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Outboard/Steering 'free play'?


Bantam_dave21

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Hiya,

 

I have what appears to me to be quite a bit of free play in the sterring cable as it connects to my outboard. I've not yet stripped this down to make the actual connection visible but in the first instance does this sound normal? There is perhaps 1/2" in each direction of free movement this appears to give the effect of continuously steering left and right when cruising in a straight with little actual steering movement, i also thought this was to prevent jarring of the cable.... I began life in the motor trade where very few parts had 'feee play' so I could be over thinking this.

 

Thanks

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You should have 'zero' free play.

 

You should not be able to turn the wheel without moving the motor.

You should not be able to move the motor without moving the wheel.

 

A 'wobbly' steering will just mean that your engine is oscillating left and right and is very inefficient .

 

There should be adjusters at both ends of the steering cable.

 

Ensure that the G is tight and correctly adjusted

Ensure that the outer sleeve is clamped tightly at D

Ensure that the cable to outboard attachment is tight at H

 

711a.jpg

 

There will be simple adjusters connecting to the back of the 'wheel'

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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You should have 'zero' free play.

 

You should not be able to turn the wheel without moving the motor.

You should not be able to move the motor without moving the wheel.

 

A 'wobbly' steering will just mean that your engine is oscillating left and right and is very inefficient .

 

There should be adjusters at both ends of the steering cable.

 

Ensure that the adjuster at G is tight and correctly adjusted

Ensure that the outer sleeve is clamped tightly at D

Ensure that the cable to outboard attachment is tight at H

 

711a.jpg

Brilliant, clear advice. Thank you Alan. I'll get onto corrective measures, the motor does indeed wobble if you like left and right on the cut. Being new i wasn't entirely sure if this was intentional....I've been wrong many times before (so the Mrs says). The movement appears in my case to be at Point H, but i couldn't visible see the method of attachment so couldn't tell if something was wrong. Should improce straight line handling too.....

 

Thank you

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Maybe the steering cable to OB bracket bolt has been replaced at some time with an undersized one ( very vulnerable to rusting up in that position). a few mm undersize will be multiplied by the distance from the OB mounting brackets and you can get a lot of lateral movement at the prop

 

If it is an undersize bolt, any 'chattering' may have opened up the hole even bigger making the situation worse. Check the bolt hole size and use a suitable bolt. If the hole is elongated get a new bracket made (or bought).

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Brilliant, clear advice. Thank you Alan. I'll get onto corrective measures, the motor does indeed wobble if you like left and right on the cut. Being new i wasn't entirely sure if this was intentional....I've been wrong many times before (so the Mrs says). The movement appears in my case to be at Point H, but i couldn't visible see the method of attachment so couldn't tell if something was wrong. Should improce straight line handling too.....

 

Thank you

It depend on the steering cable manufacturer but will usually be similar to a rose joint with a through nut /bolt or a form similar to a car track rod end bolt captive in the fitting with a nut to fix after passing through the motor attachment bracket ( sort of a goal post shaped bracket on the front of the motor) some old units had a spring loaded pin with a roll pin through the end ( line up the roll pin with the hole/slots push through & half turn to lock the pin ) larger version of throttle /gear shift attachment end fittings, main brands were/are Morse,Teleflex & or some came with Hamilton in less numbers.

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Hello and welcome to the forum. I have a Shetland 4+2 which was moored at Goole Boathouse Marina and the winds in Goole can be a challenge. What I found is that when it is just a slight breeze in Selby, where I live, by the time I had got down to my boat the wind had become a howling gale. as you say trying to moor a light GRP boat with a large canopy acting as a sail was interesting to say the least. Funnily enough I actually found it much easier to go onto the pontoon backwards than it to get on going forwards. I put that down to the fact that the boat was being pulled in rather than being pushed in. I had a 30 narrow boat previously to buying the Shetland and, presumably because it was steel and much heavier, I didn't have as much of a problem mooring that up. The other factor that made mooring the narrow boat up easier was that I could just step off the counter on the shore/pontoon with a center rope in my hand which, I found, made controlling the mooring procedure much easier. The Aire and Calder canal there can get quite choppy as well in the wind especially where it narrows to go undwer the bridges. I originally brought my narrow boat down from Selby Boat Center to Goole at the beginning of last year and it was a very windy day. The River Aire was very choppy as was the canal. Going under the bridges was like being on the sea to me because where the canal narrows it accentuated the waves. By the time I got to Goole I was feelling quite seasick. I also asked the guys there to help me moor up because it was the first time I had moored on to floating pontoon in a marina. My previous mooring had been a linear one and that was infinetly easier to get on to and off of.

