homemade Hyd or Electric remote steering for small boat?

[thudpucker]

Have any of you guys put a home-made Hyd steering on an outboard?

Two "Push-pull" hyd Cylinders. One connected to the outboard, the other plunger being operated by a stick? Sounds simple, but has anybody heard of it anywhere?

How about the power trim stuff from a larger outboard? Connect the plunger to an Outboard motor, and put the electric switch somewhere up front for a remote steering out board.

Anybody?

[OReely]

I'm sure it could be done, but for what purpose? Is there some application that can't be filled with currently available equipment?

[thudpucker]

Money! That'd be the main reason.

For our smaller tin boats, a 'stick' steering assembly is over $300.

A home made Hydraulic system can beat that all to heck.

In the past I've owned two larger boats with Kickers.

On my 27' I had a link between the Out drive leg and the Kicker. I worked myself to death wheeling the helm back and forth to steer that little Kicker.

To steer a larger longer boat with that little kicker requires almost a complete swing from left to right, quite often, to maintain a straight line.

Also, You have to be up at the helm to steer so you can see what other boats are doing.

It was then, the idea came to me of a 12V powered Hydraulic link to steer that Kicker.

From the Helm, the operator would be moving a Toggle switch back and forth, instead of turning that big heavy out drive.

I known for a long time what I'd do. I just thought somebody else has already done it. I was looking for ideas or experiences.

[cjohnson]

I've never seen a homebrew plan like you describe, but I'd like to. I think it would be doable and practical for someone with a good junk box on hand.

But you might consider old-school cable steering. It isn't seen any more, but was all the rage at one time. I have an old Whaler that was originally equipped with a steering wheel that linked to the outboard using a cable run through pulleys. A spring in the cable helped maintain tension in the system. It was not very positive steering, but when adjusted right it worked OK. Many small outboards made before about 1970 actually came from the factory with a hole in the handle to accept the standard cable steering bracket.

[thudpucker]

A single cable stick is possible. I've seen, in a Catalog, single cable and housing, Push-Pull cables. With a large inner wire. It must have been for industrial applications.

All a guy'd have to do is make a bracket for the Stick at one end, and mount the cable housing at both ends and fasten the steering end of the wire to the outboard.

[OReely]

Okay, I guess you could save some money if you could get the parts for free/near free.

How about an electric actuator like the ones Lenco uses for their tabs? They don't have a lot of throw so steering might be limited if you don't/can't set it up right. You would need to attach the actuator pretty close to the engine pivot to get a good range of motion. I'm sure they could work for a low speed kicker. It would be easy enough to fab a bracket and wire it up.

I don't think the actuators cost that much brand new so it might be something for you to look at.

[thudpucker]

I like the electric acutator, fwd/rev for the trim tabs or the Hyd lift on the big outboards. That stuff can be used for steering on your kicker. That way, from the helm, you only have a switch for left n' right.

You sure wouldn't want to use that for your primary outboard steering on a big Hp motor or larger outboard going pretty fast.

Stick with what's engineered for that kind of activity.