Hydraulic Steering?

[saeva307]

Hi All,

I've been doing alot of work on my boat and was thinking maybe its time to upgrade to hydraulic steering. I have a 27' Baha Cruiser with twin inboard engines. Is it worth the upgrade? Which hydraulic steering kit is for inboards and which one would you recommend?

Thank you for all the help,

Pete

[Gezijamez]

If you contact teleflex they will give you all the info you need.

[Sk8man]

The teleflex is great...kind of like going from standard steering on a car to power steering.

[ac holmes]

My 27 has cable steering (Teleflex) and I was planning on going to hydraulic this spring, but got too busy with a few other things (next fall maybe).  I did the conversion a few years ago on two Honda 90s that were on cable, and the improvement was terrific. It cost about $1000 in parts and took a couple of days for me and a helper to get it right.  My 27 is OK for now... would be better if I pulled the cable and cleaned and greased it, but I am too lazy. Cable is fine (simple and strong) but it needs pretty regular maintenance. The real important reason to upgrade for me is to give my Raymarine X5 autohelm a break, because it is mounted on the steering wheel hub.  The install is pretty straight forward if you follow Teleflex instructions perfectly...if you don't follow their plan, big problems are on the horizon.  Their tech department is quite cooperative, but dictatorial about following their protocols exactly. The decision I need to make, has to do with mounting the ram aft at the rudder post.  There are a dozen different kinds of mounts, and it requires some careful thinking, and I need to consult with a good marine mechanic I think.  The mount for cable might be OK, but need to talk to an expert.  I have done a few Teleflex cable and hydraulic setups, but don't know about other brands. 

[saeva307]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll be looking into the teleflex system. Looking to put autopilot on the boat so that is why I would like to upgrade the steering system.