Pros/Cons/Details - full vs add-on hydraulic steering

[zahndok]

I was just told a month ago of a boat that developed a fluid leak in a full hydraulic system and had a sudden failure resulting in the boat barrell rolling. I had always been under the belief that the safety factor of full hydraulic was that it would just stick where it failed. I was told no, that with a loss of fluid you can get loss of control. Anybody no whether this is the truth?

[GPM]

I don't know if you would lose the hydraulic stearing in your boat any more often than in your car. I've never seen a cable snap, but I do remember fighting to keep my boat running straight before I installed the full hydraulic stearing. You might have to drive a boat with full hydraulic to understand.

[Whiteknuckle]

GPM, that was my next question. How often has anyone seen a cable snap without warning? I would bet the ones that break have not be inspected in years, or maybe never inspected. I would assume that a performance boater, one smart enough to want hydraulic steering would perform regular inspections on their equipment.
I am not trying to prove that full hydraulic is not better than the add on system, I just want to understand why and the major cost justification.

[Falcon]

Whiteknuckle, I did try to explain some of the problems with cable add-on systems in the previous thread. There are pro's and con's to both. Yes, if you have a serious leak you can lose the steering, but there are warning signs. If you have a serious leak with the add-on, with a hard side load you may not be able to hold the steering so it still could get away from you. The add-on system is still hard on the tiller arm because even the best hydraulic systems have some spring (air & hose expansion) in them, so a sudden hard load will go through to the tiller arm until the hydraulics can respond. On a full hydraulic there is still the "spring" in the system, but it just moves that little bit and doesn't really load anything up on the transom besides the cylinders.
Another factor that most people don't notice, although it has nothing to do with add-on vs full hydraulic, is that there is not a single add-on or full hydraulic external cylinder setup that has the right gemoetry through the full trim range. The only systems that do have the cylinders built into the transom assembly (MC6, ITS, & maybe the IMCO box w/cylinders). Add-on external cylinder kits try to minimize this by getting the mounting points on the transom at the correct height and by how far the cylinder pivots are out from the transom. When you trim without steering, the cylinders will have to extend or compress slightly and there isn't any relief in the system so some extra load goes into the gimbal ring. This isn't really much of a problem on a running boat because you are probably moving the wheel around while under way which relieves the pressure.
It really comes down to cost vs benefit, and the biggest benefit is "feel".

[Airpacker]

I prefer the full system after having add on in my old power play. I can let the wheel got at 90mph in my cat and it runs dead nut straight.

[Dave M]

I just upgraded my add-on system to a full system this spring. There steering feels much more precise. If I turn the wheel a inch, the boat responds. No corrections are needed to keep the boat on track. With just the add-on system I had to maintain slight pressure on the wheel to stay on track.

Personally, I NEVER heard of a steering cable fail. My steering was pretty decent with just the add-on but it is better now.

Having experienced the same boat with both the full and the add-on, I would say that it was worth the additional cost. If you are starting from scratch I would buy a FULL system and be done with it.

[Prowler]

does or can someone take a pic of the brazil valve installed ???jus wondering how it looks installed,thanks,dave

[East Coast B]

I'm not familiar with this add on system you guys are talking about. Anyone have a link to what it looks like, how it works and costs?

[Dave M]

http://www.imcomarine.com/pages/steeringsingle.html

[Prowler]

will the brazil valve work if you have dual cable steering???