 

The other thing that I have found with my Shetland is that the steering is much more critical especially at slow speeds at which you are supposwed to use on the canals. To be honest the Aire and Calder is a bit like the roads up here. Sometimes I think I am the only person sticking to the speed limits. Anyway at 4 knots or there abouts I am constantly moving the steering wheel to keep the boat straight. After Alan de Enfield's answer to your OP I will check my steering linkages but I cannot say that I have noticed any excessive play on my boat. I have a 25 hp Yamaha on mine and the steering stability gets massively better if I get up to 6 to 8 knots (I have a depth finder, fish finder, speedometer on mine) but of course you shouldn't be gboing that fast. To be honest the Aire and Calder Canal is a big wide deep canal with steel sides so speed isn't such an issue on it but bottom line is the speed limit is 4 knots not that any of the commercial traffic stuck to those limits.

 

Sorry long post it was just nice to see a fellow GRP owner from my neck of the woods on the forum. If you need any help just give me a shout. As I say my boat is off the water at the moment on it's trailer as I need to some work on the anti foul and generally clean it up.

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Another thing which will have an effect on the steering is the length of the OB leg ( although if the OP believes it is an original leg it shouldn't be a problem).

 

OB legs come in various lengths ( 2 main ones - short and long - with an additional 'medium' thrown in for good measure, and more recently 'extra long', and 'super long' to accommodate the ever increasing engine size and hence boat size powered by OB's.

 

The cavitation plate on your OB should align (very approximately) with the keel / bottom of the transom of your boat. A short shaft engine on a 'long shaft transom' will mean you are not going to go anywhere very easily, whilst the opposite causes all sorts of steering and power issues.

 

A picture ( stolen from Google images) explains it better :

 

Transom%20Leg%20length_zps0qztvlcl.jpg

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Hello and welcome to the forum. I have a Shetland 4+2 which was moored at Goole Boathouse Marina and the winds in Goole can be a challenge. What I found is that when it is just a slight breeze in Selby, where I live, by the time I had got down to my boat the wind had become a howling gale. as you say trying to moor a light GRP boat with a large canopy acting as a sail was interesting to say the least. Funnily enough I actually found it much easier to go onto the pontoon backwards than it to get on going forwards. I put that down to the fact that the boat was being pulled in rather than being pushed in. I had a 30 narrow boat previously to buying the Shetland and, presumably because it was steel and much heavier, I didn't have as much of a problem mooring that up. The other factor that made mooring the narrow boat up easier was that I could just step off the counter on the shore/pontoon with a center rope in my hand which, I found, made controlling the mooring procedure much easier. The Aire and Calder canal there can get quite choppy as well in the wind especially where it narrows to go undwer the bridges. I originally brought my narrow boat down from Selby Boat Center to Goole at the beginning of last year and it was a very windy day. The River Aire was very choppy as was the canal. Going under the bridges was like being on the sea to me because where the canal narrows it accentuated the waves. By the time I got to Goole I was feelling quite seasick. I also asked the guys there to help me moor up because it was the first time I had moored on to floating pontoon in a marina. My previous mooring had been a linear one and that was infinetly easier to get on to and off of.

 

The other thing that I have found with my Shetland is that the steering is much more critical especially at slow speeds at which you are supposwed to use on the canals. To be honest the Aire and Calder is a bit like the roads up here. Sometimes I think I am the only person sticking to the speed limits. Anyway at 4 knots or there abouts I am constantly moving the steering wheel to keep the boat straight. After Alan de Enfield's answer to your OP I will check my steering linkages but I cannot say that I have noticed any excessive play on my boat. I have a 25 hp Yamaha on mine and the steering stability gets massively better if I get up to 6 to 8 knots (I have a depth finder, fish finder, speedometer on mine) but of course you shouldn't be gboing that fast. To be honest the Aire and Calder Canal is a big wide deep canal with steel sides so speed isn't such an issue on it but bottom line is the speed limit is 4 knots not that any of the commercial traffic stuck to those limits.

 

Sorry long post it was just nice to see a fellow GRP owner from my neck of the woods on the forum. If you need any help just give me a shout. As I say my boat is off the water at the moment on it's trailer as I need to some work on the anti foul and generally clean it up.

