bob_t

I also had most of the brass fittings split on my 96 Fountain's Latham steering system. The Parflex hoses from the helm to the transom are made up and supplied by Fountain, not Latham. Mine split back at the transom (inside the boat) where it loops around, and also at the helm on the high pressure side. Mine were the result of bad swagings on the fittings. There is no good way to "repair" them. You have to have new fittings swaged onto the hoses, and to do that you need to cut off a short section of hose at the fitting. The really bad thing is that the swaging tool needed to replace the fittings won't fit in the space that you have in the boat! Also, there isn't enough extra hose such that you can cut the ends off and still have them fit, especially the hoses that loop to each other at the transom. I had new hoses made - the hose was about $1.50 per foot and the fittings were about $20 - $40 each, if I remember correctly. Complete set of hoses from Fountain was around $3000, if I remember correctly.

Jana

Latham told me that yesterday. I'm hoping to have a local hydraulic shop make them for me (and maybe not all of them right now, if any can be salvaged for the moment). My mechanic and I will be discussing how to proceed this afternoon. Personally, I think if Fountain did a bad job making them, they should pay to replace them.
bob_t - Was your Fountain a single or twin? There's quite a bit of room in my engine compartment.

bob_t

It was a single HP 500 - 27 Fever. When I first noticed that the fittings were cracked, I checked into how those fittings were installed and what they were rated at (pressure). They are Parker ParFlex hose/fittings and are a double barbed fitting and rated up to 3000 psi, if i rememeber correctly ( it was 2 years ago). As a very temporary fix, we put two hose clamps over each fitting - the power steering pump doesn't put out that much pressure, which is a good thing! It is no fun changing out the hoses. You have to fish them down the side of the boat and they are all bundled together with ty-wraps. We cut the ty-wraps to make it easier to fish the lines thru. We also connected the new line to the old line such that it could be pulled thru - but you really need to be careful because all of the wiring for the boat is also in those bundles! You have limited access, thru the side compartments, and we took the compartment doors off so we didn't risk breaking the doors. We put new ty-wraps back on the bundles when we were finished. Back in the motor compartment, the hoses are suspended by ty-wraps that have eyelets on them. They are bolted in place with little machine screws that have a flat washer and nylock nut on the inside of the channel that runs around the inside of the motor compartment. Those are all of the little screw heads you see in that channel when you open the motor hatch. Some were a real pain to get to - especially those in the corner and along the transom. That whole job, and subsequent cleanup was a real pain! Make sure you cap the hose as soon as you disconnect it so the tranny fluid doesn't run everywhere! It took my friend and I a couple of hours to do this job and he had changed out a few of these in the past.

1_bigdogg

aeroquip hose should be around 7 to 8 bucks a foot...and the reusable hose ends....10 to 12 bucks each. You can do the math. I don 't see how you can spend 3K for just hoses.....call Marine Machine and get a quote for the parts you need.800-426-2628 prolly end up way...... under a grand for everything. I'd only worry about replacing the high pressure lines and not the return(low pressure)

bob_t

There are 3 high pressure lines that run from the back of the boat to the helm; supply from Latham filter, left, and right turn. There is also one low pressure line which is the return, which we didn't replace. The line from the pump to the Latham filter was Aeroquip on mine and it was fine so we didn't replace that one either. Line from the filter to the helm needed replaced, left and right turn high pressure lines needed replaced and both supply lines from cylinder to cylinder needed replaced, the T fittings at the cylinders were OK so we didn't change those fittings (brass blocks with 3 holes). Each high pressure lines from helm went into a T at one cylinder and then used a "jumpers" to the connect to the opposite direction on the other cylinder. Most had "cracks" on the swages at one or both ends. I don't remember anymore what the exact complete set price was but it was more than $2k and not over $3k but I didn't pay Fountain's retail price for my hoses/fittings. I do remember that there wasn't a "portable" swaging tool that could get into the places to just cut the ends off and put new fittings on. Likewise, the hoses, particularly at the transom, would have been too short!

If you use the Aeroquip at $8 per foot, there were 2-15 foot hoses, 1-13 foot hose, and 2- 5 foot hoses, plus 10 hose end fittings on my 27' boat. That is about $450 for hose and $120 for fittings (that seems too low for the fittings, but ...).