed to have similar problems unless the gain was turned up quite high. I was told that the oil level had been checked before launch and it was ok, the boat had just passed a marine survey with flying colors and I have to assume the surveyor checked all of the steering components involved and I was told that the boat has been like this since new by the seller who was onboard for an afternoon with us. if I were the new owner, I would pursued this much more because I have a real problem with that answer, but I needed to stay out of it due to lack of experience with hydraulic steering. no sense sticking my foot in my mouth if you know what I mean. I have no experience with this arrangement for steering but was not impressed by it at all. anyone care to comment?? Rick Donovan Biddeford, Maine
from what I read it sounds like the hydraulic steering works
differently on the Beneteau models using it than what I experienced
on my buddies boat.
my trouble went something like this. say I need to adjust my heading
with a small turn to port a few degree's, I turn the helm a little to
port side, then a little more and a little more and the boat finally
starts to turn. I then turn the wheel back toward the original
starting position, i.e. center, and the boat continues to turn to
port slowly so then you need to turn to starboard a little bit trying
to cancel the turn to port, then a bit more starboard and a bit more
and then the boat turns back towards port. returning the wheel back
to about center does not stop the slow turn and then the chase is on
trying to hold a course. the autopilot is only slightly better. it
also wanders back and forth in a similar fashion. it acts to me as if
there is air somewhere in the system but when I questioned the
previous owner a bit he told me it has always been this way.
maybe spending some more time onboard would help but the fact that
the autopilot seems to struggle in flat calm water was a bad sign to
me that all is not right on the good ship lollipop.
Rick Donovan
Biddeford, Maine
thanks every body for your comments to my question. from what I read it sounds like the hydraulic steering works differently on the Beneteau models using it than what I experienced on my buddies boat. my trouble went something like this. say I need to adjust my heading with a small turn to port a few degree's, I turn the helm a little to port side, then a little more and a little more and the boat finally starts to turn. I then turn the wheel back toward the original starting position, i.e. center, and the boat continues to turn to port slowly so then you need to turn to starboard a little bit trying to cancel the turn to port, then a bit more starboard and a bit more and then the boat turns back towards port. returning the wheel back to about center does not stop the slow turn and then the chase is on trying to hold a course. the autopilot is only slightly better. it also wanders back and forth in a similar fashion. it acts to me as if there is air somewhere in the system but when I questioned the previous owner a bit he told me it has always been this way. maybe spending some more time onboard would help but the fact that the autopilot seems to struggle in flat calm water was a bad sign to me that all is not right on the good ship lollipop. Rick Donovan Biddeford, Maine
Rick Donovan
Biddeford, Maine