I know there has been a fair amount of discussion on this topic, but at the NYC Boat Show I saw a vendor that did custom fabricate units for 1/2 the price of the IMCO or Mayfair. COURSEMASTER USA INC - HYDRIVE www.coursemaster.com.

http://www.coursemaster.com/HYDRIVE/..._selection.htm

Has anyone used them or know anything about them? They have a shop here in NYC.

-Brian

steering is not something to skimp on! there is a lot of engineering that goes into a complete hydraulic system from the brackets on the drives to the helm pump everything must work together stick with the people who make them all the time
keep it safe for everyone thanks

I have never heard of them. It looks like it is simply hydraulic. Not Power though. You canget power steering as an option, but it looks like it is a 12 volt pump.
There was a system out 20or so years ago that was hydrulic but not power, I can't remember the name of it. They weren't very high performance.

it looks like a internal hyd.sys. to eliminate the steering cable, not a external hyd. sys.

I agree about safety, but I also believe that hydraulic steering is not something new. Hynautic was doing it early on and to look at some of their stuff the way it was installed...it wasn't perfect, but it worked well. Latham improved on it and their stuff is the best out there...looks excellent, been tested through R and D, give great installation instructions and measurements...but look at the pricing! Insane! All the brands out there are pretty good w/ WPM (in my opinion) the best overall value, but what's wrong w/a person putting together his own for half price (as long as that person is semi-mechanically inclined)? It's 100x better than cable steering. To me, it depends on speed. If you have a 140 MPH Skater, go w/ Latham or Marine Machine. If you have a 70+ boat...safe a little cash.

What do they use in a 100mph cat with outboards? Do they use a Capilano style self contained helm pump?

Stick with name brand units. Anything else is pure junk..AS for as cats go, yes they all use hydaulic systems Capilano,Latham, Mayfair, S.S. Marine. Just how much do you wanna spend and how fast ? Would you trust cable steering systems or mickey mouse electric pumps ???

You may want to check out XS Performance....

http://www.xsperformancemarine.biz/index.html

I've had their system for a few years and it's worked GREAT!!

It was a bit cheaper than the "name brands" but still WELL constructed..





Doug

Not to be negative but go check out how many boat builders on nada.com to see which ones are "no longer in production".

Now, keep in mind that there are way more marine product vendors that have failed even than the builders themselves. It's a tough business to be in if you don't have cash flow from other entities. So "why not save some cash"? Here's my take:

That "way cheaper" system is a decent deal for you today. BUT - think about how frustrating it would be if you needed to buy some replacement parts down the road after they're out of business and you're calling all over country only to find out they used all weird sizes of threads, components, fittings, etc which sometimes causes a consumer to replace everything. Then that killer deal sucks even worse than if you had paid someone like Latham. I do agree though that prices on the good stuff is enough to cause severe loss of sleep.

Today you barely get what you pay for but NEVER more. If it's "that" much cheaper, there's a reason why.

B- Bend
O- Over
A- And
T- Take it but with a smile cause you luv u're boat!!

All of the main performance hydraulic steering manufactures today build high quality products from Mayfair, Imco, Zeiger, Wpm and more. What you should be able to determine with a little investigations is "Value". Many things have changed in this industry. Service should be free and the types of materials used and number of components will help you rapidly determine who's resting on their heritage and who has figured out how to offer you more for your dollar. Take a few minutes and comparison shop whats in each kit and this will become clear very rapidly http://www.cpperformance.com/product...ls/default.htm