steering help (rope and pulley system)

[rundrave]

I just bought a used boat, and the steering has gone bad. This boat is an early 80’s starcraft, v-bottom boat that somebody just redid the entire interior. They did a really good job but terrible steering design. It uses an old rope and pulley system, with a plastic sheathed cable. The motor is a 40hp Johnson, it doesn’t have any tilt or trim, but I do raise and lower the motor manually when loading and driving with it on the trailer. I am not concerned about this but I think it might play a role in how tight the tiller cable stays wrapped around the drum on the steering wheel. There may be more slack when the motor is tilted up etc.

I know how the tiller cable is rigged at the transom, but How do you wind it around the drum? Do they both come off from the middle, or from the ends? Does one come off from the top and one from the bottom, or both from the top or bottom? Is the cable one piece, or two?

Here are some pics I found to help give you guys a better idea of the type of setup I am running.

Entire system:

Transom:

It came with 2 pieces of cable but as I redo this, I want to make sure it is done right, so I don’t have to go through this again. I thought this was going to be an easy fix but it has got me really frustrated. I tried to work with what I had, but the steering after I got it hooked up, turned in the opposite direction, and it didn’t work very well anyway, as the plastic sheath on the cable got ripped on one of the pulleys.

[Big Bobber]

With an older model boat that I had that was setup that way, there were springs on the pulleys at the transom end which seemed to keep the cable tight, and on the steering column was a double pulley with a hole that the cable was threaded through. The cable was wrapped in the opposite direction on the double pulley. I considered retro fitting the steering, but new cable was much cheaper and it worked pretty well.

[deepportage01]

My old pontoon was like that and I think the cable was in one peace and went on the drum clock wise?. if you have $200 just put in a gear box with one shaft it is a lot less work.Those pulley systems are so unsafe I had one on my first boat 15 year ago and the cable snaped when I was going full bore down the river the boat turned right so fast and I slamed into shore at 38 mph what a mess I ended up in the front of the boat with a bloody head and nose.please be carfull what ever you do!

[rundrave]

any other ideas? Yes safety is a big concern for me as well as being reliable. I had the cable break this weekend while I was on the water but it was just at idle speed. I will do some more tinkering, as mentioned before I am just getting very frustrated and want to make sure its done right this time, so I can enjoy myself on the water.

[Valv]

I do have an idea, buy a new helm and cable, I can get you a new set very cheap, email me.

[rundrave]

well after a few hours of tinkering I have got everything in working order again....I hope.

I took everything apart and pulled it all out and started completely over.

I used 2 seperate cables, and I think the key is how you attach it to the drum on the steering wheel , and getting the right tension in the springs . I was even able to eliminate 2 of the pulleys in the transom and it still turns in the right direction.

Valv I appreciate the offer on the parts, and I would have gone with you, but I wanted to be on the water asap, and I think it would have taken a couple days to get the parts here.

Thanks again everyone for all the help.

[efgh]

I had the same problem you had, the steering cable broke once and came off the steering spool the second time, I would take Val up on his offer and have the parts there to fix it right. I ended up buying a rack and pinion with the enclosed single cable, there is no feed back on these systems, the motor stays in one position till you turn the wheel.