RE:steering failure

[Stinky_Hooker]

Did not want to jack his thread so I thought I would start another one. His thread reminded me, it could have been worse..much worse.

About 6 years ago I was running at a good clip with a buddy in his 16' CC. I was standing next to him with his teenage son on the front seat. When it broke the motor went full lock to the left, I held on to the flip flop seat as the boat went up on its side (gunhale about 6" under) and he went overboard. As the boat layed back down I seen him pass under the hull towards the still running motor (kill switch didnt work). I instinctively hit the key switch and then looked for him to come up on the starboard side. As he came back up I grabbed for him but he couldnt reach my hand and went under again. He didnt surface and I dove in and found him...drug him back to the boat and got him aboard.

Neither he nor his son had been on the water much at that point as they just purchased the boat. His son stayed onboard as he slid off the cooler seat in front of the console and hit the gunhale wall. He just FROZE and watched in horror..did not know what to do. I thank God for me having had alot of time on the water and being onboard that day. I wasnt supposed to go with them but agreed to at the last moment.

Needless to say they wear PFD's now when the motor is cranked and ALWAYS check the kill switch.


Sorry for the long post but it reminded me of a rough day and thought it may help some of my brothers on this board think about safety checks we all too often take forgranted.

[RWilson2526]

Good post....that's exactly what I was thinking when I read his post and thought thank god he was just backing away from the launch and not running full tilt....

Might have to renew my thoughts about upgrading my steering because when I go to turn when I'm going at a good clip the pressure I have to put on my helm is incredible.....always worry about something going SNAP!

[lathehand]

Your friend was really lucky you were onboard that day.And thanks for what you say a long post.We all need to be reminded about safety and more often than we think

[phatdaddy]

that's the reason i just changed out my rusting steering arm. i have been on borrowed time for about 3 years. i was talking to a guy at a local west marine the other day with a 21' lake & bay flats boat with a 250 HO. they were doing about 60 in the gulf during a redfish tournament when the steering bolt on a hyd system dropped out of the steering arm(jam nut came loose). threw both of them in the gulf and boat did a hard left turn. he had the kill switch on and it saved the day.

[spareparts]

don't waste your money on a baystar, go ahead with teh full size seastar or Uflex. I know the baystars are rated for 150, but after working on several of them, I wouldn't have one on anything bigger than a 90. Parts for them are high if you have to rebuild the cylinder, its usually cheaper to replace it

[cliffpaul2]

Originally Posted by Stinky_Hooker

Did not want to jack his thread so I thought I would start another one. His thread reminded me, it could have been worse..much worse.

About 6 years ago I was running at a good clip with a buddy in his 16' CC. I was standing next to him with his teenage son on the front seat. When it broke the motor went full lock to the left, I held on to the flip flop seat as the boat went up on its side (gunhale about 6" under) and he went overboard. As the boat layed back down I seen him pass under the hull towards the still running motor (kill switch didnt work). I instinctively hit the key switch and then looked for him to come up on the starboard side. As he came back up I grabbed for him but he couldnt reach my hand and went under again. He didnt surface and I dove in and found him...drug him back to the boat and got him aboard.

Neither he nor his son had been on the water much at that point as they just purchased the boat. His son stayed onboard as he slid off the cooler seat in front of the console and hit the gunhale wall. He just FROZE and watched in horror..did not know what to do. I thank God for me having had alot of time on the water and being onboard that day. I wasnt supposed to go with them but agreed to at the last moment.

Needless to say they wear PFD's now when the motor is cranked and ALWAYS check the kill switch.


Sorry for the long post but it reminded me of a rough day and thought it may help some of my brothers on this board think about safety checks we all too often take forgranted.

Great point! Thanks for sharing this story.

[Destroyer]

One final piece of advice on the subject of steering. If you do not already have one on your engine tilt tube you need to buy a Steersman Nut and install it. (They used to be called Widget nuts)

http://www.steersman.com/html/whatitdoes.html

For those of you unfamiliar with it, basically what it is, is a nut with a Zerk fitting that replaces your tilt tube port side nut. You take your port nut off and screw the Steersman nut on in it's place. This allows you to greese your steering cable from the Zirk fitting. Once properly installed your steering cable problems virtually disappear.

If you have a Mercury engine, your tilt tube has an O-ring already installed inside the port side end, just behind the stock nut. This O-Ring MUST be removed before you install the Steersman unit, because it will stop the fresh greese from getting to your steering cable.

Many people mistakenly think that the Zirk fitting in the middle of the tilt tube greeses the steering cable. It does not. It only greeses the tilt tube. The Steersman unit solves that problem.

If you use your boat in salt water buy the stainless steel unit. If you use it in fresh water buy the aluminum one. Either way, buy one. You'll thank me later.

[macojoe]

I also always pull the cable out of the motor for the winter, clean grease an\d bag the end, spring just put back no more freeze ups come spring!