How many wheel turns stop to stop?

My wheel turns 4 revolutions from stop to stop ( 2 to port, 2 to starboard). Is this typical? It is a hydraulic system and no auto pilot. We brought the boat home on a 10 hour run with following seas and I was pretty sore from all the steering effort.

Thanks,
Donny

We have cable-chain steering on our GB. Lock to lock is three turns. We removed the autopilot after buying the boat and so steer it manually. A following or aft quartering sea keeps one fairly busy on the wheel but it can be steered with one finger so the actual effort is not much at all.

DonnyP said:

My wheel turns 4 revolutions from stop to stop ( 2 to port, 2 to starboard). Is this typical? It is a hydraulic system and no auto pilot. We brought the boat home on a 10 hour run with following seas and I was pretty sore from all the steering effort.

Thanks,
Donny

Click to expand...

yes..some can be adjusted for more or less turns....

DonnyP said:

My wheel turns 4 revolutions from stop to stop ( 2 to port, 2 to starboard). Is this typical? It is a hydraulic system and no auto pilot. We brought the boat home on a 10 hour run with following seas and I was pretty sore from all the steering effort.

Thanks,
Donny

Click to expand...

Donny, beneath our Capilano units is a knob to adjust the flow. Somewhere I have a breakdown of the steering unit assembly and it resembles a variable displacement pump with a "swash plate". On my unit, adjusting this made a HUGE difference in the steering response. Maybe yours is the same?

DonnyP said:

My wheel turns 4 revolutions from stop to stop ( 2 to port, 2 to starboard). Is this typical? It is a hydraulic system and no auto pilot. We brought the boat home on a 10 hour run with following seas and I was pretty sore from all the steering effort.

Thanks,
Donny

Click to expand...

Have something like three to four turns from stop to stop. Don't pay much attention since there is a rudder indicator/gauge. The Coot has a hydraulic system, and turning the wheel is effortless. Usually don't have to turn the wheel more than a quarter turn with following waves. In such situations manual steering is much more effective than relying on Otto. Unlike he, I can anticipate the boat's motion.

DonnyP said:

My wheel turns 4 revolutions from stop to stop ( 2 to port, 2 to starboard). Is this typical? It is a hydraulic system and no auto pilot. We brought the boat home on a 10 hour run with following seas and I was pretty sore from all the steering effort.

Thanks,
Donny

Click to expand...

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Same here 4 turns lock to lock, hydraulic steering. But we have twins and are fast enough, if we need to be, to avoid the unpleasantness of a following sea pushing the stern around.

Larry B

Three turns.

Cable/chain steering, three turns, lock to lock with a clunk as the turn buckle comes up against the steering quadrant.

What made you tired , the force required to move the wheel?

Or the distance required for control?

Ours was 6 turns. Hydraulic, HyDrive Coursemaster unit. No adjustment at pump possible on this model. No effort to turn the wheel but following seas kept one very busy. Upon suggestion of HyDrive rep I moved the attachment point on the tiller arm in from the end a few inches. This gave us 4 turns, still too much but much better than 6.

We brought the boat home on a 10 hour run with following seas and I was pretty sore from all the steering effort.

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Sounds more like you're over-steering and chasing the bow movement. Even with all the movement in the following seas, hold the wheel steady and you'll find you're tracking straighter than trying to counter steer the bow movement.
It takes some pretty serious seas to require stop to stop steering efforts.

Anode said:

Sounds more like you're over-steering and chasing the bow movement. Even with all the movement in the following seas, hold the wheel steady and you'll find you're tracking straighter than trying to counter steer the bow movement.
It takes some pretty serious seas to require stop to stop steering efforts.

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I agree. The OP is likely oversteering.

My boat is a little over six turns, lock to lock.

3 1/2 lock to lock with the "Capilano" system. I have it adjusted as tight as it will go.

Thanks guys. I will leave as-is for now. There is an adjustment know under the wheel(s) that reads "more turns/less turns". I think I was likely over steering and just need more practice with the boat.

Donny

Hyd is usually pretty effortless ,

install a "neckers knob", on a spoke about 1/2 way out from the hub.

I did not check the turn but I have the helm set for the most turns, at least 6 turns which is about the same as the auto pilot. The reason is to not over steer and then have to correct. Most of the time when the helm is on auto pilot and the auto pilot makes very small changes at a time so its not correcting. Per the rudder indicator very seldom is the rudder/helm turned to the stop, except in tight manuvering, but then the bowthruster is also used.

With the rudder hard over the stern is pushed to the side with very little forward motion. The rudder is 42” long and 30” wide, the prop is 38” and with the hydraulic steering does not take that much energy/force to steer. Anyway, I prefer more turn less responsive helm same as auto pilot.

Willy has three. Just about right I think.

We have the Capilano (SP?) helm pump that one can adjust from 2 to 6 turns. Faster than 3 increases the effort required at the helm to a level that I consider undesirable but even if it did'nt I'd probably still select 3 turns. It's slow enough for hours on course in varying sea conditions and fast enough for handy maneuvering in the harbor. In big following seas faster power steering would be a bit better. The system is way oversized for a 30' boat. But in the really rough stuff bigger may be better.....kinda like anchors.

DonnyP said:

Thanks guys. I will leave as-is for now. There is an adjustment know under the wheel(s) that reads "more turns/less turns". I think I was likely over steering and just need more practice with the boat.

Donny

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Oversteering can be a problem but that doesn't mean that simply holding the wheel steady is the answer either. We don't have swells on our inside waters but we do get some pretty significant wind waves and they tend to be quite close together and pretty steep-sided even if they are only a few feet high. So they really push boats around, particularly slower boats with flat transoms like ours.

So we are almost continuously moving the helm but to not correct a shove off-heading but to anticipate and counter a shove before it happens. The end result, if one is good at it, is that the boat stays almost perfectly on heading. It doesn't take much of a turn of the helm to accomplish this--- we have 3 turns lock to lock and we raarely have to go more than a quarter turn in either direction.

But each wave that comes up behind us will knock us off heading if we do nothing. And once you let the boat get knocked off heading you'll be playing catch-up and that's when oversteering can become a problem.

DonnyP said:

My wheel turns 4 revolutions from stop to stop ( 2 to port, 2 to starboard). Is this typical? It is a hydraulic system and no auto pilot. We brought the boat home on a 10 hour run with following seas and I was pretty sore from all the steering effort.

Thanks,
Donny

Click to expand...

Donny: How responsive is the boat at your cruising speed on flat water when you make a turn? Does the boat do what you'd expect or is sluggish? You may have air in the system and need to bleed it.

DonnyP said:

Thanks guys. I will leave as-is for now. There is an adjustment know under the wheel(s) that reads "more turns/less turns". I think I was likely over steering and just need more practice with the boat.

Donny

Click to expand...

Donny, that is the same system I have. After we bought our boat six years ago I also seemed to be constantly "steering". With some experimentation with the knob- along with getting use to the boat I found my sweet spot. Life is good.

5 turns. hynautic. I'd like a little faster response but just like driving anything else, you get used to it.