Rory_McGee
New member
I'm trying to figure out the dual steering on our new (to us) 1986 30ft river cruiser which has the main controls inside and a second wheel on the flybridge.
There seems to be 2 cables, one from each wheel, which both go right back to the rudder. The inner core of the cable from the main ctrl position is connnected to the rudder arm, as you would expect. The inner core of the cable from the flybridge seems to be connected to the outer sheath of the main ctrl cable. Everything looks secure and in good condition.
The problem is that it doesn't work!.........
Depending on what position the flybridge wheel is left in, there can be very little manoverability from down stairs. More specifically, if the upper wheel is not in the 'midships' position, then the lower wheel is unable to fully move the rudder all the way in both dirrections (of course I only realised this half way through a tight manover in a crowded harbour on a sunny bank holiday and I suddenly found that I couldn't turn left!!).
Also, when you turn the lower wheel, the upper one turns too, so even if you leave it 'midships' it can end up twisted to the left or right and hence mess up the steering from downstairs .
As a temporary measure I tied the upper wheel so it couldn't turn and all seemed to stay ok downstairs. There doesn't seem to be any proper way to 'lock' either wheels.
Any advice?
Is there a fault or am I just doing something wrong?
Maybe you need to lock each wheel midships before you can use the other one?
Sorry for the long winded explanation but it's a bit hard to explain.
RMG.
There seems to be 2 cables, one from each wheel, which both go right back to the rudder. The inner core of the cable from the main ctrl position is connnected to the rudder arm, as you would expect. The inner core of the cable from the flybridge seems to be connected to the outer sheath of the main ctrl cable. Everything looks secure and in good condition.
The problem is that it doesn't work!.........
Depending on what position the flybridge wheel is left in, there can be very little manoverability from down stairs. More specifically, if the upper wheel is not in the 'midships' position, then the lower wheel is unable to fully move the rudder all the way in both dirrections (of course I only realised this half way through a tight manover in a crowded harbour on a sunny bank holiday and I suddenly found that I couldn't turn left!!).
Also, when you turn the lower wheel, the upper one turns too, so even if you leave it 'midships' it can end up twisted to the left or right and hence mess up the steering from downstairs .
As a temporary measure I tied the upper wheel so it couldn't turn and all seemed to stay ok downstairs. There doesn't seem to be any proper way to 'lock' either wheels.
Any advice?
Is there a fault or am I just doing something wrong?
Maybe you need to lock each wheel midships before you can use the other one?
Sorry for the long winded explanation but it's a bit hard to explain.
RMG.
