Hydraulic or dual cable?

[Jon Forston]

In need of cable replacement on my 180FS with a Mariner 150. Should I go with hydraulic, like the SeaStar HK6400 or just replace the dual cables? I like the price and redundancy of two cables but since I have to replace...why not go for the best? Installing a jack plate too while I have the motor off. Any safetly concerns with a hydraulic setup? What would you guys do if the cost wasn't a factor?

 

[Jim B]

If it was my boat i would replace the cables and also put in a new anti feedback helm since its the cheapest option.



Like anything else there are concerns with a hydraulic system. If for any reason you get a leak it could lead to a boat that does not steer so its not a install and forget it deal.



Even if cost was not a factor i would still go for cables. I know i'm in a very small minority but i do not think that hydraulic is "all that and a bag of chips" so to speak. My current boat has the sea star pro system, its nice and it works fine and it drives nice and all but i really miss the "feel" that i had from the dual cable system in my old boat. With the hydraulic I feel like i'm disconnected from the motor, with the cables i could feel everything the motor was doing and i felt like i had a lot better control.

 

[TritonGlenn]

If cost wasn't a factor, I wouldn't even hesitate - Hydraulic every day of the week, and twice on Sunday.



If you are going to put a jackplate on it at the same time, and you're replacing the cables anyway, just go hydraulic right now. You won't regret it.



If you get a leak in your system that drains all your fluid out that quickly, you have done (or had something done) that is seriously wrong. Nothing in a boat is "install and forget", unless you are looking for problems, but if you want something as close to install and forget as you can, then hydraulic steering is hands down the winner over cable steering any day of the week.



No offense meant to Jim B (Seriously Jim - I hope you don't take offense to my disagreement), but I fully disagree with the concept he pointed out. In rough water, I don't want to "feel" my engine with cables. The last thing I want when running through some rough stuff is to be fighting my steering pulling hard against my arms. One big wave slapping my cable controlled engine to one side and it's almost ripping the steering from my hands. That's not enjoyable at all. Anti-feedback is a misconception. There is feedback. It's just reduced.



I'd go hydraulic.



Edited to add:



The people I would really like to hear from on this subject are Mini and Mac. In the stuff I've heard of them running through, their opinion would mean a lot here.



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Jim B]

Glenn,

We can agree to disagree, no offense taken on my part. My opinion is my opinion, but its also opinion based on years of boating in both the ocean and some of the roughest water this country has to offer(Champlain, Erie..)



I have never, not once had what you described as the wheel getting ripped out of my hands with cable steering of either variety in waters I or anyone else in a bassboat had no business being on (when the USCG wont let you go somewhere on Champlain its a nasty day for sure). I also don't think you are giving NFB enough credit, the steering torque is greatly reduced on those systems, you can literally take our hands off the wheel and it will stay in whatever direction you have it pointed in.



Hydraulic systems do fail and i have seen more then one instance where a seal has blown on one leaving it useless. I have seen it first hand when one of the seals on the outboard cyl failed on mine last summer. Keep in mind this is a 2 year old boat with a factory installed/dealer maintained system. Other then inspecting for leaks(which i do weekly) there is nothing to maintain on that part. The seal failed with no signs of leakage and no operational differences prior to it failing, it just popped and sprayed fluid everywhere. It rendered the boat unable to steer to the left and any power form the motor would flop the engine to the right. When it failed thankfully i was only getting on plane, had i been going high speed i would have lost control of the boat completely. Not exactly a scenario i would ever want to be in.



I have never seen cables snap, sure it could happen but i have never seen or heard of it. Sure they do rust up and eventually get stiff but you do get plenty of warning before that happens. In all my years of boating i have only replaced one set of cables and that includes boats that sat in the ocean 6 months out of the year. They work well and are pretty darn trouble free.



Like i said above i just don't think that hydraulic is the end all be all of steering systems. Yes, they are fancy, and steer smooth and all that but i just don't see them as head and shoulders better then cables.

