stern hung rudder

[sheboo]

Hi there,

Can anyone give me some good ideas on wheel steering for a stern hung rudder?

I have a 31 ft steel yacht, which does not have a vertical transom. Somebody in a previous life has fitted wheel steering to her, which I like,but as the rudder is on the outside of the transom the steering cables have to run down through the pedestal, along the cockpit floor, up inside the transom, then out to the cockpit sides, then back to the quadrant on the front of the rudder. Its complicated and ineffective. I'm not really sure of a better way though, especially as it is not a rightangle from the cockpit floor up the inside of the transom. Otherwise I think I could easily make rack and pinion steering work.

The biggest problem is it makes the steering so heavy and complicated that my autohelm struggles, and my windvane does not have the power to turn the rudder. There is a lot of momentum in all that stuff! And my lovely cast bronze steering wheel is a heavy item, which i guess makes a big flywheel effect too.

I've been considering hydralic steering, but I'm reluctant as it is reputed to have no feel.

The other option seems to be go back to a tiller, but I really like the wheel!
Any suggestions from anyone??
Thanks very much,

Richard

 

[Lakesailor]

A picture would help.

 

[sheboo]

Yes I know but I do not hava any at present. Picture any normal boat, with sheer on the transom. Rudder mounted on it. Then try to think of a good way to use wheel steering!
Thanks for your input,
Richard

 

[fireball]

Can you not run it on 1 steering cable (push and pull) rather like the outboards do?
This would give you a relatively free run in any direction but you can't take the corners too tight....

 

[William_H]

If the transom has the bottom out further than the top then if the rudder pintles are on the same slope you will find that when the rudder is turned, not only are you trying to push the transom sideways (as in turning) but aportion of your effort is trying to lift or press down the back of the boat. This causes unnecessary drag and encourages rudder stall. One local small boat type was built this way and everyone fitted a stainless steel outrigger to bring the top pintle vertically above the bottom pintle. This had an added advantage that the tiller could be just as long but leave more room in the cockpit. In your case it could leave room to attach pulleys to a short tiller which didn't intrude into the cockpit.
My appologies if I have gone off the wrong way but while an aft sloping rudder stock looks fast it doesn't work well. regards olewill

 

[kandoma]

Vetus sells a hydraulic steering exactly for this type of rudder. To use the autohelm, you can switch off the hydraulic with a simple bypass valve.

I have recently installed hydraulic steering on my boat, replacing the cables. I can not see much difference in "feel".

Peter

 

[ShipsWoofy]

As Mr Frogley says, attach the push pull steering to the transom. Then attach the slider to a short (stubby) tiller which you have fitted where the tiller comes through the transom via a rubber gator.

The ball socket bracket that you can use on this set up will allow the push pull assembly to move and take up any abnormalities due to the rake of the rudder.

It works on my set up, which is driving twin rudders with a raked attachment. My push pull cable is actually attached to the bridgedeck on a horizontal plane and the ball bracket is able to take up any of the angles incurred by the stubby tiller.

Hope this helps.

If you would like photographs I can take some next weekend to try to explain further what I am driving at.

 

[sheboo]

Thanks guys. The transom slopes outwards, not inwards, so therfore the effort is still pushing the rudder "up" when turning.
Not the best of ideas.
The speedboat cable seems good, I'm just a little concerned about the strength of it? If it was a common sailboat setup I'd be happy, but it must be scarce for some reason? My boat weighs 9 tons too, so its a fair load..
The hydralic steering seems to be the best option, especially if you say the feel is still ok? It certainly would be simple I guess.
the autohelm is a ST 4000 wheelpilot, so it drives the wheel, not the tiller. Therefore I don't think I could disconnect the hydralic steering easily, unless I used some sort of pin setup?
The other pity is that I've just been given a really great pedestal and cable setup!!!I'd love tyo use it, but once again can't see how to do it smartly.
Thanks for your feedback and ideas, please keep it coming!!
Cheers
Richard

 

[sheboo]

Love to see the pictures of your setup if you could! Thank you very much.
Richard