 

Hi Pete,

 

I echo you, its nice to see a GRP boat also local, I'm thinking yours is the Shetland road side at Goole that seems to be missing lately...

 

Similarly agree regarding speed limits, as someone new to owning a boat I'm quite stringent about the limits, I've donwloaded an app for gps speed. It seems the larger sea goer's have a blatant disregard for the limit....a few weeks ago moored below Pollington lock sevefal of us were bounced off the bank as said boat passed....

 

I think the stern mooring for me is down to lack of practice, the first attempt was rather hilarious, a nice chap came out to help turn me and have another go. Subsequent attempts have been a little better with a slight change to how I approach, i now pass the birth and reverse back in, whereas used to try and turn, point away from the berth whilst also try to align for the reverse. I've found my latest tact gives more space and time to correct any misjudgement.

 

I'm from Knottingley so return the sentiment if you need anything just yell.....

 

Cheers

Another thing which will have an effect on the steering is the length of the OB leg ( although if the OP believes it is an original leg it shouldn't be a problem).

 

OB legs come in various lengths ( 2 main ones - short and long - with an additional 'medium' thrown in for good measure, and more recently 'extra long', and 'super long' to accommodate the ever increasing engine size and hence boat size powered by OB's.

 

The cavitation plate on your OB should align (very approximately) with the keel / bottom of the transom of your boat. A short shaft engine on a 'long shaft transom' will mean you are not going to go anywhere very easily, whilst the opposite causes all sorts of steering and power issues.

 

A picture ( stolen from Google images) explains it better :

 

Transom%20Leg%20length_zps0qztvlcl.jpg

Hi Alan,

 

Thanks again for another great reply, from the advertising I've found from the time of the Atlanta 24 first being sold the OB 'appears' original but I had wondered what governs or selects the right leg, so the picture explains brilliantly. I am currently considering if I need to get something with more punch for river work as I get further down the line so whole long, leg short leg dilemna worried me.

 

Thanks.

Edited by Bantam_dave21
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Hi Pete,

 

I echo you, its nice to see a GRP boat also local, I'm thinking yours is the Shetland road side at Goole that seems to be missing lately...

 

Similarly agree regarding speed limits, as someone new to owning a boat I'm quite stringent about the limits, I've donwloaded an app for gps speed. It seems the larger sea goer's have a blatant disregard for the limit....a few weeks ago moored below Pollington lock sevefal of us were bounced off the bank as said boat passed....

 

I think the stern mooring for me is down to lack of practice, the first attempt was rather hilarious, a nice chap came out to help turn me and have another go. Subsequent attempts have been a little better with a slight change to how I approach, i now pass the birth and reverse back in, whereas used to try and turn, point away from the berth whilst also try to align for the reverse. I've found my latest tact gives more space and time to correct any misjudgement.

 

I'm from Knottingley so return the sentiment if you need anything just yell.....

 

Cheers

 

Yep that was me. It's down on my wife's uncle's farm near Howden at the moment on it's trailer whilst I do some work on her. I also decided that there wasn't a lot of point in paying mooring fees etc if I wasn't using the boat during the winter and as I had a trailer it might as well be out of the water on private land for not a lot of cash and launch it as and when. Obviously I will have to sort out licence and insurance for shorter periods on the water etc and I don't know how that works quite at the moment. I may even sell up this year as I only used the boat 5 times last year due, mainly, to the weather.

 

I take it then that you are in Goole Boathouse? Nice place nice people but a little crowded especially in the middle bit and those floating pontoons are an experience to say the least LOL. As I said I came from a linear bankside mooring at Selby originally and I had a narrow boat. Dead easy to get on and off that mooring the floating pontoons were another matter all together. I was in the miidle of the marina as well in those days amongst all those expensive looking gin palaces. I knew that if the wind took my narrow boat and I hit one of those I knew which one would be going to the bottom. That was quite worrying at times.

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Hiya,

 

Yep at Goole boathouse same side you were at and right at the far end....yep a little tight at times and although I've only been there a few months (bought the boat and kept the berth) everyone seems really nice up to press.

 

Mine needs to come out of the water when I've saved a little and looked at costs of having taken out - bottom half doesn't look like it has had any attention in quite a long time so needs anti foul and general tidy, GRP cleaning polishing etc etc....

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