KAD300 / DP-G - Emergency Steering

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Thankfully pontoon talk, but something I do need an answer to.

So, you have a 2 x KAD300 / DP-G sports cruiser and the steering cable snaps. Not Hydraulic Steering / No Auto-pilot.

Is there any way to rig up emergency steering to get you home?

The only thing I can think of it... straighten the out-drives as best you can and steer by throttle.

Can anyone better that? From what I can see in the engine bay, it's not possible to rig up a bar to the steering ram / steering jack.
 
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I had this actual problem in a sealine s34.

It happened like this, engine no 1 over heated, so shut it down. Engine no 1 provides the power steering, so with only engine no 2 running the steering is very heavy but still works, after a few miles of running on only engine 2 the steering cable snaps, leaving me with one engine but no steering.

I ended up radioing for a tow home, couldnt work out how to fix the steering on the water.
 
julians said:
I had this actual problem in a sealine s34.

It happened like this, engine no 1 over heated, so shut it down. Engine no 1 provides the power steering, so with only engine no 2 running the steering is very heavy but still works, after a few miles of running on only engine 2 the steering cable snaps, leaving me with one engine but no steering.

I ended up radioing for a tow home, couldnt work out how to fix the steering on the water.
Click to expand...

I forgot to add, that in this instance, "Phone StaStart / A Friend / RNLI" is NOT an option!

But thank you for your input... that must have been scary. Do you think that not having power steering contributed to the steering cable snapping?
 
alt said:
I forgot to add, that in this instance, "Phone StaStart / A Friend / RNLI" is NOT an option!

But thank you for your input... that must have been scary. Do you think that not having power steering contributed to the steering cable snapping?
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Yep the loss of power ateering definitely caused the issue , the cable just wasnt up to moving the drive without power asistance.

Incidentally i didnt call seastart, the rlni or a friend, i flagged down a passing fisherman, threw a few beers over to him and he towed me home.

It wasnt scary, it was in the med so the weather was good, the sea was calm, the water was warm and everyone was friendly....
 
julians said:
Yep the loss of power ateering definitely caused the issue , the cable just wasnt up to moving the drive without power asistance.
Click to expand...

Were you at displacement or high speed? Thanks for sharing your information as in the event of me ever losing power-steering, I wouldn't have hesitated to proceed at displacement speed.
 
Displacement speed, with only one engine the boat wouldnt plane, and even if it would plane, it probably wouldnt have been wise with no power steering.
 
Vaguely remember with my SS that had hydraulic steering not cable , stb engine had the pump .
There is / was some sort of latch / key thingy you suppose to lock the ram straight ahead .
Presume then steer throttles only ?

I never tried it ,but did wonder - re access how on earth you suppose to lay on top or squeeze between a pair of sizzling hot engines ( in a chop if not calm ) and fiddle about with a head torch for light and fit this thing to the ram attached inside the transom ——obscured by the engines , without runing your Villbreqins :)or burning yourself .
Thankfully in 9 years of ownership kad300/ DPG —- only had a snapped belt at sea to deal with .
Belts are @ the front so access is ok ish .
I say ish as no fun with passing wakes knowing it’s your last 14 mm socket !
 
Portofino - I guess we could throw some bacon on the engine... if it cooks, let it cool down before reaching in.

Thankfully, i've never had any major incident. But, I want to be prepared incase such an incident ever arises.

Would be interested to know about this locking pin / mechanism.
 
alt said:
Hi J,
I've edited my OP. In my particular case, I don't have hydraulic steering / autopilot.
Click to expand...

With cable / power steering the correct procedure in the event of a cable break is to drive slowly around in circles until either you run out of fuel or you are rescued :ambivalence:
 
alt said:
Portofino - —/———

Would be interested to know about this locking pin / mechanism.
Click to expand...

Sorry Alt ,boats sold a while back along with the various handbooks.
Not sure if it was in the SS boat hand book or VP handbook / manual ??

Part was about credit card size about 5 mm thick with a U shape cut in say 3cm L by 1cm W in stainless Steel .
@ JTB - sure we had AP. Buts that’s an option and the handbook writer does not know if it’s been specced .
Also thinking fluid leak scenario , bilge full of fluid inc the AP as from memory they are all connected, like pipe on ram blown off etc .

I kept it on top of the stuff in an oddments box , fuses , bulbs , screws etc so every time I went in that box , it was sat on top and I had to move it .
Thinking —- one day , one day thank Christ etc etc —- day never came .
 
Yup had this situation occur many years ago when one o/drive siezed (Service agent forgot to fill with oil!), that was the one that ran the power steering.
Proceeded at displ speed and used the trim tabs up/down port/stbd to produce drag to keep the boat on track.
 
Out of interest why is calling the CG not an option?
Unless F1 and no wind I can't see a one off straightening of the rams will help much over any distance...each wave and the wind will simply push the bow round.
 
petem said:
Does seem a bit of a SPOF. I wonder if you could add a second power steering pump to the other engine with some way of swopping the power assistance to the other engine in the case of an engine failure?
Click to expand...

We looked into it after our issue, but ruled it out as being too complex and expensive - and as far as we were aware noone else had done anything like this, so we'd be developing a solution from scratch.

Its a difficult one, it is a major weakness once you lose the engine running the power steering pump, but I couldnt really work out a way to remedy it, apart from if powersteering pump engine failed again to be very gentle with the steering.

I suspect being gentle with the steering is the best solution in the event of the power steering pump/engine failing.
 
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