"Steve Lusardi" wrote in message
...
Bob,
My comments apply to the choice between hydraulic vs. cable steering. You
certainly have a biased case because you own an unemployed cable system,
so your decision of using one over the other, in this case only, is based
on "Does the extra value of hydraulics warrant the cost over no cost for
the existing cable system?" Your call.

My comments about installation and buying parts refer to the design of the
hydraulic system. There are several ways to make mistakes. So it is
important to do your own arithmetic verifying other's recommendations
before buying parts.

On the subject of maintenance, failures are very rare if either system is
installed correctly. There is simply not enough use time in a season were
wear is a cause of failure. What failures I have seen are usually
corrosion issues, which resulted in a poor choice of parts and system
components.
Steve

I have seen seals start to leak on several bass boats. Since bass boats are
a breed apart with bigger ones really being high speed hulls with fishing
platforms they tend to see more abuse than other boats. The bass boats I
see tend to be the ones that are used as often as mine. In a good year
that's 2-3 days a week. We also fish all year around. This year its only
been about once a week. I had a seal start to go on my big boat and
replaced the entire steering cylinder with a heavier duty one. (at the same
time I upgraded my motor from a 225 to 250 ProXS.) The original was five
years old. That is pretty good, but it was about $600 after shopping around
for a new cylinder and an hour to swap it. Replacing the seal would have
been cheaper, but would have added another hour or two to the cost of fixing
it. Now clearly cable steering would have been totally unsuitable for
handling this much horsepower, and 225 horsepower produces an incredible
amount of side torque to put strain on everything when its run most of the
time at 80-90% of redline. (Bass anglers tend to have two speeds. Running
down the river like your hair is on fire, and idle.) You might argue of
course that because there was a heavier cylinder available that the original
was poor selection of components. The boat manufacturer selected it when
they built the boat, and the steering components manufacturer said it was
fine for the application. On that same 225 outboard I have had to replace
trim ram seals twice in the same period. Obviously hydraulics do sometimes
need maintenance and the repairs when they do are not trivial for somebody
who works for a wage.

I'm not arguing your points in particular. I'm just saying that in some
applications the maintenance and repairs may be considerably higher than you
think.

My particular application that I want to build is a 8-10 degree dead rise
pocket tunnel with large sponsons and relatively wide beam using my old 225
with a Outboard Jet Company AR lower unit for winter low water level river
running. Since as a jet it will have no side torque and the cables worked
fine handling a 150 I was wondering if there would be any unexpected
problems using them to run a jet. The jet will net about 160 at the pump if
general calculations hold true.