Loss of steering

 So took the girls out in the boat this arvo down in Mandurah for a crab and after setting the nets and pulling the first one my steering went. (Cable not Hydrolics) Just went totally loose. Threw out the anchor and had a look behind the steering wheel and that seemed to be all good, didn't really know what else to do. The motor was easy to move by itself, unscrewed the steering cable bit and that didn't seem to move when I moved the motor... does that mean a snap or something come loose inside the mounting section?

Just wondering if theres any suggestions of something I could do myself before I take it in to someone in the know. 

Ended up getting a friendly tow back in by the water police, they even went and pulled all our crab nets back in! Cheers guys!

 

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Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 18029

Date Joined: 11/03/08

 sounds like a broken cable.

Fri, 2011-03-04 23:11

 sounds like a broken cable. shouldnt be too hard to fix if it is that. just get all the specs like type of steering gear you have and the length of cable you need. 

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

Do those cables snap? I

Sat, 2011-03-05 03:38

Do those cables snap? I thought they only seized and blew up your helm.

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allrounder's picture

Posts: 1853

Date Joined: 10/11/08

Had something similar

Sat, 2011-03-05 06:22

 happen with ours a few years back on the old tub.If you take the steering wheel off there is a little key piece that makes the wheel turn the shaft in our case it had snapped and gone between the shaft and the wheel.$2 bucks and 5mins to fix after a trip to the auto shop.May not be your issue but its only a few minutes to check and worth having a spare in the tool kit in case.

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So tell me have you got your info from years on the water or hours on the internet?

  • was sponsored by Atomic Lures and Shimano but they dropped me.Now sponsored by Fog Dog(The best fish coating out there) and raider lures.

Lucky Tim's picture

Posts: 2536

Date Joined: 28/11/07

 I snapped mine once so just

Sat, 2011-03-05 07:37

 I snapped mine once so just put the boat in slow ahead and sat on the transom manually turning the motor by hand. Luckily I wasn't too far from Hillary's but it would've looked weird seeing this guy come alongside the ramp and turning the motor by hand.

Turns out the cable had snapped where it connects to the ram on my engine. The actual outer housing broke free from the engine mount so there was no resistance for the cable to work against and move the ram. Went to BIAS, bought a new cable for mid $100's and fitted it in a hour that arvo. Easy fix.

Also like Tony said, remove the plate behind the wheel too and see if there has been a tooth shredded as I've seen this happen as well.

Goodz's picture

Posts: 2332

Date Joined: 20/07/09

Yeah was thinking we coulda

Sat, 2011-03-05 08:01

Yeah was thinking we coulda done that Tim, just happened that the water police came cruising past right after it happened and came to say hello. We were a fair way from home, out in the eastuary and had put in at a ramp in the cannals so took their offer of a tow back. 

Sounds like it could be a break, will go get greasy later and check it out. If I turn the wheel it still moves the cable behind there (can see the end sticking through) so dont think it's the wheel end.

Thanks for the help guys.

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