 

[TritonGlenn]

Jim,

I was not aware of your rough water experience, and after hearing your explanation, I may have to concede. The rough waters I've been in have not been anywhere as rough as ive heard some (and now your own experience) have been in. I have owned both types - NFB (changed by me to hydraulic when I added a jackplate) as well as factory installed hydraulics on my latest boat (purchased in 2005). I've never had a leak in either system, but I will admit that I haven't been in truly rough stuff like has been described by those that fish the Great Lakes. That is why I was hoping Mini and Mac would chime in, but it seems you have similar experience. Thanks for the reply.



I still prefer hydraulics (wink!)



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Cliff Van Beek]

Well I will throw my two cents into this now. I have had both systems, yes the feel of the cables is different, but with anti feed back dual cables, you loose most of that feel anyway, as when it is working correctly, there is no feed back. What I discovered, was that in a short time, with both the boats that I had with it, they stiffened up fairly quickly, to the point that it took a very good grip on the wheel to make any sort of big turn, not good for me, as I have tendinitus and or carple tunnel, it has cost me much of my grip over the years.

I am now on my third boat with Hydraulic, I have not yet experienced as much as one issue with it. I also am VP of the South Dakota BASS federation, and go to all the divisional tournaments. this is my 17th year of that, in that time, I beleive I have only seen one issue with the hydraulic systems, and that was a person who did NO maintenace checks on his boat ever, I did hvae to add a bit of oil and bleed it for him at that time.

I have never had my boat in the ocean, but our resevoirs on the MO river hear are big and nasty, I have canceled tournament days several times for that. I have also had my boat on Mac's St Clair, Erie Twice, Huron, Michagan several times, I have seen some very nasty water, and again, never had an issue. I can turn it very easly with one hand, not needing a harsh grip ever, it is very comfy to operate with the hydraulic, I would never want to go back to cables and the strength it takes to operate.

If there is one small drawback to hydraulic over cables, our lower reseivoir, we do a lot of shallow water, tight turn navigating, the cables do turn the moter quicker with less wheel turns.......but I gladly work with that over the hard turning cables.

 

[Jon Forston]

 

[Jon Forston]

Thanks for your input so far!

I definitely don't want to put cables on at $350 and have them tighten up in a year. The only drawback I see for hydraulic is that if it does fail, hope you're at idle speed. I keep my boat garaged at all times when it is not in the water, so exposure to the elements are limited to when I'm fishing. Are the hydraulic lines pretty flexible? I mean can you make some fairly sharp turns with it? I am adding a 7" jackplate and hope to use the existing steering cable hole, this would make a fairly tight "S".

 

[Cliff Van Beek]

As I am not sure of the routing on the 180FS, cant answer that question, other than to say they are failry flexible, but you sure do not want to kink them.....you may have to lay it out and see what it looks like, you just may end up finding a new route for them, just get the needed boot to run them through and install it at the same time

 

[TROY WAINRIGHT3]

I have a sport 288 with dual cables and i am looking at getting hydraulic steering to ease the steering and make it easier to handle.Looking seriously at the hydraulic steering.I am thinking with proper maintenance it would be well worth the money.No matter on your decision there are issues with both.Ive had a steering cable snap on a 27foot deep sea national boat and had to steer it back in with ropes.

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Hydraulic all the way, I would never go back to a cable system.



BF

 

[Mini]

I have never had the NFB system. Only the rack and pinion.



With that said the Sea Star Hydraulic system should be a requirement as far as I am concerned. In 20+ years of running them I have yet to have a leak or failure. I have experienced some wear currently and it is being fixed.



Cables snap, rust, lock up, etc. I have experienced all of that. I do know that a hydraulic failure is NOT common as long as the system is installed and maintained properly. A seal that just "lets go" was more than likely not installed correctly to begin with.



In my mind you cannot get a better system than hydraulic for larger (150 and up) horsepower motors.