BWY Custom Steering Kit for a26M

[Highlander]

Go figure, I never even noticed that the steering turns more one way than the other - it's never been an issue - in what situation would something like that be important? (I guess I'm not much of a powerboat person.)

OMG I,m trying so hard to refrain myself !!! my tongue is bleeding !
U better figure that one out before u get into a really tight situation or emergency

J
2 yrs ago I did this really tight 360% maneuver in a mariner with about 30 people watching & waiting for the big crunch !! remember my boats total length is approx 34' , when I docked everyone clapped their hands & said u really know ur stuff , once tied to my slip I said to Geoff & rocky she did not respond normally took me a few maneuvers more than necc , thats when I noticed the motor was locked in the straight poss. & I was steering with rudders only thx goodness for a heavy laden boat

J

[seahouse]

Well, a really GOOD salesman would have pointed out that it was asymmetric to keep the minimum turning radius of the boat as small as possible, in that direction. Say, if you had to do an emergency 180 turn in a channel.
Having said that, our boats do turn slightly better (tighter) in one direction (right, when moving forward) because of other factors.

As I recall, this is NOT the direction the motor turns farther toward. Confirmation from anyone who doesn't have their boat in storage? My steering is also slightly limited toward the right by a bearing and seal on the steering shaft.

[Wayne nicol]

ok , here goes with some pics, please excuse the winter grunge!!

first one if from inside looking up at the steering mechenism.
you can see where i extended the ss tube , and where the new hole was drilled for the new attachment point to the flat plate swingarm- you can see the old/original holes in the plate further back


here you can see that i lengthened it just under 3" EDIT: in fact looking at the pic now, i see that tape end is not exactly on the join,, i seem to remember that it was about 2 3/4"


so now i had max throw in either direction, because i found that i was getting max throw on the rudders , but not on the motor
so i centered everything- after many little checks and confirmations, and then centered the the motor, and i shortened up the quick link to suit!
checking before i cut it, that i was getting equal throw in both directions

[Wayne nicol]

then i had to make a new attachment plate for when i disconnect the motor, so that the motor was centered. i found a flat plate worked best, otherwise the motor would bind up against the rod.
you can see where the old attachment point was( the BWY one)- i took the knob off and put it on the new plate, but did not want to take the old one off at the time- as this final mod was done at midnight, and didnt want a leaky hole in the well the next day. but i will take it off and do the patch before getting back on the water


i like to patch the old holes with some glass on the inside, and gelcoat filler, then smoothed off with a cabinet scraper.

hope this helps- made a difference for me- just dont know why this cant be remedied at the factory!
cheers
wayne

[Russ]

Very cool Wayne. Thanks for the photos. I need to digest this a bit and then look at mine.

I've always felt the turning was not right.
Agree, seems easy for the factory to do right from the beginning.

--Russ

[BOAT]

I'm lost as usual, the turning is not right? You mean under power? When going fast or slow? I still have not had any sensation that the turning is not working right - what should I be looking for?

[Wayne nicol]

yea the inside / upside down pics are a little confusing


the steering, was not really "bad" just was not getting as tight a turn radius as was possible- additionally the turn radii were not matched.
what i noticed Boat, was that when the motor was connected, that the motor was not matching the rudders in their "turn angle", and it certainly had more travel in one direction than the other.
now the unequal throw can be remedied, by just adjusting the linkage( the BWY quick connect) and that might or might not require shortening that rod- then positioning your fixed attachment point in the best place for when you want to dis connect the motor, so that the motor is still centered when disconnected.
the lengthening of the 1" tube and changing its connection to the plate swing arm, was to give the motor greater travel left and right, in other words...so that when i was cranking the wheel over, to the stops, i was getting full left and right travel out of the motor-

essentially 2 separate mods.

[Wayne nicol]

if anybody wants to do this mod, i can either give you the measurents that i used, or i can explain what i did, to get the measurements exactly right!