Pan declared - loss of steering

[mcanderson]

Bit late to this , seems you did everything right and Thx fir sharing .
On my previous boat a KAD 300 twin the ram was athwart the transom , inside .I seem to recall a U shaped piece of metal you are supposed to jam that in somewhere to hold them in neutral fwds?
Every time I did my racing snake impressions and happened to be at the back , crawling over them I looked but could never fathom out where this locking key went .
This boat the ram is under a bunk in the aft cabin athwart the transom , I think you just pop off a couple of split pins and let rge blades weather cock so to speak .They not much use over 26 knots anyhow tbo .Finish close 1/4 on throttles .

Interestingly the BCS hydraulics run the rudder ram , passerelle and flaps .
Apparently the fluid is boggo 0 30 W single weight oil , same as the twin disc g boxes .
I did question this btw .

Anyhow S how old are the rams ?
Do you scape / clean them ?
Appreciate you cant park them closed like flaps .
Have they got gaiters to keep the sun off ?

Hope the Arnesons guys are watching., a mate of mine routinely / annually renews his ram seals , they are designed for this .
Its actually what put me off a Arnesons boat the unprotected ram seals tbo .Sort of figured that one out .

I think the VP D series are replaceable ? Or can they be “ serviced “ ....duno ?

L,

The rams were fitted in July 2017. The bellows (gaiters) on them are pulled back and checked at each annual service. I don't look at them when I am diving to clean the drives.

I think they can be serviced, but new ones are c£200 each and as I need two I will just buy new ones, and then get the old serviced so I have some spares.

I have a service manual and having now read the section on steering in detail it does state in an emergency any non-flammable liquid can be used in an emergency. So I could have just poured water into the steering reservoir to get me to port and then drained and flushed the system. That is an interesting thought.

 

[oceanfroggie]

So yesterday was interesting. We left the Lerins (near Cannes) at about 9 to head back to Beaulieu. Forecast was 8kts easterly and 20-30 cm waves. So we were expecting a very nice run back.

Leaving the Lerins it was quickly clear the the forecast was garbage and that there was F4 eastern and 1m of generally E swell, but in all honesty the waves We’re all over the place with no real pattern. So doable, but not the milk run we had planned.

I drove the boat out of the anchorage amid then engaged the autopilot as it would do a better job hold the course. About 1/3rd of the way we spoke about diverting to Antibes and my wife hoping off and I would take the boat back alone. In the end she suggested we head towards the shore to see if we got some shelter. Speed had reduced from 18kts to 16 by now and seas getting more messy, autopilot was beginning to struggle. So I disengaged the autopilot to hand steer. It was at this point I discovered the helm was not responding. My boat is on stern drives DPH. So back to autopilot reduce speed to 6 kts and start to discuss options. Turning back was discounted as the seas were very uncomfortable. Heading towards shore put the waves on the beam and agin not much fun, so we changed our intent to head to Nice.

At this stage I alerted St Jean radio station on 16 via a pan of what was going on. Pan acknowledged and then a brief discussion over the phone about options. I didn’t feel the need for assistance at this stage, but wanted the French authorities to be aware of our troubles.

15 mins later the autopilot is just waving around and can’t hold a course. I now call for assistance. Options discussed with the authorities and told to stand by. Life jackets put on. We are dead in the water.

My fault finding leads to hydraulic fluid loss and I have some, but it is in the engine room and we need to lift the sun pad to get at it. We lift the sun pad which waves around on its jack, but I get the fluid and replenish the steering at the helm. Not enough to fill it, but enough to get us underway.

Steering is regained. I call back the French authorities and state that I have regained steering and will continue to Nice. No need for assistance, but I will call if the situation changes.

After 30 mins we get to Nice port. I call all stations I spoke to and thank them and let them know I am safe and that Pan is down declared.

So that’s my story. What would you have done differently and please don’t t tell me you wouldn’t have a boat on outdrives!

Good job.

 

[Portofino]

L,

The rams where fitted in July 2017. The bellows (gaiters) on them are pulled back and checked at each annual service. I don't look at them when I am diving to clean the drives.

I think they can be serviced, but new ones are c£200 each and as I need two I will just buy new ones, and then get the old serviced so I have some spares.

I have a service manual and having now read the section on steering in detail it does state in an emergency any non-flammable liquid can be used in an emergency. So I could have just poured water into the steering reservoir to get me to port and then drained and flushed the system. That is an interesting thought.

That’s not bad almost 3 seasons .
Read somewhere peeps change them every 2 yrs ?
But @ £400 ish seems ok for piece of mind .
You just need something , a bit extra for additional security if you were to pop across to Corsica for example it’s 100 miles , a manual locking method .As said my KAD s suppose to have had one , but I never figured it out .Was about the size of a credit card with a big U cut in .But in reality climbing over hot engines in a swell ,to lock the internal ram .practically was never gonna happen .I guess it’s any fluid as you say as a get you home , I would stick to oil based , engine , olive oil if you are out of the proper stuff .

Suppose the pipes that are in the sea too , worth a change out ?

Had a look at mine the steering system ,yesterday ( prompted by this thread ) but can’ t tell by examining if anythings about to go ...pipe or seals ?? It’s all inside , but can not last indefinitely, the pipes seem braided fwiw .

If theses were helicopters, stuff would be timed / hrs , stamped in a log for automatic change out .

 

[jrudge]

Most aircraft hoses are lifed at 10 years ( exceptions will apply).

Aviation is conservative ( funny that) so that probably gives a real life of circa 15 years. Mine are now just over that and I have changed several hoses. My steering failure was down to a prior repair ( that was highlighted as temporary but never dealt with) so nothing to do with age.

My paserelle pipes have some eternal cracking in a few places. I assume that this is just the Yellow sheath on the outside but it does suggest they will need changing soon. I have them on a list of things to do. In the Uk you would get a mobile hydraulic service along. I assume they also exist in Mallorca.

 

[BruceK]

Trim rams last well over 10 years if the drives are left fully in on the berth. Having external steering is there a position where the rams will be fully withdrawn and so protect the external seals from being damaged by growth?

 

[[2068]]

Trim rams last well over 10 years if the drives are left fully in on the berth. Having external steering is there a position where the rams will be fully withdrawn and so protect the external seals from being damaged by growth?

Port steering ram lasted 10 years before leaking.
The external seals and piston arm are covered by a rubber gaiter thing.

What I usually do is leave the steering over to one side when I leave the boat - flipping to a different side each time.