Lumpy steering

Clean up the casting removing all of the corroded area's, refit the inserts as shown and take to your local friendly fabrication/engineering company and weld the both together repairing damaged area at the same time!
If you don't have a local Co...Ship it down to me and I'll get one of our welding guru's to sort it for you.
Rob.
 
Oh Dear, that doesn't look good :(
Is that half of the casing with the threaded connections available as a spare part, maybe?
Or is there some way of welding / repairing?

Got Tom on the case (excuse the pun) at the moment, cannot be welded and doubt the casing can be purchased separately. Checking with Coastal Rides at present as they had them for £250 + the vat new but showing as out of stock on the website
 
Clean up the casting removing all of the corroded area's, refit the inserts as shown and take to your local friendly fabrication/engineering company and weld the both together repairing damaged area at the same time!
If you don't have a local Co...Ship it down to me and I'll get one of our welding guru's to sort it for you.
Rob.

thanks Rob but a colleague of the engineer who's removed it says it's aluminium and has said there's insufficient good metal to weld effectively. going to see if I can source a new part at a reasonable price and if so, I think that'll be the way to go for peace of mind... steering going at 20kts+ or in a marina doesn't sound like fun so better to spend in this area than skimp I reckon :)
 
Gary , a mate who works at Fawley refinery gave me some of this stuff , http://www.belzona.co.uk/prod1k.aspx . to repair a casting on an old motorcycle engine (thread broke out of ali , similar situation ) . Have to say its the best two part chemical metal I`ve ever used . They use it as temp repair on certain pipe / fittings at the refinery to avoid long term shut downs . Might do as a temp repair until you can get hold of a reasonably priced ram . Good luck with it BTW .
 
Gary , a mate who works at Fawley refinery gave me some of this stuff , http://www.belzona.co.uk/prod1k.aspx . to repair a casting on an old motorcycle engine (thread broke out of ali , similar situation ) . Have to say its the best two part chemical metal I`ve ever used . They use it as temp repair on certain pipe / fittings at the refinery to avoid long term shut downs . Might do as a temp repair until you can get hold of a reasonably priced ram . Good luck with it BTW .

thanks for the suggestion Andy, may go there if desperate but no major rush to get the steering sorted so will look to get the job done properly I reckon. only saving grace is it's end of the season with no plans to take the boat out for a few weeks so plenty of time to find the right part and get it fitted.
 
thanks Rob but a colleague of the engineer who's removed it says it's aluminium and has said there's insufficient good metal to weld effectively. going to see if I can source a new part at a reasonable price and if so, I think that'll be the way to go for peace of mind... steering going at 20kts+ or in a marina doesn't sound like fun so better to spend in this area than skimp I reckon :)

Gary

I have a aluminium braze repair material. Might work if you want to try some.
 
Good call David regarding checking these pipes, mine's worse than first thought :(

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Looking like a new Steering Cylinder is needed

Hi G...... those pics almost make it "appear" that the system runs on salt water and have leaked and rusted from the inside !!!... its odd that there is no rust else where on the casing....just thought id mention it
 
It is a bit odd - looks like the threaded section just fizzed away.
I checked mine today, and zero sign of any corrosion there on FP.
Could there have been a water drip, or an electrical bonding problem?
 
It is a bit odd - looks like the threaded section just fizzed away.
I checked mine today, and zero sign of any corrosion there on FP.
Could there have been a water drip, or an electrical bonding problem?

No sign of water drips David and good point regarding the bonding, I'll get that checked out. I've not checked this area since buying the boat in Nov 2012 so it could have been like that for a good while. Tom did the engine and drive survey at the time of purchase and the corrosion wasn't reported then but then again, it's such an obscure place I'd not expect it to have been picked up in a survey as the steering was fine then as it has been all season. What I do know is the boat was underutilised in the time the previous owner had her so I suspect the difference between your boat and mine is warm dry engine bay as you use yours versus a damp cold bay with mine during the previous owners use. for example, the guy put her to sea for 20mins in 2012!!!
 
Gary

I have a aluminium braze repair material. Might work if you want to try some.

Thanks for the offer Trev but as per above, I'll be looking to replace with new if I can find a unit at reasonable cost. I've found one in stock at £350 + vat and another at £250 + vat but not currently in stock and Tom is checking out a mate who may be able to do one for me cheaper than that. Makes sense to go the route of new at those prices rather than fanny around trying to patch it up.

btw, sorry for not being in touch re the oil
 
Should be back in action next weekend.. all the parts are now purchased ready to be fitted when next down there. decided to replace the ram, pressure hose and return hose with new parts. from Coastal Rides who turned out to offer the best deals. Ram was £230 and the hoses were £60 each (all ex VAT). A little over £400 for peace of mind rather than a bodge job :)
 
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Ooof not cheap though G!.....but good luck with the refit, maybe wrpping the lot up in that greased waxy bandage stuff?..that I notice the commercial boys use on their net hauler connections may go some way in ensuring no repeat in a few years!
 
Ooof not cheap though G!.....but good luck with the refit, maybe wrpping the lot up in that greased waxy bandage stuff?..that I notice the commercial boys use on their net hauler connections may go some way in ensuring no repeat in a few years!

yep, now I know it's there, it'll get a regular inspection and treatment of anti corrosion stuff
 
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