side mount steering Advantages and costs?

[andyxs]

i have a 3L 200hp opti and am thinking about side mount steering as iv bust the standard steering. what are the advantages of side mounted steering? and costs second hand and new please. thanks
Andy

[sterling]

The advantage of side mount steering is that you are steering the ,,chassis ,, of the engine instead of the steering arm that is connected with soft dampers to the midsection + you now are steering more away from the pivot point ,so the applied torque is bigger .
This way you have a much tighter steering ,when mounting the ram on the right side of the engine (when using normal right hand rotating prop) you have the largest piston surface to the side that the engine paddle wheels to ,which is a good thing .
Use goodrich or simular steel reinforced hoses and preferably a Capilano 1250 v steering pump .
New these are pretty expensive items ,you can try to search a steering system on Ebay ,or here on Boatmad .

[Burty]

bigger and stronger but i doubt you need it on a 200, sea star pro with the alison mod on the ram is perfectly capable up to 300hp and 70mph, just change the tiddly bolt regulary and use an uprated one. the only advantage on the capilino helm is that its adjustable so you can make it more or less turns lock to lock.
side mount new will set you back probably around £2500 and second hand around a grand.

Sterling makes it sound so much bettererer too

I'd run a 1275 though cus not sure the 1250 can run unbalanced cylinders can it??

[OCRDA]

Use a std Seastar 1500 psi Helm with the side mount ram !!

[Burty]

standard seastar helm is 1000psi!!!!
but then so is capilino

[sterling]

I don,t know if the capilano can go with a balanced cilinder ,1275 can pump a little more fluid than a 1250 ,but its more than enough for a sidemount ram.
A HP seastar pump can,t go with an unbalanced ram ,a regular can .
Some engines have a massive steering arm ,such as a 250 /300 xs Merc ,and some 250,s those can steer direct with a seastar front mount ,but most engines have soft bushings with rubbers ,so they don,t keep the engine stable and tight ,also what I found on the seastars , you bleed the system to get rid of all the air pockets ,there seems to be a little play all the time .. even with their own air bleeding system .

[Hydrostream]

Originally Posted by sterling

,also what I found on the seastars , you bleed the system to get rid of all the air pockets ,there seems to be a little play all the time .. even with their own air bleeding system .

Have noticed the same thing! Can never seem to get a real good tight setup with the seastar. No matter how many times I bleed it!

Anyone else have this problem or is it something I'm doing?

[baj666]

Originally Posted by Hydrostream

Have noticed the same thing! Can never seem to get a real good tight setup with the seastar. No matter how many times I bleed it!

Anyone else have this problem or is it something I'm doing?

mine has it too but at least you dont change course when you cough so i dont mind a little play for this reason

[peterunwin]

Originally Posted by sterling

I don,t know if the capilano can go with a balanced cilinder ,1275 can pump a little more fluid than a 1250 ,but its more than enough for a sidemount ram.
A HP seastar pump can,t go with an unbalanced ram ,a regular can .
Some engines have a massive steering arm ,such as a 250 /300 xs Merc ,and some 250,s those can steer direct with a seastar front mount ,but most engines have soft bushings with rubbers ,so they don,t keep the engine stable and tight ,also what I found on the seastars , you bleed the system to get rid of all the air pockets ,there seems to be a little play all the time .. even with their own air bleeding system .

Hi Sterling,
The main cause of the free play in the seastar steering is their long stroke check valves which are not spring assisted so some flow is required to seat them, also because of their fundamental design there are many internal leak paths which requires continuous lock to be applied when running in a beam sea.I have seastar fitted to the current Cheetah & i am so incensed by it's lack of performance that i will be building from scratch my own design of helm unit for Carbon Cheetah which will be a variable ratio unit.

All the best

Peter

[Hydrostream]

Originally Posted by peterunwin

Hi Sterling,
The main cause of the free play in the seastar steering is their long stroke check valves which are not spring assisted so some flow is required to seat them, also because of their fundamental design there are many internal leak paths which requires continuous lock to be applied when running in a beam sea.I have seastar fitted to the current Cheetah & i am so incensed by it's lack of performance that i will be building from scratch my own design of helm unit for Carbon Cheetah which will be a variable ratio unit.

All the best

Peter

That's interesting! Could the seastar helm be modified with spring assisted check valves to help with the problem?

Alan

[sterling]

Originally Posted by peterunwin

Hi Sterling,
The main cause of the free play in the seastar steering is their long stroke check valves which are not spring assisted so some flow is required to seat them, also because of their fundamental design there are many internal leak paths which requires continuous lock to be applied when running in a beam sea.I have seastar fitted to the current Cheetah & i am so incensed by it's lack of performance that i will be building from scratch my own design of helm unit for Carbon Cheetah which will be a variable ratio unit.

All the best

Peter

Very intresting to hear ,and it does make sense ,the only thing I don,t really understand is why one can move the engine a little left and right ,while you see the cilinder unit moving onto the rod ?? the valves are now being closed when the steering wheel isn,t moving ..

Cheers A.J

[peterunwin]

Originally Posted by Hydrostream

That's interesting! Could the seastar helm be modified with spring assisted check valves to help with the problem?

Alan

Hi Alan,
I am not sure without stripping a seastar unit again whether there is enough room to machine a spring pocket behind the check valves.I initially stripped a seastar unit to see if i could modify it for use on Carbon Cheetah but decided it was easier to build from scratch a unit that is more suited to high performance power boats.
All the best
Peter

[andyxs]

really interesting replys. i think i am going to give the side mounting a miss. thanks all
andy

[Burty]

Originally Posted by Hydrostream

Have noticed the same thing! Can never seem to get a real good tight setup with the seastar. No matter how many times I bleed it!

Anyone else have this problem or is it something I'm doing?

the newer pro systems have the 6 series rams which have the alison mod as standard, our current boat has this ram on and it has alot less play than the previous one,

[peterunwin]

Originally Posted by sterling

Very intresting to hear ,and it does make sense ,the only thing I don,t really understand is why one can move the engine a little left and right ,while you see the cilinder unit moving onto the rod ?? the valves are now being closed when the steering wheel isn,t moving ..

Cheers A.J

Hi A.J,
The reason that you have play on the hydraulic cylinder is again check valve related you require a little bit of flow to seat them.If you want to totallly eliminate any cylinder rod movement you can do this quite easily & cheaply by fitting a pilot operated check valve at the cylinder across both ports & then provided the cylinder seals are in good condition & it is bled properly it will have zero free play.The only way you will be able to move the cylinder is via pressure applied from the helm unit.

Peter