Plane Silly

It's almost time to get started on some winter projects. I plan on putting hyd steering on my Rage as well as some trim tabs. My question is, is there a special kit or bracket that moves the mounting point of the steering cylinder to the transom away from the thru hull exhaust? Does anyone have a picture?

Also, is there enough room under the swim platform to mount one of those retracting ladders?

Steve Zuckerman

Plane Silly,
I have a Heat, but here's a picture of my transom with your mentioned mods for reference. I hope it helps you.
Regards,
Steve

Plane Silly

Thanks Steve.
It looks like your exhaust is set out wider than mine is, which give you the room for the steering cylinder. I heard somewhere that they make a special bracket for what I am running into.
Thanks again.

bobl

I rigged Brian Gillums Rage with everything. It was very difficult to get it to fit. I had to lower the exhaust mounting much lower than yours to be able to accomodate the trim tabs, ladder and steering ram. Not sure if you'll be able to get it all to work where your exhaust is. Maybe Brain will post a picture of the back of his boat. I can't find one. Nordic told me it couldn't be done with the ladder.

Steve Zuckerman

Bob and Plane,
I agree on all.
It's tight on mine. My ladder (down) barely clears the tabs when I moved the new ones to the chines. Maybe by an inch or 2 when they are retracted, which is 99% of the time.
I think you can work it out. You may have to go to the "new" swim platform exhaust outlets to make room.
We did this on a friend's Heat, and it worked out great.
Regards,
Steve

bobl

Steve, the Rage has a lot less room to work with. The height of the transom is much less. So, what is tight on a Heat is just about impossible on a Rage. It'll take some "engineering".

Plane Silly

Steering is the priority so I'll get that one figured out first. Tabs and the ladder are not must haves.

ComfortablyNumb

I didn't get around to working on steering for my Rage this year. Maybe next spring. Last summer I was talking to the guys at WPM Racing about hydraulic steering on my Rage. It was going to have to be a custom cylinder and custom brackets to work with the location of my exhaust outlets. Just a matter of how much I have to spend!

Steve Zuckerman

I should have mentioned that some manufacturers offer different length steering rams for different applications.
Shorter arms may allow mounting the rams between the drive and exhaust tips. Longer rams may allow mounting beyong exhaust tips.
I have seen (don't know who made them, custom fab?) extensions to bring the transom mounting points out several inches. These were probably designed for keeping the original transom mounting points with setback boxes.
Regards,
Steve

Plane Silly

Thanks for the input guys, I'll keep you posted on what I wind up doing.