motormonkey
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Whats the opinion or facts about manual hydraulic vs a dual rotory cable helm. Steering setup on a 21rc.
My understanding is that the commercially available rotary and rack systems are for lower horsepower applications. My RC has a 1100hp TT going in it so I found the hydraulic thread above and stopped looking at cable based systems. The Morse Command 2 system that was on my boat originally is a little sloppy and needs cables.
With a cable helm ur gonna fight the prop thrust
Manual hyd u will not fight the thrust but got put some elbow in it to turn
Power hyd. 1 finger all day at 100 mph
Don’t know off hand any 1 actually making a kit. It’s all custom made stuff but usuing a lot of existing off shelf parts from marine and OHV manufacturers
Boostpower might be able to help??
@Racey has a ton of practical experience in this arena. Last time I saw him post on the subject he recommended calling Ron at IMCO Las Vegas. I don't believe there is an off the shelf "kit" but they sell all of the components and can configure a full hydraulic system to meet your needs.
Yes, call Ron.
If you go single ram you want to go for the 5/8" diameter ram, not the 1", this makes for a better close balance of equal turns lock to lock. Dual Rams will be balanced lock to lock, but you have twice the plumbing and shit in the way back there.
Honestly the single ram is more than enough strength wise, and really simplifies the rigging, makes everything cleaner.
I just replaced strut bearings and rudder stuffing in the 22 we built about 15 years ago with the dual rams... in hindsight i wish we would have just put single ram in there to keep it open and make it easier to get to all the stiff ass stainless teflon hoses.
If you do single ram you want to orient the ram so that you get the quicker steering response in the direction that the boat naturally doesn't want to turn. So for standard rotation this is turning to the left, you want to be pushing the fluid into the front end of the ram (where the rod comes out) to turn that direction. It's the smaller volume so it will move faster.
You bring up some good points there, and stuff I have not thought about in a while.
Are there any safety concerns with running a single ram setup for a "fast boat"? Are the marine helms essentially orbital valves with a steering wheel attached? Can you run one that will still pump fluid if the engine dies?