need feed back im looking into seastar hydraulic steering i feel its a inexpesive way from stock steering and i don't have to put all the external components like mayfair marine machine latham.im running 28 sonic with twin 407 strokers 425 hp.

ran them for years on outboards ,no problem.

internal hydraulic is not any safer than internal mechanical.

The whole main reason for going hydraulic on a performance boat is to give direct connection between steering system and outdrive. The internal systems still utilize the weak and sloppy drive tiller that keys into the steering gimbal with that weak square boss that can shear.

I say external hydraulic on an I/O. Keep what you got or keep saving your money.

What about a cable over hydraulic system.Does the cable still stay hooked up to the tiller arm with this setup.I see you can buy the valve that bolts on in place of your original cylinder for less than 100 bucks.I was considering buying one of these valves and building a stainless ram as a winter project.I would think this would be a lot better than stock and it fits my budjet rite now.I would imagine you could also steer the boat should you have a hydraulic failure.I do realise that a full blown hydrulic setup would be more solid but with the added cost of the steering orbital,coulum,lines and fittings is it worth it for a medium performance boat.My boat is in the 550 horse range and does olmost 70 mph.it is a bit spooky at speed so I want to do something.All my gimble and steering parts are fresh and tight but I would imagine they will wear out faster due to the added strain.

Call Brian Alfrey at XS Performance direct.
XS Performance Marine
Brian Alfrey
6688B Georgetown Lane
Middletown, Ohio 45042
1-513-737-0588
[email protected]
He goes by Alfster on OSO but he is rarely online.

http://www.xsperformancemarine.biz/

His hyd. system is priced much lower than the others.
Good stuff, clean looking set up & heavy duty!
Best bang for the buck out there!
Brian will treat you right and is usually pretty fast.

Allan also sells these systems.
ALLAN4 (on OSO) can be reached at:
Allan Hilsinger
Hilsinger Motorsports
513.598.9410 (O)
www.hilsingermotorsports.com

As far as going with a cheaper system other than full from the helm external hydraulic steering, it just depends on how much you value you and your passengers safety, especially in a single engine boat. At least counter rotating twins are pushing or pulling against each other. A steering cable failure at high speed will most likely get you wet. Imagine running WFO hangin' it out and turning the wheel as fast as you could all the way to one side. Sound scary? I learned my lesson the easy way and feel compelled to try to convince others to do the same. I had a 22 Avanti with 550 hp and a bravo drive with stock steering. It had some play in the steering but I always said I get to that some other day. I was living in CA at the time and always ran out in the Pacific and while that was the most fun and most convenient for me I decided to go to lake Elsinore one day because I heard there is no speed limit there and I wanted to see how fast the boat was with my new motor. As soon as I backed it off the trailer I noticed the steering was locked up. We checked a bunch of things and then put it back on the trailer, pulled it out and tried to move the drive back and forth and the steering cable snapped (it was all corroded from the inside). So imagine that happening when I was running near 80 in a boat with a 7' beam with a 24 deg. hull. It scares me to think about it. The next day the boat went to Team Archer Marine for full hydraulic steering and when it was done it felt like a completely different boat. Much more control and no play at all. There is definitely no price too great for safety.

I put a Sea Star system on my Cougar. It works great.

It is a v-drive and the hydraulic cylinder connects to a tiller arm. It is a bit stronger tiller steering than a sterndrive.

The Cougar runs 130 MPH+ so I bought a steering ratio that is slow acting. Took a while to get used to turning the steering 1/2 turn or so where you would have before only barely turned the wheel with the merc style cable steering.

wildthing i'm still thinking i really just want to get the play out i figured with seastar no more cable.both gimbles are new.but the real question is do i go with power steering or not?

WildThing is right!!! I also purchased a full hyd system from XS performance and I was 200% satisfied with my purchase. Every boat I purchase in the future will have his steering on it. Just call and talk to him. I don't know of many performance part manufacturers that build a quality product that far exceeds that of his competitors at a fraction of the cost. Brian Alfrey at XS Performance 513-737-0588.

Alex

Anyone have an idea what the price tag is on the XS Performance system for a single I/O?